Posted by artscivica on March 8, 2017 · Leave a Comment
Micah Meadowcraft writes for The American Conservative: Will Eisenhower Ever Have a Fitting Memorial? By MICAH MEADOWCROFT • March 8, 2017, 12:00 AM Few seem to really like it, but for now it seems to be limping along to somewhere. That sentiment describes the latest chapter in the saga of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial. It was commissioned … Read more
Category "columns", "tapestries", anti-heroism, appropriations, bloated size, Bruce Cole, closed competition, Congressional opposition, Eisenhower Memorial Commission, exorbitant cost, House Natural Resources Oversight Investigation, Justin Shubow, memorial funding, National Civic Art Society, NCAS Report on the Eisenhower Memorial, private fundraising, teenage Eisenhower statue
Posted by artscivica on September 7, 2014 · Leave a Comment
After 15 years and $40 million spent, Frank Gehry’s wildly unpopular design for the National Eisenhower Memorial is on life support. Not a shovel of dirt has been turned, Congress zeroed all construction funding, and the National Capital Planning Commission denied preliminary approval. Recently, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Environment voted to eliminate … Read more
Category "columns", "tapestries", anti-heroism, bloated size, Bruce Cole, Catesby Leigh, classical and traditional architecture, closed competition, Congressional opposition, Congressman Rob Bishop, debris, durability, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Edward A. Feiner, Eisenhower Family, Eisenhower Memorial Commission, exorbitant cost, Frank Gehry, Freedom of Information Act Request, GSA, impermanence, Justin Shubow, Kansas, maintenance cost, memorial funding, Modernism, National Capital Planning Commission, National Civic Art Society, National Park Service, NCAS Report on the Eisenhower Memorial, New Eisenhower Memorial Competition, Philip Kennicott, President Barack Obama, private fundraising, public opposition, Robert Wilson, Rocco C. Siciliano, Soviet style, starchitects, statuary, tapestry, Teresita Fernández, the Memorial and the law, theater for cars, U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, U.S. House Subcommittee on Public Lands
Posted by artscivica on July 22, 2013 · 2 Comments
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 22, 2013 CONTACT: [email protected] or (202) 670-1776 National Civic Art Society Slams Ike Memorial at Fine Arts Commission, Says Central Statue Belongs in a Snow-globe On Thursday, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts–the federal agency tasked with protecting the aesthetics of the National Mall–took up the planned National Eisenhower Memorial. (For news stories on the event, … Read more
Category "columns", "tapestries", anti-heroism, barefoot boy Eisenhower statue, bloated size, Eisenhower Memorial Commission, Frank Gehry, impermanence, National Civic Art Society, NCAS Report on the Eisenhower Memorial, ruined temple, statuary, U.S. Commission of Fine Arts
Posted by artscivica on January 31, 2013 · Leave a Comment
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 7, 2013 CONTACT: [email protected] or (202) 670-1776 National Civic Art Society Decries Manipulated Images in Eisenhower Memorial Marketing Campaign Desperate for public support for the highly unpopular design of the National Eisenhower Memorial, the Eisenhower Memorial Commission has launched a website called “Ike 2012” (http://www.iLikeIke2012.com). A mock presidential campaign, it pretends that the former president is … Read more
Posted by artscivica on December 4, 2012 · Leave a Comment
Paul Greenberg, the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, writes: I Like Ike LITTLE ROCK — Ordinarily, the news that a long overdue memorial to an historic American leader has been put on hold still again would come as a disappointment. But if you’ve seen the innocuous design for an Eisenhower memorial in the nation’s … Read more
Posted by artscivica on October 15, 2012 · Leave a Comment
Robert Campbell, the Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic for the Boston Globe, wrote a hard-hitting article detailing numerous irredemiable flaws in Frank Gehry’s avant-garde design for the Eisenhower Memorial. It’s way too big. It’s too cartoony. Someone should scrub the design and start over. It’s the proposal for a memorial to Dwight Eisenhower, the World War … Read more
Posted by artscivica on September 19, 2012 · Leave a Comment
Stars and Stripes reports: Critics Continue Assault on Eisenhower Memorial Design By C.J. Lin Published: September 18, 2012 Critics of the planned memorial honoring former President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Washington D.C. continued their assault on the design by famed architect Frank Gehry on Tuesday, calling instead for a smaller memorial within an urban park … Read more
Posted by artscivica on April 23, 2012 · Leave a Comment
Michael J. Lewis, a distinguished professor of art at Williams College, wrote a powerful essay on the decline in American monuments, including how Frank Gehry’s design of the Eisenhower Memorial serves as an example: The Decline of American Monuments and Memorials MICHAEL J. LEWIS, the Faison-Pierson-Stoddard Professor of Art at Williams College, has taught American art and … Read more
Posted by artscivica on April 10, 2012 · Leave a Comment
Writing in the Washington Post, opinion columnist Richard Cohen criticizes the design for the Eisenhower Memorial, which he says depicts the president as “an eternal innocent”: With Eisenhower, Art Does Not Imitate His Life One day in 1967, Dwight D. Eisenhower came to New York for the opening of an exhibition of his paintings at … Read more
Posted by artscivica on April 6, 2012 · Leave a Comment
Greg Crosby published an article in the Tolucan Times, a Los Angeles-area newspaper, critiquing the Eisenhower Memorial design: Do They Really Like Ike? By Greg Crosby on April 5th, 2012 The wisdom has always been that history is written by the winners of wars. And today it appears that it works the same way for the culture wars … Read more
Posted by artscivica on March 14, 2012 · Leave a Comment
The Times of Trenton (New Jersey) published the following excellent op-ed: Opinion: The brilliance of Dwight D. Eisenhower Published: Wednesday, March 14, 2012, 6:38 AM By Gregory J. Sullivan “Eisenhower was not a political sophisticate; he was a political genius.”— Garry Wills The gathering storm of opposition over the anti-heroic design by Frank Gehry for … Read more
Posted by artscivica on February 20, 2012 · Leave a Comment
Writing in the Washington Post, George F. Will joins the chorus opposing the design for the Eisenhower Memorial. He also emphasizes why Eisenhower deserves a national memorial. (For more on why Eisenhower has been underrated, see also Fred I. Greenstein’s excellent book The Hidden-Hand Presidency: Eisenhower as Leader.): Eisenhower Memorial Misses the Man By George … Read more
Posted by artscivica on February 14, 2012 · 1 Comment
World-famous architect Leon Krier–an expert on Washington, D.C.’s architecture and urban planning–published a piercingly intelligent critique of the design for the Eisenhower Memorial in Metropolis Magazine: Eisenhower Memorial, Washington, D.C. By Leon Krier Image from designboom The Eisenhower Memorial competition and project have stirred a remarkable polemic, the center of which is not President Eisenhower … Read more
Category "columns", "tapestries", anti-heroism, bloated size, classical and traditional architecture, Frank Gehry, Leon Krier, McMillan Plan, Modernism, National Civic Art Society, Pierre L'Enfant, public opposition, ruined temple, theater for cars
Posted by artscivica on February 13, 2012 · Leave a Comment
In the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pulitzer-Prize winner David Shribman thoughtfully weighs in on the controversy regarding how President Eisenhower ought to be memorialized. His article does an excellent job at placing Eisenhower in historical context. National Perspective: Which Ike to Like? By David Shribman In World War II, he tamed America’s allies and conquered its adversaries. … Read more
Posted by artscivica on February 10, 2012 · 1 Comment
At Better! Cities & Towns, one of the best publications devoted to urban planning, Philip Langdon penned what is perhaps the most thorough article yet on the flawed design of Frank Gehry’s Eisenhower Memorial: . . . The most scathing response to the design has been a 153-page report, “The Gehry Towers Over Eisenhower,” issued in … Read more
Category "columns", "tapestries", anti-heroism, barefoot boy Eisenhower statue, closed competition, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Eisenhower Family, National Capital Planning Commission, National Civic Art Society, public opposition, Susan Eisenhower, theater for cars
Posted by artscivica on February 10, 2012 · 1 Comment
Writing for Foreign Policy, Stephen W. Walt, the esteemed professor of international relations at Harvard, scathingly reviews Frank Gehry’s avant-garde design for the Eisenhower Memorial. Who Likes Ike? Not Frank Gehry The family of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower is now weighing in against renowned architect Frank Gehry’s proposed design for an Eisenhower Memorial on … Read more
Posted by artscivica on January 31, 2012 · Leave a Comment
WORLD magazine published a piercing critique of the planned Eisenhower Memorial: Mystic chords: The Proposed Eisenhower Memorial Reflects a Nation that has Forgotten Greatness . . . The Eisenhower National Memorial was commissioned in 1999, but the design was not unveiled until late last year, to a mixed reception. Early in January the controversy exploded … Read more
Category "columns", "tapestries", anti-heroism, barefoot boy Eisenhower statue, David Eisenhower, Eisenhower Family, Eisenhower Memorial Commission, Frank Gehry, Kansas, National Civic Art Society, public opposition