- Sculpture described as one of the worst public art eyesores is taken down in Chicago
by Kerry Mcqueeney
PUBLISHED: 05:46 EST, 8 may 2012 | UPDATED: 06:49 EST, 8 may 2012
It was given the name of forever Marilyn but, as these pictures prove, this statue’s time in the spotlight was more of a temporary arrangement.
For the artist, it may well have brought a pang of sadness to see his 26-ft sculpture dismantled from its spot in the middle of Chicago.
However, others in the Windy City will no doubt be glad to see the back of a statue which has been described as one of the worst public art eyesores.
Dismantling of an icon: the forever Marilyn sculpture by Seward Johnson is separated for disassembly in Chicago
Hanging in the balance: a worker prepares the statue’s removal by placing a rope around Marilyn’s neck (left), while another worker holds it steady (right)
Forever Marilyn: Despite the statue’s name, it’s stint in Chicago has come to an end since it was unveiled last July
The enormous tribute to the movie icon – titled forever Marilyn by artist Seward Johnson – was dismantled yesterday after going on display in the Windy City last July. However, following an initial bemused curiosity, the statue has since been mockedand criticised in equal measure.
Ithas been panned as one of the world’s biggest eyesores and was, at one time, ranked number one on the Virtual Tourist website’s top ten list ofworst public art.
The statue, under which passers-by canfreely gaze up the screen siren’s skirt, captures the iconic moment in the Seven Year Itch when the movie star bashfully held her dress down asa gust of wind billowed the fabric around her.
However,it has come in more useful as a giant umbrella, as scores of spectatorshave been using the huge structure as a safe haven to shelter from Chicago downpours.
The stainless steel and aluminum sculpture, which is 26 feet tall and weighs a whopping 34,000lbs, has raised a few eyebrows.
Not least because visitors to the plaza are at once confronted with Monroe’s pert bottom in gleaming whitepanties and her perfect pins bedecked in white, open-toe kitten heels.
‘Crude’: People were able to look directly up Marilyn’s dress… and some even used it as a shelter to protect themselves from the rain
Panned: the statue (pictured, left, being dismantled and, right, as a tourist attraction) was described as one of the world’s worst public arteyesores
In pieces: the 26-foot statue, based on a scene from the movie Seven Year Itch, was taken down after being on display since last July
Detractors have found so many things to criticise about this work that it’s hard to know where to start: Its 26-foot size; its impropriety given that the movie to which it pays tribute – 1955′s the Seven Year Itch – is set in new York; and its perceived crudeness given that viewers are able to look directly up her dress.
Abraham Ritchie wrote on Art Chicago Blog after the statue’s unveiling was a ‘creepy schlock from a fifth-rate sculptor that blights a first-rate public art collection.’
But the Zeller Realty Group, which owns the plaza and now its statue, responded by defending the art work: ‘[Paul Zeller] likes to bring in things that cause a conversation,’ saida spokesman from the company.
‘They might be controversial, but he likes art that makes people think.’
