What's wrong with this picture?
It's all in the hands!
Does it matter whether Dr. King holds a PEN or consistently raises his RIGHT hand and wears his watch on his left hand? Is is okay to take artistic license and reverse his hands to show him holding a scroll in in LEFT hand when the original picture correctly depicted him holding a pen in his right hand and with the picture on the wall being over his right shoulder? Am I the only one to believe that historical accuracy matters?
Does it matter that the original photograph by Bob Fitch was reversed when the 30-foot statue was sculpted in China?
Does it matter that the Executive Architect for the MLK National Memorial finally admitted in The Washington Post (05/19/2008) after my complaints to the U. S. Commission on Fine Arts that he and his staff had made a mistake and reversed the original picture?
A noted photo, right, of Martin Luther King Jr. by Bob Fitch is the inspiration for a statue of King to be featured in a memorial on Washington's Tidal Basin. (Photos By Nikki Kahn -- The Washington Post)
Does it matter that this blogger and journalist repeatedly tried to get the MLK Foundation and the U. S. Commission on Fine Arts and others to correct the situation? See emails below sent while I was a journalist employed by Metro News in Washington, DC.
From:
"dr. gibson"
To:
tluebke@cfa.gov
Cc:
staff@cfa.gov
|
Friday, May 9, 2008 10:57 AM
This email is for Secretary Thomas Luebke.
Dear Secretary Luebke: CONGRATULATIONS on the oversight you are providing for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on the Tidal Basis. It is too important a project to let it go forward in granite when there are still viable questions about its authenticity and presentation. Last year I sent a letter to you and referred you to my Blog (www.thegibsonreport.blogspot.com) that raised serious questions about the project. Because the questions were not addressed in your April 25, 2008 letter to the King Foundation, I am again asking you to read what my investigation has revealed (www.thegibsonreport.blogspot.com).
The commission should be aware that in addition to the King statue
being "confrontational" it is not accurate (depicts Dr. King holding a pen in the wrong hand), the same model (showing Dr. King holding pen in his right hand) was adamantly rejected by Rocky Mount, NC citizens.
*********************************************
|
So the key question is:
Are we now stuck with an historically inaccurate statue after a nearly two-decade struggle to have a Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial on the National Mall?
Should the MLK sculptor go back to China, make the necessary corrections, and ship the corrected parts back to be once again re-assembled in the USA?
At least in Rocky Mount, NC in 2001, Illinois sculptor Erik Blome got the pose of Dr. King correct... using the same photograph.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - Rocky Mount, NC
Because of unhappiness with the way Dr. King was portrayed - many said it didn't look enough like him - the statue was removed for nearly five years before being redone by another artist, and then returned to its spot in 2009.
Shouldn't we ask for ACCURACY on the National Mall?
Portraying Dr. King's hands incorrectly is not the only problem with the long-awaited statue.
Maya Angelou says King memorial inscription makes him look ‘arrogant’
By Gene Weingarten and Michael E. Ruane,
Reporters for the August 30, 2011 Washington Post article were told that the inscription is incorrect because of a design change during the statue's creation. They explained that Dr. King's original quote was paraphrased because of space and quoted Dr. Maya Angelou, one of the memorial's consultants, as saying the inscription "ought to be change."
Instead of the inscription saying... "If you want to call me a drum major, say I was a drum major for justice," the original quote was paraphrased by leaving out the words... "if you want to call me a drum major." Dr. King did not say he was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness. Hats off to Dr. Angelou for insisting that the phrase be corrected.
So not only is Dr. King using the wrong hand for the scroll, he's depicted as being "arrogant," and as Dr. Angelou says, "an egotist." The hurricane that stopped the dedication on August 28, 2011 may have been a blessing in one way; now there's time to correct what needs to be done to render the statue accurate.
But that's not likely to happen without pressure, even though these problems are recognized. According to The Washington Post, the Chief Architect for the MLK Memorial (Ed Jackson Jr.) admitted the error by saying that "the quote was originally planned for the statue’s south face, the one viewers first see as they approach the statue." In fact, Dr. Jackson told the reporters that the "planners changed their minds and decided to move the drum major inscription to the north face," because they wanted the phrase - Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope - to be seen, first, when visitors entered the memorial.
Instead of the inscription saying... "If you want to call me a drum major, say I was a drum major for justice," the original quote was paraphrased by leaving out the words... "if you want to call me a drum major." Dr. King did not say he was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness. Hats off to Dr. Angelou for insisting that the phrase be corrected.
So not only is Dr. King using the wrong hand for the scroll, he's depicted as being "arrogant," and as Dr. Angelou says, "an egotist." The hurricane that stopped the dedication on August 28, 2011 may have been a blessing in one way; now there's time to correct what needs to be done to render the statue accurate.
But that's not likely to happen without pressure, even though these problems are recognized. According to The Washington Post, the Chief Architect for the MLK Memorial (Ed Jackson Jr.) admitted the error by saying that "the quote was originally planned for the statue’s south face, the one viewers first see as they approach the statue." In fact, Dr. Jackson told the reporters that the "planners changed their minds and decided to move the drum major inscription to the north face," because they wanted the phrase - Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope - to be seen, first, when visitors entered the memorial.
And, to make matters worse, Dr. Jackson says that "when they informed the statue’s sculptor, Lei Yixin, he told them that he had already prepared the north face for the shorter “despair” inscription and that the whole “drum major” quote would not fit.
Excuse me? Who's in charge here? Who, indeed, are the "planners?" It was bad enough to OUTSOURCE 150-tons of granite work to China and to allow mason workers from that country to work without pay in this country to assemble the memorial. It was bad enough not to hold a national and international competition to select a sculptor for such an important project; such was held for the overall memorial design. It not only attracted more than 1,000 submissions but the winning one by the Roma Design Team didn't even include a statue of Dr. King.
ROMA Principals: Bonnie Fisher, FASLA Boris Dramov, FAIA, FAICP Thomas Sprinkle, AIA
And, it was bad enough when an initial group of consultants made up of African American artists and sculptors, revealed to MLK Foundation members, before resigning, that the recently-selected sculptor, working from photographs, couldn't produce enough of a likeness of Dr. King.
But to not insist on accuracy in unpardonable and undermines the integrity of a much endorsed and embraced honor for the first and only African American and first non-president on the National Mall. Hear, hear... who's in charge!
ROMA Principals: Bonnie Fisher, FASLA Boris Dramov, FAIA, FAICP Thomas Sprinkle, AIA
And, it was bad enough when an initial group of consultants made up of African American artists and sculptors, revealed to MLK Foundation members, before resigning, that the recently-selected sculptor, working from photographs, couldn't produce enough of a likeness of Dr. King.
But to not insist on accuracy in unpardonable and undermines the integrity of a much endorsed and embraced honor for the first and only African American and first non-president on the National Mall. Hear, hear... who's in charge!
