Giant Marilyn Monroe Statue Unveiled in Chicago

Posted on July 15, 2011

A giant 26-foot statue of Marilyn Monroe, named "Forever Marilyn," has been unveiled in Chicago. In collaboration with The Sculpture Foundation, Zeller Realty Group commissioned the premiere installation of the new artwork by sculptor Seward Johnson.

The statue recreates the scene from The Seven Year Itch where Marilyn is trying to keep her dress from being blown by a draft from a subway grate.

Ssculptor Seward Johnson says in a statement, "In this series, Icons Revisitied, I am trying to discover what makes an image stick with us; become something more than its one moment in time. Marilyn has come to represent beauty, and the white dress blowing up around her is a type of teasing sensuality. It is perfect to have Marilyn make her international debut in Chicago at Pioneer Court. The location is expansive and allows people to see her from a distance as well as easily come close and actually touch her. Paul Zeller, owner of Zeller Realty Group, really understands what I am after with this piece. There is something about her pose; the exuberance for life without inhibition, which is quintessentially American. It expresses an uninhibited sense of our own vibrancy."




More from Watchers Watch