Daily Beast: Gehry’s Eisenhower Memorial Does not Befit the President’s Humility
Posted by artscivica on February 15, 2016 · Leave a Comment
Nicolaus Mills, who wrote the authoritative book on the National World War II Memorial, comments in the Daily Beast: Disputed Vision: It’s D-Day for Ike’s Memorial 02.15.16 12:00 AM ET The battle over plans for a Washington memorial to Dwight Eisenhower drags on, but meanwhile more and more of the Greatest Generation fades away each … Read more
NCAS Slams Ike Memorial at Fine Arts Commission, Says Central Statue Belongs in a Snow-globe
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
New Yorker Mag: “Reboot” the Ike Memorial; “In True Bipartisan Spirit, Almost Everyone Hates It”
Posted by artscivica on March 26, 2013 · 1 Comment
Jeffery Frank, author of the new book Ike and Dick: Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage, comments for The New Yorker: March 25, 2013 Rescuing the Eisenhower Memorial By Jeffrey Frank On the anniversary of President Eisenhower’s first Inauguration, he went to Fort McNair, which was nearby, to have lunch with some Army pals. His … Read more
Boston Globe’s Architecture Critic: Eisenhower Memorial Design Should Be Scrubbed
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
Eisenhower Memorial Commission Responds to Questions from House Subcommittee
Posted by artscivica on May 11, 2012 · 1 Comment
On March 20, 2012, the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands of the House Committee on Natural Resources held a historic hearing about Frank Gehry’s proposed design for the Eisenhower Memorial. Howard Segermark, chairman emeritus of the National Civic Art Society, testified against the design and the process that selected it. (His remarks can … Read more
Category "tapestries", barefoot boy Eisenhower statue, Charles Ray, closed competition, Congressional opposition, Congressman Rob Bishop, Eisenhower Memorial Commission, Eisenhower Memorial Commission minutes, Frank Gehry, GSA, House Subcommittee Hearing, impermanence, Ret. Gen. Carl Reddel, the Memorial and the law
National Journal: How Should We Remember Ike?
Posted by artscivica on April 24, 2012 · Leave a Comment
National Journal published an excellent overview of the controversy over the Eisenhower Memorial: How Should We Remember Ike? by Christopher Snow Hopkins Updated: April 20, 2012 | 4:10 p.m. April 18, 2012 | 9:30 p.m. A battle is under way over the legacy of the 34th president, and at the heart of it is Dwight D. … Read more
Michael J. Lewis: Ike Memorial Fails as a Monument
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
Roger K. Lewis in WaPo: Modernists Should Oppose Gehry’s Memorial, Too
Posted by artscivica on April 11, 2012 · Leave a Comment
Roger K. Lewis, professor emeritus of architecture at the University of Maryland, writes in the Washington Post that Gehry’s design for the Eisenhower Memorial ought to be opposed not just by those who prefer classical architecture but by Modernists as well: Gehry’s Eisenhower Memorial Design Needs to Be Rethought The Eisenhower Memorial Commission recently decided to … Read more
Roger Scruton: Gehry’s Memorial Is Intended to Belittle Eisenhower
Posted by artscivica on April 11, 2012 · Leave a Comment
Roger Scruton is one of the world’s most esteemed philosophers. In particular, he is one of the leading philosophers of art and architecture. See, for example, his books The Aesthetics of Architecture, The Classical Vernacular: Architectural Principles in an Age of Nihilism, and Beauty: A Very Short Introduction. You can also watch his BBC documentary, Why Beauty … Read more
Richard Cohen in WaPo: Ike Memorial Doesn’t “Imitate His Life”
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
NCAS: The Problems with Gehry’s Eisenhower Memorial
Posted by artscivica on April 10, 2012 · Leave a Comment
Writing for First Things magazine, Erik Bootsma and Eric Wind, who serve on the Board of Directors of the National Civic Art Society, detailed the numerous flaws in Frank Gehry’s avant-garde Eisenhower Memorial: Over the past year, “starchitect” Frank Gehry’s design for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial on the National Mall, has been the subject of … Read more
L.A. Newspaper: Ike Memorial Is “Dumbed-Down and Infantile”
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
Kearney Hub (of Nebraska) Rejects Gehry’s Eisenhower Memorial Design
Posted by artscivica on March 13, 2012 · Leave a Comment
The Kearney Hub of Nebraska editorializes: Ike earned his memorial, but make it fit the man Posted: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 2:30 pm | Updated: 8:44 pm, Sun Apr 29, 2012. We don’t claim to be culturally deft, but we do have a sense for the accomplishments of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme allied commander … Read more
The New Republic: Ike Memorial Design “Bombastic and Silly”
Posted by artscivica on March 10, 2012 · 1 Comment
Writing for The New Republic, historian Geoffrey Kabaservice vehemently opposes the planned design for the Eisenhower Memorial: With its 80-foot-high smokestack columns towering over a four-acre site whose only representation of its subject would be a statue showing him as a barefoot boy, the current design for the proposed Dwight D. Eisenhower memorial in Washington, … Read more
Congressmen Dan Lungren and Aaron Schock Call for Rejecting Eisenhower Memorial Design
Posted by artscivica on February 28, 2012 · Leave a Comment
In a bold letter to the National Capital Planning Commission, Congressmen Dan Lungren (CA) and Aaron Schock (IL) have called for rejecting the Frank Gehry’s design for the Eisenhower Memorial. In doing so, they join Representative Frank Wolf (VA), who also publicly opposes the terrible design. They also join the entire Eisenhower family, who have … Read more
Category "tapestries", barefoot boy Eisenhower statue, classical and traditional architecture, Congressional opposition, Congressman Aaron Schock, Congressman Dan Lungren, Congressman Frank R. Wolf, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Eisenhower Family, fast-tracked governmental approval, maintenance cost, Modernism, National Capital Planning Commission, NCAS Report on the Eisenhower Memorial, public opposition
George Will: Eisenhower Memorial Misses the Man
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
Politico: Memorial Design Sparks Monumental Controversy
Posted by artscivica on February 16, 2012 · Leave a Comment
Politico reported on the opposition to Frank Gehry’s ugly design for the Eisenhower Memorial: Memorial design sparks controversy By: Puja Murgai February 15, 2012 10:49 PM EST How should Dwight D. Eisenhower be remembered? As the Supreme Allied Commander of World War II? As the president of the United States who fostered an era of … Read more
Category Anne Eisenhower, barefoot boy Eisenhower statue, Congressman Frank R. Wolf, David Eisenhower, Eisenhower Family, fast-tracked governmental approval, Frank Gehry, Leon Krier, National Capital Planning Commission, National Civic Art Society, public opposition, Susan Eisenhower, U.S. Commission of Fine Arts
Pulitzer-Prize Winner: Barefoot Boy Ike Statue “Discordant,” Indecorous
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
Congressman Frank Wolf Calls for Rejecting Gehry’s Eisenhower Memorial Design
Posted by artscivica on February 10, 2012 · Leave a Comment
The Associated Press reports great news for everyone trying to slow down the Eisenhower Memorial freight train: A Virginia congressman is asking a federal panel to reject an architect’s design for a memorial honoring President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Washington, noting that the World War II general’s family’s objections.In a letter Friday to the National … Read more
Better Cities & Towns: NCAS Report on the Eisenhower Memorial Is “Devastating”
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