17
Feb/13

FELIX DE WELDON: IWO JIMA MONUMENT

17
Feb/13
Felix de Weldon’s classic Iwo Jima Monument is on view in Midtown prior to Bonhams auction (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Felix de Weldon’s classic Iwo Jima Monument is on view in Midtown prior to Bonhams auction (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

WORLD WAR II: THE PACIFIC THEATER
Bonhams / 590 Atrium
580/590 Madison Ave. at 57th St.
Through February 21, free
Auction begins on February 22 at 1:00 pm
www.bonhams.com
iwo jima monument slideshow

On Friday, February 22, the 281st birthday of the Father of Our Country, a stunning piece of American history is being auctioned off at Bonhams in Midtown. Lot 163, estimated to sell for $1.2-$1.8 million, is the original cast-stone version of Felix de Weldon’s Iwo Jima statue, the sculpture based on the famous Pulitzer Prize-winning AP photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945, of five Marines and one sailor raising the U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi after a hard-fought victory on the Japanese island. (Since 2007, the work has been on board the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum.) Part of the “World War II: The Pacific Theater” sale, the five-ton statue, which stands twenty feet high including the flag (twelve feet, two inches without) and is eight feet, one inch long, is the smaller sibling of the statue that resides outside Arlington National Cemetery. Austrian-born American sculptor Felix de Weldon, who served in the navy during WWII and became a U.S. citizen in 1945, sculpted three of the figures from real life, the other three from photos, as they had died in action; the men are Sgt. Michael Strank, Cpl. Harlon Block, PFC Franklin Sousley, PFC Rene Gagnon, PFC Ira Hayes, and PM2 John Bradley. “When I saw the picture of the Iwo Jima flag raising, actually, on the same deadline as the flag raising took place, I was so deeply impressed by its significance, its meaning,” de Weldon told Jerry N. Hess of the Harry S. Truman Library in 1969, “that I imagined that it would arouse the imagination of the American people to show the forward drive, the unison of action, the will to sacrifice, the relentless determination of these young men. Everything was embodied in that picture.” De Weldon captured that same embodiment in his thrilling sculpture, which will spend the next few days on view in the 590 Atrium, amid people having lunch, entrances to various stores, two of Zhan Wang’s shiny silver stainless-steel abstract “Jiashanshi” sculptures, and, oddly enough, several pieces from Bonhams’ March 19 sale, “Fine Japanese Works of Art.”