Forever Marilyn | |
---|---|
Artist | Seward Johnson |
Year | 2011 |
Type | Painted steel and aluminum |
Dimensions | 7.9 m(26 ft) |
Location | Chicago, IL (2011–12) Hamilton Township, NJ (2014–15) Bendigo, Australia (2016) Stamford, CT (2018) Palm Springs, CA (2012–14, 2021–) |
Owner | PS Resorts [1] |
Forever Marilyn is a giant statue of Marilyn Monroe designed by Seward Johnson. The statue is a representation of the image of Monroe taken from Billy Wilder's 1955 film The Seven Year Itch . Created in 2011, the statue has been displayed in a variety of locations in the United States, as well as in Australia.
The 26-foot-tall (7.9 m)34,000-pound (15,000 kg) sculpture, manufactured of painted stainless steel and aluminium, [2] is a super-sized tribute to Marilyn Monroe's scene from Billy Wilder's 1955 infidelity comedy, The Seven-Year Itch, with the figure capturing the instant a blast of air from a NYC subway grate raises her white dress. [3]
The statue was displayed at Pioneer Court part of the Magnificent Mile section of Chicago, Illinois. In August and September 2011 the statue was vandalized three times, including being splashed with red paint. According to the executive director of the Chicago Public Arts Group, "In our society, we have little room for sexually expressive images ... The social contract doesn't work, because it is itself laden with political meaning, and provocative meaning and sexual meaning." [4]
It was moved in 2012 to the corner of Palm Canyon Drive and Tahquitz Canyon Way in Palm Springs, California. [5] It was given a farewell sendoff during the Palm Springs Village Fest on 27 March 2014, [6] and was then relocated to the 42-acre Grounds for Sculpture (GFS) (17 ha) in Hamilton, New Jersey as part of a 2014 retrospective honoring Seward Johnson. [2] [7] Due to its popularity, the statue remained on display at the GFS until September 2015, after the official end of the retrospective. [8]
The statue was displayed in 2016 in Rosalind Park in the Australian city of Bendigo in connection with the Bendigo Art Gallery's Marilyn Monroe exhibition. [9]
In 2018, the statue was displayed at Latham Park in Stamford, Connecticut, as part of a large public art exhibition honoring the works of Seward Johnson. Thirty-six sculptures were placed throughout streets and parks in Downtown Stamford, with Forever Marilyn being the highlight of the exhibit. [10] The statue sparked controversy when it was placed in Stamford with complaints arising due to her appearing to flash her underwear at the nearby First Congregational Church. [11] [12] [13]
In September 2019 Palm Springs mayor Robert Moon announced the statue's return to Palm Springs as a permanent fixture after being stored in a dismantled state in New Jersey. [14] On 3 February 2021 it was announced that the statue would be erected on Museum Way just east of the Palm Springs Art Museum with an unveiling date of 18 April 2021. According to the announcement, Forever Marilyn is set to remain in Palm Springs for up to three years: in two years time the statue's local economic impact is scheduled to be reviewed and its future decided. [15] [16] Litigation seeking to block the erection of Forever Marilyn was filled in the California courts. [17] The statue was unveiled on 20 June 2021, [18] with the Riverside County Superior Court dismissing four of the Committee to Relocate Marilyn's purported causes of action on 18 July 2021, with the committee's remaining two purported causes being dismissed by the Riverside County Superior Court on 9 September 2021. [19]
In 2021, the statue was debated on the TV programme Good Morning Britain. The statue was defended from accusations of misogyny by Monroe impersonator Suzie Kennedy. [20]
The city council voted in December 2023 to amend the Palm Springs Specific Plan to keep the statue in its current location permanently. A small portion of Museum Way would be vacated to create a parcel for the statue. [21]
The 26.8-foot-tall (8.18 m) stainless steel statue was taller than the original. It had been put on display at a Chinese business center in 2013 to highlight the business's international relations. [22] In June 2014, the eight ton statue was photographed in a local Guigang, China garbage dump. [23] This statue is featured twice in the 2017 Chinese drama film, Angels Wear White . It is shown both at the start of the film on full display and as part of the films poignant commentary, at the end of the film, in the process of being discarded in pieces and hauled away. [24]
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as well as an emblem of the era's sexual revolution. She was a top-billed actress for a decade, and her films grossed $200 million by the time of her death in 1962. Long after her death, Monroe remains a pop culture icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked her as the sixth-greatest female screen legend from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a 1953 American musical comedy film directed by Howard Hawks and written by Charles Lederer. Based on the 1949 stage musical of the same name, it stars Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe, with Charles Coburn, Elliott Reid, Tommy Noonan, George Winslow, Taylor Holmes and Norma Varden in supporting roles.
John Seward Johnson II, also known as J. Seward Johnson Jr. and Seward Johnson, was an American artist known for trompe-l'œil painted bronze statues. He was a grandson of Robert Wood Johnson I, the co-founder of Johnson & Johnson, and of Colonel Thomas Melville Dill of Bermuda.
The Seven Year Itch is a 1955 American romantic comedy film directed by Billy Wilder, from a screenplay he co-wrote with George Axelrod from the 1952 three-act play. The film stars Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell, who reprised his stage role. It contains one of the most iconic pop-culture images of the 20th century – Monroe standing on a subway grate as her white dress is blown upwards by a passing train. The titular phrase, which refers to a waning interest in monogamous relationship after seven years of marriage, has been used by psychologists.
William Travilla, known professionally as Travilla, was an American costume designer for theatre, film, and television. He is perhaps best known for designing costumes for Marilyn Monroe in eight of her films, as well as two of the most iconic dresses in cinematic history.
Pillar of Shame is a series of sculptures by Danish artist Jens Galschiøt memorialising the loss of life during specific events or caused by specific circumstances in history. Each sculpture is an eight metres (26 ft) tall statue of bronze, copper or concrete.
American actress Marilyn Monroe's life and persona have been depicted in film, television, music, the arts, and by other celebrities.
Palm Springs is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately 94 square miles (240 km2), making it the largest city in Riverside County by land area. With multiple plots in checkerboard pattern, more than 10% of the city is part of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians reservation land and is the administrative capital of the most populated reservation in California.
Pioneer Court is a plaza located near the junction of the Chicago River and Upper Michigan Avenue in Chicago's Magnificent Mile. It is believed to be the site of Jean Baptiste Point du Sable's original residence and trading post. In 1965, the plaza was built on the former site of his homestead as part of the construction of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of America building. The Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable Homesite was designated as a National Historic Landmark on May 11, 1976. John Kinzie, a prominent early settler, bought and expanded Point du Sable's post in 1800. The Plaza is bounded on the north by the Tribune Tower, on the east by 401 N. Michigan Avenue, on the south by the Chicago River, and on the west by Michigan Avenue, adjacent to the DuSable Bridge. In 2017, a newly designed Apple Inc. store was opened on the south side of the court, which created new levels linking down to the river.
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress who appeared in 29 films between 1946 and 1961. After a brief career in modeling she signed short-term film contracts, first with 20th Century Fox, then Columbia Pictures, and appeared in minor roles for the first few years of her career. In 1950, she made minor appearances in two critically acclaimed films, The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve. The parts in the two films were against many of the roles into which she was typecast, that of the dumb blonde. Margot A. Henriksen, her biographer with the American National Biography, considers the typecast "an unfair stereotype that bothered her throughout her career".
Unconditional Surrender is a series of computer-generated statues by Seward Johnson that resemble an iconic 1945 photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt, V–J day in Times Square, but was said by Johnson to be based on a similar, less well-known, photograph by Victor Jorgensen that is in the public domain. The first in the series was installed temporarily in Sarasota, Florida, then was moved to San Diego, California and New York City. Other copies have been installed in Hamilton, New Jersey; Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; and Normandy, France. Johnson later identified the statue at exhibitions as "Embracing Peace" for the risqué double entendre when spoken.
Sunny Thompson is an American singer, actress and recording artist best known for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in the critically acclaimed, award-winning one-woman show “Marilyn Forever Blonde, The Marilyn Monroe Story In Her Own Words & Music.” She has recorded several albums, one of which, "Te Necesito," earned her a gold record in South America.
Marilyn Monroe wore a white dress in the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch, directed by Billy Wilder. It was created by costume designer William Travilla and worn in the movie's best-known scene. The image of it and her above a windy subway grating has been described as one of the most iconic images of the 20th century.
The seven-year itch is a popular belief, sometimes quoted as having psychological backing, that happiness in a marriage or long-term romantic relationship declines after around seven years.
The St. Gregory Hotel is a boutique hotel located in downtown Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established in 2000, the nine-floor hotel has 155 rooms, which includes 54 deluxe rooms, 85 suites with kitchens, and 16 top-floor suites with balconies. The hotel, which changed hands in June 2015, has a life-size statue of Marilyn Monroe in the lobby.
Bruno Bernard Sommerfeld also known as Bernard of Hollywood, was an American photographer best known for pin-up and glamour photography of Marilyn Monroe and others.
Allow Me is a bronze sculpture by John Seward Johnson II. Casts of Allow Me are displayed as public art in Bath, New York; Chicago; in front of the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia; on Embassy Row in Washington DC; and in Portland, Oregon. Three additional casts exist in private collections in Hamilton, Ohio, Los Angeles and Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Double Check is a 1982 sculpture by John Seward Johnson II, located across from Zuccotti Park at the corner of Liberty Street and Broadway in Manhattan, New York City. The bronze sculpture portrays a well-dressed businessman sitting with his briefcase open, which are filled with office materials getting ready to enter an office building. The statue is notable for its association with the 9/11 attacks.
Grounds For Sculpture (GFS) is a 42-acre (170,000 m2) sculpture park and museum located in Hamilton, New Jersey. It is located on the former site of Trenton Speedway. Founded in 1992 by John Seward Johnson II, the venue is dedicated to promoting an understanding of and appreciation for contemporary sculpture by organizing exhibitions, publishing catalogues, and offering a variety of educational programs and special community events.
The bronze statue of Colombian singer Shakira stands at the Gran Malecon de Barranquilla, in Barranquilla, Colombia.
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