Press release
from the
KEY WEST ART & HISTORICAL SOCIETY
281 FRONT STREET, KEY WEST, FL 33040
295-6616 Fax: 295-6649
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Life-size Hemingway will preside at Custom House
Long a part of the lore and literary heritage of Key West, Ernest Hemingway will become a permanent presence when a life-size bronze statue of the famous writer is installed on the apron of the Custom House next July.
Internationally renown sculptor Terry Jones will work on a full-size clay model of the sculpture during October and November in the studio at the Fort East Martello Museum, and the casting will be finished in the Laran Bronze Foundry in Chester Pa., Claudia Pennington, executive director of the Key West Art & Historical Society, announced this week. The finished monument will be unveiled during a ceremony on the anniversary of Hemingway's birthday, July 21, 2005 in front of the Custom House
The bronze statue, which depicts Hemingway with a moustache, clad in fishing clothes- as he looked when he lived in key West during the 1930s-has been donated to the Key West Museum of Art & History through the generosity of David L. Copham, a Fort Myers businessman and avid Hemingway fan.
"Mr. Copham has made a very significant contribution to the people of Key West as well as to everyone who visits the island and passes along Front Street," Pennington said. "Because the statue is cast bronze, it will be a lasting cultural monument for this century and quite probably the next."
Jones, who has been a professional sculptor for the past 37 years and whose historical statuary from the Napoleonic Wars, the Civil War, World War II and Viet Nam stands in cities throughout the country, will fashion the Hemingway memorial by an ancient bronze casting process called "lost wax."
"It is a very old technique based on principals developed millenniums ago that haven't changed much," he said. "The bronze weathers well with minimal care and should even withstand a hurricane on the Custom house plaza. Ancient bronze castings that fell overboard in the Aegean Sea thousands of years ago have been recovered, cleaned up and now look almost new."
The museum was able to obtain the new sculpture through fortunate timing and a very serendipitous chain of events, Pennington explained. Much of the credit should go to the quick thinking of Gordon Brown Jr., publisher of Key Wester magazine and a board member of the Art & Historical Society, which operates the museum at the Custom House.
Jones calls it "kismet," a Turkish term meaning fate.
"It began with David and Cheryl Copham, who are like the patrons during the Renaissance that contributed so much to European culture by preserving the arts," Jones said. "David has been a Hemingway admirer for years, and a while ago he asked me to create a bronze statue for a fountain using Santiago and the marlin from (Hemingway's Pulitzer prize novel) 'The Old Man and the Sea.' He was so excited about what I did that he immediately wanted me to do a life-size statue of Hemingway.
"I was in Key West looking for a location for the statue and was about to leave for the airport when I happened to show some photos to Kate Miano at Ambrosia guesthouse where I was staying," Jones related. "She immediately called her friend Gordon Brown who raced over. He persuaded me to reschedule my flight, and the next day he took me to meet Claudia Pennington. She was very enthusiastic because the museum is very involved in Hemingway's legacy. Then it all fell into place."
"This is a winning situation everyone," said Pennington. "Terry Jones has the opportunity to work on a lasting memorial. The museum will add to its already extensive Hemingway collection. David Copham will be able to donate an outstanding piece of art to a permanent and appropriate home. And, most of all, the Keys community will have a monument of which they can be proud."
"More importantly, Jones will work on the life-size clay sculpture during October and November in the East Martello where children's tours and other visitors will have the opportunity to monitor his progress as the statue proceeds from concept to creation. We will have weekly updates on our website at www. KWAHS.com where everyone can watch the sculpture progress."
Jones already has finished a 13-inch clay model of the statue and will have completed the clay model for Hemingway's head when he begins work at the East Martello. A limited number of bronze copies of the small sculpture will be sold in the museum's gift shops with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the Art & Historical Society, he said.
Jones, himself has a full gray beard, and plans to enter the Papa Look-alike contest during Hemingway Days in July 2005, but he said his sculpture will look like Hemingway his late thirties when he sported a moustache and lived in the house on Whitehead Street.
"Sculpting Hemingway with a full beard, the way he appeared in many popular photographs taken later in his life, would be much easier," Jones said, "but it would not be historically accurate.
In fact, Jones said, the whole task of making a Hemingway monument has been, well, monumental.
"Hemingway is man of mythical proportions, larger than life. He's the legendary male of his generation," he said.
"I've looked at hundreds of photographs including those made by Alfred Eisenstaedt, the Life Magazine photographer who described Hemingway as one of his most difficult subjects. I understand that now. Hemingway is a tough head. I want to capture his spirit, which could be just an expression in one eye."
Jones brings formidable credentials to the task.
His formal education was at the Hussian School of Art in Philadelphia and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. In 1980 he was selected to show at the International Exhibit of Medallic Art, Florence, Italy.
The American Numismatic Association named him Medallic Sculptor of the Year in 1984. In 1988 his eight-foot bronze statue of Gen. John Gibbon, a Philadelphia native, was dedicated at Gettysburg. He sculpted portraits of Gov. Tom Ridge & Lt. Gov. Mark Schweiker for PA Inaugural Medal in 1999.
In 2001 Jones made two seven-foot figures for the "Angel of Marye's Heights monument at the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, PA, and in 2003 a 21-foot high granite monument containing four life-size bronze statues was dedicated at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y.
His works also are in private and museum collections worldwide.
Asked to explain how the "lost wax" method of creating a bronze works, Jones replied this way:
"It is a little complicate to explain, even when you are taking a tour at the foundry, but I'll try.
"I begin by sculpting a life-size a full size model in clay. I'm in the process of finishing the head in my studio in Pennsylvania. The rest will be done at the East Martello.
"Once the life-size clay figure is completed-and that will take several months- a silicone rubber mold is poured over the clay. When several layers of silicone have set up, the mold is removed. The inside of the rubber mold is the negative image of the original clay. Warm wax then is poured or painted into the silicone mold to what will be the thickness of the bronze, about a quarter inch. When that hardens, the silicone layer is removed and the wax mold is immersed in a fire-resistant liquid ceramic, which coats it inside and out. After the ceramic shell hardens, the wax is burned out- hence the name of the process: 'lost wax..'
"Next liquid molten bronze at a temperature of 2200 degrees is poured into the ceramic shell where the wax used to be, and when the bronze hardens the shell is broken away.
"The Hemingway statue, which is taller than six feet, will be cast in many pieces, so there will be about a dozen different molds. Finally, all the cast pieces will be welded together to form the finished statue. With the craftsmanship of the foundry workers, the bronze will appear seamless.
The present plans call for everything to be completed in time for an unveiling on Hemingway's birthday during Hemingway Days 2005.
Jones explained that he is very eager to do the memorial, especially because he will get to do it in Key West.
He said he likes the idea of people being able to watch as things take shape over the weeks.
This all happened so fortuitously," he said. "It was almost as if a muse were up there directing things. I could have been staying anywhere in Key West. I could have left for the airport earlier. Kate and Gordon could have been less perceptive. Claudia could have been out of town. Who knows? We're just mortals."
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 | Internationally renownSculptor Terry Jonesputting finishing touchesto a 13-inch clay model of the statueof Ernest Hemingway |