Every great allegory eventually acquires a gift shop.
A new exhibition at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art traces the Statue of Liberty through nearly 150 years of American visual culture—from Bartholdi’s original vision to painting, photography, Pop Art, political imagery, and the vast democratic republic of souvenirs.
At its center is one of only five small bronze versions of Liberty Enlightening the World made during Bartholdi’s lifetime. Around it are nearly 100 works and objects showing how a French sculptor’s monument became something much larger: a national symbol successive generations have admired, questioned, borrowed, reproduced, and occasionally placed on things that probably did not require a torch.
The museum even invited members of the public to contribute their own Liberty memorabilia.
One imagines Bartholdi might have been surprised.
Although perhaps not by the snow globes.
#TheModernRaconteur #DailyBrief #StatueOfLiberty