In Response to Complaints, Gehry Changes Design for Eisenhower Memorial

Susan Walsh/Associated PressThe architect Frank Gehry’s model of the Eisenhower Memorial on Tuesday before a meeting of the Eisenhower Memorial Commission.

The architect Frank Gehry has refined his design for a memorial to Dwight D. Eisenhower on the Washington Mall in response to concerns from the Eisenhower family and historians that a youthful statue failed to represent the former president’s significant achievements.

Mr. Gehry outlined his changes to the design on Tuesday in a letter that was presented at a meeting of the Eisenhower Memorial Commission.

“I love this type of collaboration,” Mr. Gehry said in the letter. “It is a process that I think is vital to the success of any endeavor and one that was necessary to make sense of sometimes contradictory characterizations of President Eisenhower. How do you represent a man of such towering achievement whose modesty was one of his core values?”

Yet Mr. Gehry then went on to present changes that mainly affect the memorial’s bas-relief sculptures — changing them to three-dimensional statues – and did not alter the most controversial element. “I still believe that the sculpture of Eisenhower as a young man looking out on his future accomplishments is a powerful image,” Mr. Gehry wrote.

Susan Eisenhower, a granddaughter, said that the family is reviewing the design changes and plans to make a statement early next week.

The image of Eisenhower as a young man is based on remarks he made in 1945 upon his return from World War II to his hometown of Abilene, Kan., where he referred to himself as having once been “a barefoot boy.” There is also a photograph at that age that Mr. Gehry said he drew upon.

In changing the bas-relief sculptures, a redesign reported by The Washington Post, the memorial would now include several statues of Eisenhower at various stages of his career, rather than just the one of him as a young man. The memorial is to be located on the Mall at the base of Capitol Hill, north of the Education Department.

In concluding his letter, Mr. Gehry wrote: “I would be proud to wear an ‘I Like Ike’ button every day for the rest of my life. He represents what we should all try to be.

“I have brought all of my talents to bear on this memorial,” he continued. “I hope that you are as energized as I am by the changes and that we can proudly move forward with the next stages.”

Source & Image : New York Times