It’s Statue Moving Day
I suspect you’ve heard that the statue of Joe Paterno outside the Penn State football stadium has been moved to “an undisclosed location,” apparently with Dick Cheney.
But, a lesser known statue is also being moved. It has been in New York City for a long time. The artist, who obviously couldn’t get a date to the prom, named it Civic Virtue.
Even before “Civic Virtue” was unveiled in 1922, there were protests against it. The immense statue, installed in City Hall Park, featured a naked, hulking man representing virtue, standing atop nude female figures, representing vice.
The folks in New York are arguing over where to put the damn thing. Some have suggested the entrance to the cemetery where the artist is buried, but others feel that it, like the artist, should both be displayed underground there.
I dunno, there has to be a good appropriate home for a statue where a man is standing on top of women in triumph with a large, phallic shaped object in his hand.
And I know where that place is. That sucker belongs right in the smack dab middle of the rotunda at the Texas State Capitol.
I’m good at this appropriate art stuff and there is no better symbol of the Texas Lege than this.
I am told that the statue weighs 22 tons. I am not in the least concerned about getting it moved to the Capitol. Debbie Riddle and Leo Berman can just levitate it there on their palpitating thoughts of a transvaginal sonogram.
Thanks to Sandy for the heads up.
The Teapublicans should trade in their elephant logo for this statue. It seems more appropriate considering their obsession with ladies and their private parts these days. Or maybe Louie Gomert needs a lawn decoration?
1Put it in the front office of the Womens Health Program to symbolize the GOP’s feelings for and actions toward women.
2May i suggest that, like the Berlin Wall, the damnable thing needs to come down. Or maybe it would be a nice piece of art for one of the Romneys’ lawns. I would hate to uglify the newly restored Texas governor’s mansion with it. I have a hard enough time trying to tolerate the idea that Perry is sitting in one of the antique chairs !
3I think there is also enough hot air coming out of the bloviating politicians’ mouths to blow it straight to H-E-double hockey sticks, and they can all stay there.
Just one woman’s opinion. 🙂
4Burial is probably too good for it.
5Given the date of this monstrosity (1919), it was clearly a rearguard action against women’s suffrage and the various other liberating events that accompanied World War I. The current GOP war against women is a sign that the opposition has been smoldering for nearly a century. Ol’ Toad Limbaugh is on record as saying that votes for women was a Bad Thing.
I am confused JJ. You think a New York phallic centric statue should be in the rotunda in Austin? Why? Maybe because there are so many p-ricks in the Texas Lege?
6Perhaps DC needs a new museum? This could be one of the founding pieces for The Museum of The Art of Oppression and Stereotypes.
7I think it would be just great at Perry’s “N-head” ranch.
8I like that, Sister ARtemis. MUSEUM OF THE ART OF OPPRESSION. Maybe we could open the museum in one of the empty buildings downtown. But really, it would fit in nicely at the state Capitol. It just would be a pain to look at. Juanita Jean, I think you done yourself proud on this one.
9A “MUSEUM OF THE ART OF OPPRESSION” belongs on Wall St in NYC don’t you think? Or maybe somewhere in DC?
10While it’s being moved, could it make a swing though Tampa Bay next month? It could then be displayed for a few days at the entrance to the Repulican National Convention.
11Okay, so I am going to take the opposing viewpoint. I’m ornery that way.
I think the statue should be left where it is. While we may find it offensive (and I do) it is an historical piece and a learning “moment.”
I can appreciate the pure artistry of the sculpture. And I can also appreciate its historical significance.
I am reminded of the Vatican when they decided that all male nude statues were obscene and then proceeded to lop off all of the statues penises and replace them with a sculpted grape leaf. Or the Taliban that blasted away a two thousand year old Budda carved into a rock face because they found it religiously offensive.
Or closer to home, John Aschroft who infamously covered the statue of Justice because he found the bare breasts of a woman offensive.
I am also reminded of the recent legislative proposal in Tenn or maybe one of the Carolinas to remove all references to slavery from school textbooks.
Our past is what it is and we need to confront it. Because, you know, there is that whole “those who fail to understand history are doomed to repeat it” thing.
Leave the statue where it is. We need to learn from our past.
12If any fragment of a woman’s breast is shown then we just need to point that out to the radical right. They’ll have that statue covered with drapes in no time.
13@LynnN: there are also probably pictures and videos of half nekkid Pooh Bears in the local Library. I’m just saying…
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