Statue of Billy Graham | |
---|---|
Artist | Chas Fagan |
Year | 2024 |
Medium | Bronze sculpture |
Subject | Billy Graham |
Location | Washington, D.C., United States |
A bronze statue of American evangelist Billy Graham is installed at the United States Capitol's crypt, in Washington, D.C., as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection. It was designed by artist Chas Fagan. [1] [2]
Unveiled in May 2024, the sculpture was gifted by the U.S. state of North Carolina, replacing the statue of Charles Brantley Aycock. [1]
On October 2, 2015, North Carolina governor Pat McCrory signed a bill replacing the statue of Charles Aycock with one of Reverend Billy Graham. [3] However, the replacement was delayed because the statues must represent deceased individuals; [4] Reverend Graham did not die until February 2018. [5] One week after Graham's death, McCrory's successor, Roy Cooper, submitted a formal request for replacement of the Aycock statue. [6] The North Carolina Statuary Hall Selection Committee issued a request for proposals for the statue indicating a desired completion date of September 2020. [7] The statue of Billy Graham was installed in National Statuary Hall in May 2024. [8]
William Allen was an American lawyer and politician who served as a Democratic Representative, Senator and 31st governor of Ohio.
The National Statuary Hall is a chamber in the United States Capitol devoted to sculptures of prominent Americans. The hall, also known as the Old Hall of the House, is a large, two-story, semicircular room with a second story gallery along the curved perimeter. It is located immediately south of the Rotunda. The meeting place of the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly 50 years (1807–1857), after a few years of disuse it was repurposed as a statuary hall in 1864; this is when the National Statuary Hall Collection was established. By 1933, the collection had outgrown this single room, and a number of statues are placed elsewhere within the Capitol.
Charles Brantley Aycock was the 50th governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1901 to 1905. After starting his career as a lawyer and teacher, he became active in the Democratic Party during the party's Solid South period, and made his reputation as a prominent segregationist.
The National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol is composed of statues donated by individual states to honor persons notable in their history. Limited to two statues per state, the collection was originally set up in the old Hall of the House of Representatives, which was then renamed National Statuary Hall. The expanding collection has since been spread throughout the Capitol and its visitor center.
The United States Capitol crypt is the large circular room filled with forty neoclassical Doric columns directly beneath the United States Capitol rotunda. It was built originally to support the rotunda as well as offer an entrance to Washington's Tomb. It currently serves as a museum and a repository for thirteen statues of the National Statuary Hall Collection.
Benjamin Matthew Victor is an American sculptor living and working in Boise, Idaho. He is the only living artist to have three works in the National Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol. He is currently sculpting his fourth statue for the Statuary Hall, of Daisy Bates. He was only 26 years old when his first statue, Sarah Winnemucca, a Paiute activist in Nevada, was dedicated in the Hall in 2005, making him the youngest artist to ever be represented in the Hall. In 2014, his sculpture of Norman Borlaug, "the father of the Green Revolution," was dedicated in the National Statuary Hall and in 2019, his statue of Chief Standing Bear, a Native American rights leader, was dedicated in the National Statuary Hall making him the only living artist to have three sculptures in the Hall.
Chas Fagan is an American artist and sculptor. He is known for painting oil portraits of all 45 U.S. Presidents, on commission from C-SPAN and the White House Historical Association. He also painted the official canonization image of Mother Teresa on commission from the Knights of Columbus, basing his work on a photograph by Michael Collopy. His other works include portraits, landscapes and still life, along with sculptures related to American historical figures. His work was featured in the American Presidents: Life Portraits exhibition in 1999, and in other venues.
Zebulon Baird Vance is a bronze sculpture commemorating the Confederate colonel and governor of the same name by Gutzon Borglum, installed in the United States Capitol as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection. The statue was donated to the collection by the state of North Carolina, and was accepted by the Senate on 22 June 1916.
Edmund Kirby Smith is a bronze sculpture commemorating the Confederate officer of the same name by C. Adrian Pillars that was installed in the United States Capitol Visitor Center as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection from 1922 to 2021. The statue was gifted by the state of Florida in 1922.
Charles Brantley Aycock is a bronze sculpture depicting the American politician of the same name by Charles Keck, installed in the United States Capitol's crypt as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection. The statue was gifted by the U.S. state of North Carolina in 1932.
Barry Goldwater is a bronze sculpture depicting American politician and businessman of the same name by Deborah Copenhaver Fellows, installed at the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall, in Washington, D.C., as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection. The statue was donated by the U.S. state of Arizona in 2015 and replaced a statue of John Campbell Greenway, which the state of Arizona gifted to the collection in 1930.
Jefferson Davis, created by Henry Augustus Lukeman, is a bronze sculpture of Jefferson Davis – a U.S. Senator, U.S. Secretary of War, plantation owner and the only President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War – commissioned by the U.S. State of Mississippi for inclusion in National Statuary Hall Collection at the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall, in Washington, D.C. The statue was controversial at the time of its unveiling and there have been multiple efforts to remove it from the Capitol since 2015.
James Paul Clarke is a marble sculpture depicting the American politician of the same name by Pompeo Coppini, installed in the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall Collection, in Washington, D.C., as one of two statues gifted by the U.S. state of Arkansas. The 6 foot 10 inch tall statue was placed in the Hall in 1921. The work cost $7,500. and was unveiled in Washington in 1921. In 2024, the statue was removed and replaced with a statue of Johnny Cash.
The National Statuary Hall Collection holds statues donated by each of the United States, portraying notable persons in the histories of the respective states. Displayed in the National Statuary Hall and other parts of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., the collection includes two statues from each state, except for Virginia which currently has one, making a total of 99.
Helen Keller is a bronze sculpture depicting the American author and political activist of the same name by Edward Hlavka, installed in the United States Capitol Visitor Center's Emancipation Hall, in Washington, D.C., as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection. The statue was gifted by the U.S. state of Alabama in 2009, and replaced one depicting Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry, which had been donated in 1908.
Uriah M. Rose, or Uriah Milton Rose, is a marble sculpture depicting the American lawyer of the same name by Frederick Ruckstull, formerly installed in the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall, in Washington, D.C., as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection. The statue was gifted by the U.S. state of Arkansas in 1917.
Equal Visibility Everywhere, also known as EVE, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in Miami, Florida. EVE was founded in 2010 by the psychologist and former college professor Lynette Long, with the mission "to achieve gender parity in the monuments, symbols, and icons, of the United States." Its ongoing projects include adding more statues of women to the National Statuary Hall Collection, creating new historical markers honoring America's heroes, adding images of women to America's paper currency and coins, increasing the number of women honored on stamps and Google Doodles, and increasing the number of female character balloons in parades.
There are several works of art in the United States Capitol honoring former leaders of the Confederate States of America and generals in the Confederate States Army, including six statues in the National Statuary Hall Collection, busts and portraits.
The statue honoring civil rights and women's rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune was unveiled in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., representing Florida in the National Statuary Hall Collection on July 13, 2022. This makes her the first black American represented in the National Statuary Hall Collection.
A bronze statue of American civil rights activist Daisy Bates is installed at the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall, in Washington, D.C., as part of the National Statuary Hall Collection. It was designed by artist Benjamin Victor. Unveiled in May 2024, the sculpture was gifted by the U.S. state of Arkansas, replacing the statue of U. M. Rose.