Which statues you know (or have photographed) are inspired by a photo?

[wiskerke]

John Morrison just remarked about an image of the Iwo Jima Monument, that it's one of the very few sculptures that began life as a photograph...

To which I replied that this subject would deserve it's own topic.

 

It was about this image of mine:

The Marine Corps War Memorial aka The Iwo Jima Statue has around 3000 images on Alamy.

After the iconic image by Joe Rosenthal of the second raising of the flag on Iwo Jima.

The memorial is by Felix de Weldon

It's pretty big. Weldon (1907-2003) was very prolific: many kings, presidents and Elvis.

 

To my mind came the recent Black Lives Matter image from Bristol:

Jen Reid takes a photo of her black resin and steel statue titled A Surge of Power (Jen Reid) 2020, created after a photo of Jen Reid on the plinth by Marc Quinn.

That's the sculptor not the photographer of this image, because that's Ben Birchall for PA here on Alamy. He has a whole bunch of images where she's posing like her statue, but I happen to like this a lot more, where she's taking a photo of her own statue with her phone. 

Ben, if you're reading this: we're having this challenge each month here and this month it's about photographers...

November 2020 Challenge here. It closes November 30 at midnight GMT. 😁😁

Btw I have not seen one original photo of Jen Reid on that plinth just after Colston was toppled. Is there one? Was it published anywhere? Or was the whole thing a conspiracy clever stunt by a white artist after all? If it was it was brilliant. (To be clear: I am very much against tearing statues down. Remember the Ministry of Truth.)

 

And this sculpture by Seward Johnson (of Awakening fame)

that had been vandalized (with #Me Too graffiti) in Sarasota

                 

- image by James Pintar          and this one by Peter Titmuss, both here on Alamy -

Called Unconditional Surrender or Embracing Peace statue in Sarasota (with copies in other places). There are around 300 images on Alamy of the various copies.
It's either after the famous photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt or Victor Jorgensen (in the Library of Congres because he was an Army photographer) of the victory parade after WW2 in New York.

 

Some other come to mind like the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial which is stated to have been inspired by/created after photographs.

I like especially the Bread Line by Segal.

        

- by Mira                                     - and by Rubens Alarcon

Which turns out, very much looks like a photo turned into sculpture, but it isn't. Inspired maybe, but these are actual real people all very good friends of the sculptor among which the photographer Donald Lokuta. Talking about a good image to include in this month's challenge: both of them here in a NJ diner.

 

This one definitely has a photo as the starting point: The Greensboro Four or February One by James Barnhill. Very few images here on Alamy. Most are by Walter Bibikow through various agencies.

Press image by whom?

 

This one by Philip Scalia.

 

This is the historic Woolworth where the sit-ins happened, now a museum:

      

Woolworth by Ian Dagnall       ...and Memphis by Ian Dagnall. (I may have one too, but not on Alamy.)

There are copies of the counter and the seats in the Smithsonian and in the Memphis Lorraine Motel that is now The National Civil Rights Museum.

 

And then there are the Fab Four that Edo and a lot of other people have put up here:

by Ed Rooney

The sculpture is by Andrew or Andy Edwards. But is there a photo?

He did Cilla Black also in an iconic pose, like on many photos, but is there 1 specific photo? There are quite a lot of statues in Liverpool from the category artists or sports that look a bit familiar.

 

So do you know of any other?

Or the original or inspirational photos to one of these?

Or do you have some yourself? An image I mean. Now I think of it I may have a Babe Ruth...

 

wim

 

 

[John Morrison]

The Iwo Jima image was already iconic - as a photograph - long before there were any plans to transform a 2-D image into a 3-D artwork.

 

The starting point for many subjects, these days, will be a photograph (or a series of photographs), though the photos are unlikely to be famous in their own right. The modern way with statues is to make them less formal, to remove the figures from their plinths and columns and horses, so that people can interact with them (and, of course, to record the moment with their cameras and phones). So sculptures which started out as photos end up as photo opportunities, like the figure of Eric Morecambe (in the town from which he took his stage name)…

 

Edited November 21, 2020 by John Morrison

[geogphotos]

8 hours ago, wiskerke said:

 

Btw I have not seen one original photo of Jen Reid on that plinth just after Colston was toppled. Is there one? Was it published anywhere? Or was the whole thing a conspiracy clever stunt by a white artist after all? If it was it was brilliant. (To be clear: I am very much against tearing statues down. Remember the Ministry of Truth.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think this is the only one left in Spain. No wonder statutes are torn down. 

 

[Mr Standfast]

9 hours ago, wiskerke said:

 

To my mind came the recent Black Lives Matter image from Bristol:

Jen Reid takes a photo of her black resin and steel statue titled A Surge of Power (Jen Reid) 2020, created after a photo of Jen Reid on the plinth by Marc Quinn.

That's the sculptor not the photographer of this image, because that's Ben Birchall for PA here on Alamy. He has a whole bunch of images where she's posing like her statue, but I happen to like this a lot more, where she's taking a photo of her own statue with her phone. 

Ben, if you're reading this: we're having this challenge each month here and this month it's about photographers...

 

 

 

A fine post.

 

A very poor instagram image of Ms Reid on the plinth turned up in the guardian. Published 15h July.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/jul/15/marc-quinn-statue-colston-jen-reid-black-lives-matter-bristol

 

James

[wiskerke]

22 minutes ago, Mr Standfast said:

 

 

A fine post.

 

A very poor instagram image of Ms Reid on the plinth turned up in the guardian. Published 15h July.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/jul/15/marc-quinn-statue-colston-jen-reid-black-lives-matter-bristol

 

James

 

Ah thank you. So it does exist. In searching I had taken it for an image of the sculpture I guess.

 

wim

[Phil Crean]

Not sure if this originated with a photo, but it is definitely from life....by Martha Jimenez who did a set of statues of the local people going about their daily lives

in the Plaza del Carmen, Camaguey, Cuba

Phil

[Roadrunner]

No Marilyn Monroe? 😟

https://www.ibtimes.com/marilyn-monroes-giant-statue-iconic-dress-seven-year-itch-unveiled-chicago-photos-707952

[John Mitchell]

I don't know if this was inspired by a photo (or selfie), but it is interactive.

 

Gumhead by Douglas Coupland

 

[Ed Rooney]

Interesting, Wim.

 

I don't think I've ever decided to go out and capture this or that statue, but they catch my eye, and I have a lot of them on Alamy. And they sell. I had a sale on the Lennon statue on Mathew street wearing a virus mask today. often it takes me a while to find the ID of the subject. Liverpool loves statues.

 

Edited November 21, 2020 by Ed Rooney

[Ed Rooney]

I just a search of 'statue' in my Alamy port -- 432! Some very famous ones and lots of them have sold. 

[Alan Beastall]

 

Bronze memorial statue of a coal miner holding up a Davy safety lamp in honor to all the coal mines in Nottinghamshire closed in the 80's by the Tory Government.

 

Alan. 

 

[wiskerke]

10 hours ago, Rico said:

No Marilyn Monroe? 😟

https://www.ibtimes.com/marilyn-monroes-giant-statue-iconic-dress-seven-year-itch-unveiled-chicago-photos-707952

 

 

That's another by Seward Johnson of The Eisenstaedt Kiss and the Awakening on Hains Point.

 

Not everybody seems happy about the return of his Forever Marilyn to Palm Springs:

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/provocative-marilyn-monroe-sculpture-to-return-to-palm-springs

https://kesq.com/news/2020/11/13/palm-springs-city-council-approves-location-for-forever-marilyn-sculpture/

It's not true btw that she owned a house in Palm Springs: the current owner of said house five years ago threatened to sue so-called guides and newspapers that spread the rumors.

It is true that the photographer Bruno Bernard of Hollywood lived in Palm Springs, one of the many photographers that started her career and one of the many (100+) photographers present on that well organized and well publicized shoot of Marilyn over the Subway grate:

https://media.gannett-cdn.com/41188256001/41188256001_5746990748001_5084246663001.mp4

But so were many other photographers that night like Garry Winogrand, Elliot Erwitt; Weegee; George Zimbel; Matty Zimmerman and Sam Shaw, who she had worked with at 20th Century Fox studios and who she called out: Hey Sam Spade! Which is probably the moment that many photographers caught. Sam Shaw is one of the many possible inspirations or originators of the grate scene, which may well be true, at least he has an image to prove it.

 

About The Seven Year Itch. Including the 77 sec short film from 1901 (!) that maybe also did inspire Billy Wilder. Or maybe Sam Shaw who then inspired...

 

More images from that famous shoot: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14 and there are many many more.

And some footage.

And the scene itself.

And in case you want to re-enact it: the grate.

 

Now whose image is it? I would say it is Bruno Bernard of Hollywood's:

 

Bruno Bernard uncredited via

 

wim

Edited November 21, 2020 by wiskerke
more links gone wrong

[Michael Ventura]

There are a bunch of U.S. civil rights statues in the American south that I believe were based on photographs.

 

Not my photos but found on Alamy

 

Rosa Parks sitting on the bus

 

 

This one I believe was made from a photo

 

And this one from the 1968 Olympics

 

 

I think there are many more

 

[Roadrunner]

14 hours ago, wiskerke said:

 

 

That's another by Seward Johnson of The Eisenstaedt Kiss and the Awakening on Hains Point.

 

 

Thanks for all that info. There's a lot more about it than I thought.

I never did like any of the statues depicting that publicity stunt. In my opinion the black and white photographs are more innocent and fun.

BTW, I think that "Some Like It Hot" was her best movie. I still watch it once in while

[wiskerke]

30 minutes ago, Rico said:

Thanks for all that info. There's a lot more about it than I thought.

I never did like any of the statues depicting that publicity stunt. In my opinion the black and white photographs are more innocent and fun.

BTW, I think that "Some Like It Hot" was her best movie. I still watch it once in while

 

I can still cry on the nobody is perfect line.

 

wim