Fine Art Tuesday

This Tuesday’s topic is sculpture. Pardon the quality of the picture-it was taken in 2002, using a wholly inadequate camera, by a wholly inadequate photographer (me), during Daughter’s class trip to Washington, DC. This was in February, 2002, which was a kind of weird time to be in DC. Of course, these days DC is nothing but weird, but I digress.

This is the stature of Thomas Jefferson, housed in the Jefferson Memorial. Jefferson has long been on of my favorite presidents, and getting to see this was just a lot of fun. Jefferson was, in many ways, larger than life, and this 19′ statue of him portrays that very well.

The statue was done by Rudulph Evans, who was born in Washington DC and grew up in Virginia. Interestingly enough, there were two statues. The first, finished in 1943, was plaster with a bronze finish. This was due to wartime materials shortages. In 1949, the actual bronze statue we see today was installed. The statue depicts a mid-life Jefferson, holding the Declaration of Independence. Evans died in 1960.