The Breadline FDR Memorial Washington DC

At the FDR memorial in Washington DC, the design concept is of four outdoor ‘rooms’ and gardens, each one representative of one of the terms of... more

by Joan Carroll

Title

The Breadline FDR Memorial Washington DC

Artist

Joan Carroll

Medium

Photograph - Photography And Digital Art

Description

At the FDR memorial in Washington DC, the design concept is of four outdoor ‘rooms’ and gardens, each one representative of one of the terms of the presidency of the 32nd president of the United States. Dedicated on May 2, 1997 by President Bill Clinton, the monument is spread over 7.5 acres. In Room Two, the sculpture entitled The Breadline by George Segal represents the despair of the Great Depression. Slump-shouldered, straight-faced, and dressed in nondescript overcoats and battered hats, hunched over in downcast isolation, the life-sized figures are arranged against a wall of dark brick to await their rations of food. This plays out an all-too-familiar scene from the Great Depression of the late 1920s and 1930s. The sculptor, who was a child during the Depression, had a great respect for Roosevelt. “One of my most vivid memories was of my father shushing everyone in the room when Roosevelt began one of his fireside chats,” Segal wrote. “FDR had a looming, intensely personal relationship with millions, who were convinced he was compassionately on their side.” The figures in the work are all life-cast from individuals in Segal’s life, including Martin Friedman, then director of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis; long-time friend and photographer, Donald Lokuta; Daniel Burger of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Segal himself; and at the front of the line, Leon Bibel, a neighbor of Segal’s and a former artist for the WPA Federal Art Project who had once himself stood in the Depression-era breadlines. Segal’s wife once said that the people chosen as models for this work were the people Segal wanted “to spend eternity with.” The sculpture is a heartbreaking oft-enacted public scene which brought tears to my eyes because of the sad and soul-crushing realization that such a situation in current days would not be as sympathetically embraced by the current narcissistic ‘leadership’ that was in power when I viewed this in 2017.

FEATURED PHOTO, STARVING ARTIST PHOTOGRAPHERS group, 8/3/19

FEATURED PHOTO, 1000 Views on 1 Image group, 7/8/19

FEATURED PHOTO, The World We See Group, 9/12/18

FEATURED PHOTO, Your Story of Art group, 8/21/18

Joan carroll, dc, fdr, franklin Delano Roosevelt,

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August 20th, 2018