People have disagreed on the quality of this work. I won't say more than this: it will never be my favorite statue of a bird in Boston.
This is Arthur Conan Doyle in Crowborough, England. It's surprisingly recent, having been created by David Cornell in 2000.
And here is Dorothy L. Sayers standing opposite her home in Witham. I like the cat, don't you?
Here is Georges Simenon as seen in Liege in Belgium.
And below you will find the creator of Father Brown standing proudly in Chesterton Square. Can you guess what city this piece by David Wanner can be found in? Would you believe New Orleans?
And
now that we have made it to the United States I would like to show you
some photos of sculptures of American mystery authors. Unfortunately I
can't because a search of the web turned up no statues or even busts of
Hammett, Chandler, Gardner, or Stout. What likely candidates am I
missing?I suppose creating sculptures of authors may be more of a European thing than an American, but frankly I was expecting to find at least a bust or two created by schools that had been honored with the archives of one or another author. If anyone knows of some, let me know.
It seems you have to be a Major League baseball player to get a statue in this country. And none of the names you mention could hit a curve ball.
ReplyDeleteHow about Sandburg? I realize he isn't a mystery writer, but it would be a start.
He's not a mystery writer, but if you google "Mark Twain statue" several come up, in various cities.
ReplyDeleteThis angle looks more interesting, but I doubt EAP's mother would recognize the face.
ReplyDeleteThe sculptures of Rodin are incredibly powerful, those of Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac, the latter which the commssion refused after Rodin spent 7 years on it. After a public backlash, it was finally cast and erected nearly 40 years after it was commissioned and well after Rodin's death. Even Balzac nude studies were powerful, so much so that one was stolen last year from an Isreali museum.
ReplyDeleteEdinburg also honors Sherlock's creator with a sculpture
ReplyDeleteYes, the face isn't much like I think of Poe. (By the way, you can find two other proposed Poe statues that this one beat,,,, deservedly so, I think).
ReplyDeleteRodin is one of my favorite artists. Someday I have to get to the Rodin museum down by the Columbia River, but we aren't big travelers. Alas, he never got around to doing Hammett.
Just heard something today about Larry Bird getting a statue. Maybe we could get him to write a few mysteries!
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