The Statue of Liberty

$ecular#eckler

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Jan 13, 2020
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In 1998 I went to New York for a year, and made a lot of trips on the Staten Island Ferry. It does not stop at the Statue of Liberty, but it passes by almost every time. Only one time, when there was a lot of boat traffic, and the ferry went around the other side of governors island. I am an art school dropout, and learned to be a bit more observant and critical of renderings of people; although, I am not a good renderer of human anatomy, myself. Anyway, it may have been on my first ferry ride and I was excited to be able to pass and look at the statue for the first time with my trained eye - I had been to the statue in the past, but did not look at it as a trained artist type critiquing artwork, I was always a tourist.
lady-liberty-800x800-1.jpg


Legend has it that the sculptor, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, when asked, replied that it was modeled of his mother. I do not believe that.
According to popular accounts, the face was modeled after that of Charlotte Beysser Bartholdi, the sculptor's mother,[32] but Regis Huber, the curator of the Bartholdi Museum is on record as saying that this, as well as other similar speculations, have no basis in fact.[33] He designed the figure with a strong, uncomplicated silhouette, which would be set off well by its dramatic harbor placement and allow passengers on vessels entering New York Bay to experience a changing perspective on the statue as they proceeded toward Manhattan.

I posed the question one time to some Black-American acquaintances, and the woman explained to me that the model was of a Black woman. I did not reject her theory, but explained that I am very sure that it is a portrait of a pregnant woman. And that Bartholdi had to disguise the fact that it was a pregnant woman, because that would have driven the Victorian Era culture up the wall - a 300 foot statue of a pregnant woman in the middle of the harbor.

What do you think?
 
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Nah, I don't think so, not a pregnant woman/statue.
 
This reminds me of when I was in the 10th grade. One of my teachers was young and quite pretty, but she wore blouses that hid her belly, and I thought she was wearing maternity cloths. One day in class in front of everyone I asked her when she was due, and it turned out that she wasn't pregnant after all.

I learned a valuable lesson that day. Don't assume that a lady is pregnant because she looks pregnant. Wait for her to say something to confirm the pregnancy rather than bringing the topic up.

I've never thought that Lady Liberty was modeled after a pregnant woman, but after reading this thread and looking at the pictures I do see it as a possibility, but then again, maybe not. Anyway, I'm not asking her when she is due!
 

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