Joanie On The Pony Hauled Away On A Flatbed!
Which, I suppose, is at least better than that time when the flames rose to her Roman nose and her Walkman started to melt. Nevertheless, a flatbed caused a certain degree of fright when it pulled up outside the Art Museum today and hauled away Emmanuel Frémiet’s statue of Joan of Arc. Constructed in 1874, Frémiet’s Joan Of Arc was commissioned by none other than Napoleon III and was originally located in Paris. When the City of Philadelphia commissioned a copy, Frémiet sent the original, which is a lot cooler than what that cheeseball Rodin did when he made like a gazillion knockoffs of The Thinker. But like The Thinker, Joan Of Arc is just being spruced up a bit; it’s been hauled to Milner & Carr Conservation’s workshop on American Street, where, we are told, a patina of bronze will be worked on to the statue, as well as some other repairs. The effort is being undertaken by Mayor Nutter’s Public Art Program of the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy. It’ll be back in its place at 25th Street and Kelly Drive in the late fall. After the jump, a release just provided to us by the Fairmount Park folks.
[Hat tip: Philly Chit Chat]
Public Art Program Restores Joan of Arc Statue
The City of Philadelphia Public Art Program of the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy announces the restoration of Emmanuel Frémiet’s Joan of Arc sculpture located at 25th Street and Kelly Drive in Fairmount Park. The gilded bronze sculpture will be removed from its pedestal on Thursday, July 23rd and restored at an off-site location; the granite pedestal will undergo stabilization and repair during that time. The work will be performed by: Milner + Carr Conservation, George Young Company, and Gold Leaf Studios. Funding for this important project, which will ensure that this dramatic and historic landmark is preserved for future generations, is provided by the City’s capital budget and a grant from the French Heritage Society, Inc. The refurbished sculpture will be reinstalled and rededicated on the site in late fall.
In 1889, members of the French community in Philadelphia, in conjunction with the Fairmount Park Art Association, commemorated their centennial by purchasing the statue of Joan from Frémiet. Jeanne D’Arc was a peasant girl who, as a young teen, led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years’ War and was instrumental in returning her homeland to French rule. She claimed divine guidance and was captured, condemned a heretic, and burned at the stake at the age of nineteen. She was declared a saint in 1920, and since that time numerous writers, composers, choreographers and filmmakers have created works about her. The restoration of this dazzling sculpture depicting France’s national heroine marks the Kelly Drive entrance to Fairmount Park and is emblematic of Philadelphia’s world-class public art collection.
