Mihail Asen Simeonov (
Bulgarian
Bulgarian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria
* Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group
* Bulgarian language, a Slavic language
* Bulgarian alphabet
* A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria
* Bul ...
: Михаил Симеонов) (May 31 1929–December 29 2021) was a
Bulgarian-born artist who moved to
Tunis, then
New York City, and finally
Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
He is best known for his ''Cast the Sleeping Elephant Project'', a life-size bronze statue of an
African elephant. It was produced by making an
alginate cast in 1980 of a live, wild Kenyan elephant bull, which survived the 72-minute process unharmed. The bronze statue made from the cast was inaugurated in 1998 by
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and is installed outside
UN Headquarters in New York.
''Simeonov v. Tiegs'', a lawsuit that Simeonov brought in 1993 against model
Cheryl Tiegs, is a leading case in the field of artists' rights under U.S. law. The court held that Simeonov's
First Amendment right to
free speech in making casts of Tiegs's body outweighed her
right to privacy.
Since 2005, Simeonov resided in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. In September 2019, to celebrate his 75th anniversary as a practicing sculptor, he was honored with an exhibit in Pawtucket City Hall as well a Key to the City presented by Mayor Donald Grebian.
References
External links
Official website
20th-century Bulgarian male artists
20th-century Bulgarian artists
1929 births
2019 deaths
Bulgarian emigrants to the United States
{{Europe-artist-stub