The colossal human figures—monuments magnified many times their actual size—continue to captivate the imagination of those wishing to commemorate a significant national event, a reigning dynasty, a beloved hero, or a fledgling republic, leaving a majestic mark of humanity upon the natural landscape.
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The Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The statue is made of concrete resting on a steel core. |
Such memorials are not only products of the golden age of colossal statues, which spanned from the late 1880s to 50 years later, when the Statue of Liberty in New York was completed, throughout the 1930s with the elevation of the Christ the Redeemer in Rio and the National Monument at Mount Rushmore, dedicated in 1941. The lineage of statues stretches back to the wonders of the ancient world, such as the Colossus of Rhodes and the colossal statues created by the Pharaohs of Egypt.
In all three of these instances, the main purpose of the statues is to embody or encapsulate, on a monumental scale, a long-held sentiment that seems to call for a more permanent form of expression. For the Statue of Liberty, the aim is to express the friendship of the French people towards the citizens of a similarly young republic, the United States. The Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio is widely recognized due to the efforts of the Christian community in the city, intended to serve as a tangible source of inspiration for local believers as well as to express hospitality through the symbol of its outstretched arms. The statue on Mount Rushmore originated from an idea nurtured by a state historian from South Dakota to draw more attention to his region through sculptures commemorating figures who settled the West. The portrayals of Kit Carson and Buffalo Bill were later replaced by Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.
Today, these original motivating forces may be forgotten, but the powerful allure of these statues as representations of the cities or nations they symbolize remains undiminished over time. Restoration efforts are necessary to repair the damage caused by age and environmental conditions; however, these statues continue to be revered and promoted as national symbols.
The process of designing, constructing, or sculpting these colossal statues in highly exposed locations calls for a certain level of cooperation between the sculptor and his selected engineers. The structure must withstand enormous forces, while the limited area may risk subsidence in the foundation and the construction of the base, as seen with sculptor John Gutzon Borglum’s work at Mount Rushmore, where meticulous logistics were required to convert desired three-dimensional shapes from the drawing board to the rock face.
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The Statue of Liberty in New York |
Statues often demand to be as tall as or taller than the nearest building in the welcoming city, a feat that Gustave Eiffel—the engineer for whom the tower is named—had to achieve by using a steel framework to resist wind loading, supporting the cast iron components that form the “skin” of the Statue of Liberty, a new technique adopted by builders of skyscrapers in New York.
An artist begins by creating a small-scale model based on the shape of the statue to be completed and reviews assembly options. Subsequently, the outer cross-section of the structure will be divided into a collection of parts for production, transportation, and assembly at the site. At Mount Rushmore, where materials were blasted and chiseled directly rather than constructed according to the cross-sectional shapes of the four presidents, the sculptor devised an ingenious method to enlarge the head from the model right on site, removing only the necessary rock. The eyes of the skilled artist remain dominant. Paul Landowski, a sculptor of French and Polish descent, who created the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio, firmly believed he completed the design of the statue’s head and hands at full scale to avoid any distortion likely to occur during the enlargement from the model.
Statues of today’s scale are almost unthinkable. Instead, a series of iconic structures in recent times, such as the Sydney Opera House and the Guggenheim Museum, also serve similar purposes, contributing to the international reputation of a city, much like these three colossal statues.
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The giant heads of the first four presidents of the United States carved from the granite face of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota using explosives and drills. |
