Against 'Confrontational' Image, U.S. Panel Says: Rework M.L.K. Statue

[Leopolds Ghost]

Panel: Rework 'confrontational' King statue
MLK national memorial said to be reminiscent of art in totalitarian states

Nationality of Chinese artist disparaged

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24533344/



I had to post the whole thing, this is just too disgusting.

The MSNBC poll on this is running 2:1 against the artist and in favor of political censorship.

ALSO NOTE: The ORIGINAL DESIGN insisted on by the Council was REJECTED BY THE CIVIL RIGHTS COMMUNITY
because it depicted a shdowy, indefinite MLK ENTOMBED in a half-completed block of granite, "to signify
that MLK died with his work not realized."
The COMMISSION LOVED THE ORIGINAL PLAN and are urging sculptors to "Think Rodin!"

Unhappy With 'Confrontational' Image, U.S. Panel Wants King Statue Reworked

By Michael E. Ruane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 9, 2008; A01

A powerful federal arts commission is urging that the sculpture of Martin Luther King Jr.
proposed for a memorial on the Tidal Basin be reworked because it is too "confrontational"
and reminiscent of political art in totalitarian states.

The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts thinks "the colossal scale and Social Realist style
of the proposed statue recalls a genre of political sculpture that has recently been pulled down
in other countries," (white) commission secretary Thomas Luebke said in a letter in April.

By law, no project like the memorial can go forward without approval from the commission,
the federal agency that advises the government on public design and aesthetics in the capital.

A model of the statue has been built in China. The project's chief architect,
Ed Jackson Jr., huddled with advisers this week in Ann Arbor, Mich., to discuss ways
to address the commission's objections before sculpting of the granite statue begins.

"We said: 'Okay, this is what the commission said. How best can we achieve that and retain
what we have accomplished thus far?' "

It is the second time in recent months that the memorial to the slain civil rights leader has
come under fire. Last year, critics complained after a Chinese sculptor known for his monumental
works of figures such as Mao Zedong was selected to create King and other elements of the memorial in China.

The $100 million memorial, which is being built largely with private donations by the Washington,
D.C., Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, is planned for a crescent-shaped
four-acre site among Washington's famed cherry trees on the northwest shore of the basin. Construction
is expected to start this year and end next year.

The centerpiece is to be a 2 1/2 -story sculpture of the civil rights leader carved in a giant
chunk of granite. Called the Stone of Hope, it would depict King, standing with his arms folded,
looming from the stone. At 28 feet tall, it would be eight feet taller than the statue of Abraham
Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial.

The King memorial has been authorized by Congress, and a groundbreaking ceremony was held
in 2006. Its general design was approved by the seven-member federal commission that year,
based on drawings of the Stone of Hope that showed a more subtle image of King,
from the waist up, as if he were emerging organically out of the (white) rock,
the commission said.

(Your classic image of the powerless, pedestalized, noble savage in American art symbology,
entombed in a rough-hewn piece of granite --ed.)

But since the drawings have been developed into detailed models, the vision has generated
criticism. The latest round came with the commission's April 25 letter to the foundation,
which followed an April 17 hearing on the project.

Commission members said the sculpture "now features a stiffly frontal image, static in pose,
confrontational in character," Luebke wrote. They "recommended strongly
that the sculpture be reworked, both in form and modeling" and cited
"precedents of a figure emerging from stone in the works of (white)
sculptors such as Michelangelo and Rodin."

The commission objected to what it perceived as the loss of the subtle way
King seemed to be coming out of the stone in the drawings, Luebke said.

"I think that the metaphor of Dr. King being merged with the natural forces of this
(white) stone is absolutely essential to avoid colossal monumentalization,"
(white) commission member N. Michael McKinnell said at the April 17 meeting.

Jackson, the executive architect, said his design team had aimed for a powerful yet reflective
representation of King.

"The image of Dr. King had to be inspirational," Jackson said yesterday. "It had to be
an image that projected this man as an intellectual. It had to be an image that projected
Dr. King as someone in thought."

As for the idea of King materializing from the stone, Jackson said he met this week
in Michigan with the project's artistic consultants, James Chaffers and Jon Lockard
of the University of Michigan, to consider modifications "to even more enhance that
concept of the individual emerging out of the stone."

The team wants to hold on "to the power and inspirational image" of the current version, he said.

The sense of confrontation in the sculpture is not a coincidence. "We see him . . .
as a warrior," Chaffers said yesterday. "We see him as a warrior for peace . . .
not as some pacifist, placid, kind of vanilla, but really a man of great conviction and strength."

"It's hard for me to put my arms around" the criticism that
the sculpture smacks of Social Realism, Jackson said.

(so what if it does? MLK WAS A FUCKING SOCIALIST, IDIOTS!)

"When you look at something of this scale . . . things are bolder because of the
scale of the project itself," he said. "Artists, either in Russia or China or other places
where they actually do have a history of this, those artists have a common understanding
of the material and what you can and cannot do," he said.

Last year, the foundation selected Chinese master sculptor Lei Yixin to work on the memorial.
He was banished to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution but is now considered a
national treasure with a lifelong stipend from the government.

Critics said that an African American artist, or any American, would have been preferable.
And at least one black sculptor, Ed Dwight of Denver, has said Lei's models do not resemble King.

"Everybody has this problem with how Dr. King is represented," Dwight said this week.
"You can't satisfy anybody, because everybody remembers him in a different way."

The memorial foundation has said that Lei is internationally renowned and was selected
for his experience with large public sculptures.

On May 1, members of the National Capital Planning Commission,
who must also approve the project, voiced other complaints about the design.

"My image of Dr. King is of him leaning forward in anticipation, holding his chin
or raising his arm," rather than standing with his arms folded,
(white) Commissioner Michael McGill said.

Commissioner Jose L. Galvez III said he thought the sculpture lacked a sense of
King's power. "How do you get that power better portrayed?"

Jackson said the depiction of King with his arms crossed comes from a photograph.

"Deliberately we chose an image of Dr. King when he is standing in front of his desk
with his arms folded," Jackson told the planning commission.

"We were hoping to give an image of Dr. King that was thoughtful, that . . . projected
an image of someone who is really wanting America to give serious thought to the
information and ideas that he wanted to pass on to us in his lifetime."

As for the sense of power, "I assure you the power is there," Jackson said.
"It will take your breath away."

[Leopolds Ghost]

1. Anyone here seen "The Cradle Will Rock" or "Frida"?

You thought that the Cold War just "ended"? NO. Global elites
bought out the sclerotic Soviet Union in search of "new markets".

Racists and Corporatists who want to divide and destroy the civil rights
and workers rights movements are seeking to prove that THEY won the cold war
by instituting a NEW MCCARTHYISM. And you wonder why it took so long for
an MLK memorial to be built, and Washington's wealthy refused to pay for it?

[Leopolds Ghost]

2. Well?

Anybody?

[bean fidhleir]

3. There is something TOTALLY F*CKED about the idea of the memorial

to Martin being created in frigging CHINA.

But it's also totally typical of where our country is, today.

[anigbrowl]

15. Art transcends nationality

I like his sculpture. I don't care if he came from the damn moon; and having been through the cultural revolution, he probably knows plenty about suffering and repression.

[bean fidhleir]

19. No, art is bound to time and place. It's why vanishingly few people can successfully

counterfeit art not of their own time and place.

The *appeal* of art can cross boundaries, but it's by no means a given. I happen to believe that a Black US-born-and-raised sculptor, especially one who'd come up the hard way, would be far more likely to communicate the real Martin than some hack in China doing a formulaic figure.

"Soviet Realism" is entirely unrealistic, and Martin was far more real than any other iconized figure of his time.

[Fumesucker]

4. I'm not normally nationalistic..

But why in the hell wasn't an American tagged for this job?

[Leopolds Ghost]

5. This is all you people care about? What about King's ANTI-RACIST, ANTI-XENOPHOBIA legacy?

What about POLITICAL FUCKING CENSORSHIP?
You probably wouldn't even SUPPORT a King Memorial
if you knew half of the things he said late in life
during the Poor People's campaign.

And DUers urged censorship of Reverend Wright!

[Leopolds Ghost]

7. Two replies, both in favor of censorship because of the nationality of the artist.

Sad.

[Fumesucker]

14. I never mentioned the design of the statue..

I don't particularly like it, but I'm constantly told the only taste I have is in my mouth anyway.

[seemslikeadream]

11. Sorry I didn't see this sooner

UNBELIEVEABLE

Have you heard about the arresting of artists in Turkey?

[supernova]

6. Just on a practical level

You really didn't see Dr King in that stance in life. He always had his arms open, outstretched to others.

And why the stone? What would be wrong with showing him with the Bible and his books? :shrug: He was an intellectual, afterall. There was nothing of the military in his methods or presentation. And that model just reeks of military monument. x(

[Leopolds Ghost]

8. BULLSHIT... You guys find it "too confrontational." Guess what: he WAS. that's why he was killed.

You are buying into the propaganda that the monument is "Social Realism and therefore bad".

We should tear it down like we've been going on a spree tearing down socialist statues in
Russia.

Interesting, when the Afghans do that, it's grounds for military invasion.

[supernova]

9. Knock it off

Go cool off with a bucked of ice water somewhere. You got worked up by the other two and trying to take it out on me. Not going to put up with it.

I stated my concerns with the piece as I see it.

I am old enough to remember seeing him, even if it was just on the news. He didn't present himself the way he is presented on the statue. That's the problem I have with it. It's as of the person who made the statue really has no inkling how he was in life.

Yes, he certainly was confrontational, but not as it appears in that statue. It's an artificial and therefore false presentation of him. He was confrontational with reason, with passion, with *words* and and with grace, always the grace, not machismo posturing.

Sorry, I think the memorial is long overdue, but this ain't it.

[Leopolds Ghost]

12. Do you support the statue's censorship by white commissioners who want it less confrontational?

They want an ill-defined, Giacometti-like MLK entombed from the waist down in a rough-hewn granite "egg".

They specifically want to signify that MLK was an "incomplete life", a thinker not a do-er.

MLK KNEW his life was in danger. The poor People's campaign was considered to be a THREAT
to Washington, on the order of the Bonus Army.

Oh, and by the way, MLK was a socialist. A CHRISTIAN SOCIALIST. The commission will not tolerate
statements of that fact.

[supernova]

17. No, I don't

I would be in favor of a monument/statue, whatever you want to call it, that would give a person who never knew of him, never saw him, some idea of what it was like to see him. Of what he was to the South, this nation, and ultimately, the world.

I don't think you have to show him with crossed arms (in nonverbal communication a defensive posture, not a confrontational one, by the way.) or being born out of a rock... er something, to acheive that.

What would it be? I don't know. I'm not a statue artist. Perhaps as part of a grouping leading a march?

And I don't get your seemingly conflicted view that books are weak as a sign of power and strength if put in a statue but great if you support the library. :shrug: Please tell me I'm missing something. To me, books and words are the single most powerful tools we have.

I didn't know where they wanted to put the monument. That is clearly stupid on so many levels I don't know where to start. I haven't lived in the DC area since '91. I couldn't afford it anymore (nor my ex husband. LOL)

[Igel]

16. It's not built yet, so there's no "tearing it down".

Unless you mean metaphorically "tear it down" as in cause people to have less respect for that particular sculpture. But I see no reason to be required to like the one that's presented.

It's at the final design stage. Commentary and criticism welcome, presumably.

Now, I don't know about Russia, but I've seen some statues reworked and torn down in the Czech Republic. Believe me, it wasn't "we" doing it, it was the Czechs themselves, in the same way and for the same reason that Estonians de-emphasized the Soviet war memorial in Tallinn.

[Leopolds Ghost]

10. By the way, the WHOLE IDEA of the monument is fucked anyway.

The grounds for its location were specifically intended to be subservient to the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials, on the grounds that Jefferson was a slaveholder and Lincoln freed the slaves -- placing MLK symbolically subservient to those figures in the American canon.

MLK would have wanted his FUCKING LIBRARY in downtown DC to be expanded and located in a central area,
such as Mount Vernon Square, the heart of the city's historic downtown black community.

Instead, the DC Government wants to CLOSE MLK and tear it down (even though it was built by Mies Van Der Rohe,
one of the world's most famous architects of the 20th century).

Along with numerous branches in black neighborhoods that are no longer needed because of "technology" and gentrification that has emptied out those areas of the city.

(What, you thought gentrification was associated with population growth? Read Jane Jacobs. Research cap rates and urban development. THESE are the sort of issues MLK cared about.)

They also want to tear down the city's memorial to RFK and replace it with a corporate-named stadium.

You want books? Support the FUCKING LIBRARY in DC.

You want a FAKE ASS MEMORIAL? IT SURE AS HELL OUGHT TO BE CONFRONTATIONAL AND SAD.

THE MAN WAS MURDERED and the people who did it are WINNING.

[Leopolds Ghost]

13. Here's what I posted elsewhere, in attempt to relate this to the racism we are seeing in primaries.

It got moved back to this forum, I guess this issue does not
relate to Presidential politics.

UNLIKE WRIGHT.

Unhappy with "Confrontational" Pose, U.S. Panel
Orders Sculptor to Rework National King Memorial Statue

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3268025

I am posting this here because it relates to the resurgence of racism
and red-baiting that we are seeing in the primaries. We cannot defeat
racism and red-baiting if we isolate ourselves in GD: P and pay no heed
to the larger context of what is going on here. I am not a socialist,
but MLK was, and there is an attempt to create a global capitalist
movement with the same powers of modern day "non-totalitarian, business
friendly" Russia and China to shape popular perception and define the
enemies of the victorious Capitalist Revolution of 1989. These enemies
include civil rights leaders. The battle over King's legacy is a
momentous one. Quislings in the black business community and White
republicans are trying to tone down MLK's image and sanitize it for
profit and public consumption. Ever seen "the Cradle Will Rock"?

...

When something like this goes un-noticed on a liberal blog, I know American society is fucked.

If I were Reverend Wright (or MLK) and just said that, you guys would be 50 posts into
this thread denouncing me by now.

(Too bad Wright isolates himself with open embrace of conspiracy theories. Then again,
there WAS a conspiracy by US government officials to assassinate civil rights leaders,
and the conspirators are now attempting to define King's legacy.)

[David__77]

18. I like it.

There need to be more monuments to progressive heroes, such as Frederick Douglas, John Brown, etc. They should be on the money too. And I happen to think that there's nothing wrong with progressive realism, "socialist" or not. It conveys the gravity of political struggle appropriately. People need to respect and revere great leaders.

[Igel]

20. Don't much care who the sculptor is.

An American would have been nice, but it's not a big deal to me.

The statue itself ... I don't like it. I've seen too many "colossal" statues and think they're typically gauche. If they're surrounded by huge things and are in danger of being reduced to triviality by the scale of their surroundings, fine; but the location doesn't pose that particular problem. Otherwise, they're pretentious and pompous, and best used as material for producing gravel. I retract my criticism if the representation of MLK himself is maybe 10 feet tall with 18 feet of non-descript base.

I think the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials are outsized, but they're completed and from a marked different kind of American culture. The size of the monuments in the vecinity is pointless and meaningless, IMHO. Given the thing's size,

"... from stone in the works of (white) sculptors such as Michelangelo and Rodin."
So I suppose we should find AA sculptors and mimic them? After all, styles of sculpture are determined by melanin content? Or perhaps ethnic affiliation? No, I think not: I suspect that 1930s black sculptors have more in common with 1930s white sculptors than with 1830s or 1990s black sculptors (then again, I'm a linguist).

I saw some very nice Zimbabwean stone sculptures maybe 8 years ago; perhaps the MLK statue should resemble them?

Then again, there's bound to be a problem in perceptions: I have no doubt that there are multiple perceptions of MLK, some emphasizing his religion, others his militancy and others his non-violent approaches to problems, others his socialist worldview, others his compassion and sense of raceless equality. When you reduce a man to an image, you have to pick. Some blacks I've known have liked MLK's confrontational side, MLK fought not for people per se but for blacks specifically; others have billed him as a humanitarian who worked primarily on one problem, but who wasn't defined exclusively by that problem. I suspect the vast majority of whites view him in the latter way. This raises the question: Is it a monument to a great American, or a great American black man? Is it a statue for the country, or for a slice of the country?