''Mermaid'' (sometimes ''The Mermaid'') is a 1979 outdoor sculpture by Roy Lichtenstein, composed of concrete, steel, polyurethane, enamel, palm tree, and water. It is located in Miami Beach at the Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater. Measuring 640 cm × 730 cm × 330 cm (252 in × 288 in × 132 in), it is his first

public art Public art is art in any media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and physically acce ...

commission according to some sources, although others point to a temporary pavilion that predates this work. It is also the second piece of public art in the city of Miami Beach. Since the sculpture was installed, it has been restored several times, and the theater that it accompanies has been restored and renamed twice.

Location

The statue rests outside what was originally called the Miami Beach Auditorium and later named the Miami Beach Theater of the Performing Arts or Theater of the Performing Arts, Miami. In 1987, the building was renamed the Jackie Gleason Theater of the Performing Arts. The institution was renamed in 2007 to the Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater.

Detail

1979 to 1982 was a period in which Lichtenstein created large-scale sculptures as derivatives of earlier smaller works. However, ''The Mermaid'', which was his first large-scale sculpture, was uniquely created for this commission. He was commissioned to produce ''Mermaid'' in 1979 for the Theater of the Performing Arts. The original $100,000 commission included a $50,000

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

grant and dollar for dollar matching by art aficionados. It is the second public art piece in the city of Miami Beach. Although Lichtenstein produced a

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

for

Expo '67 The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...

in Montreal, this was his first public art commission according to some sources. Other sources claim that his New York State Pavilion mural at the Worlds Fair was commissioned. Like almost all 20 of his sculptures produced up to 1980, this "...began as a line drawing, in elevation; proceeded to full-scale blacktape layout; and then to a magna-painted, handcrafted wooden

maquette A ''maquette'' (French word for scale model, sometimes referred to by the Italian names ''plastico'' or ''modello'') is a scale model or rough draft of an unfinished sculpture. An equivalent term is ''bozzetto'', from the Italian word for "sketc ...

, which established the mold for the casting...in bronze by lost-wax process." Several stages of development (sketches, drawings, collages and maquettes) are readily available on the Lichtenstein Foundation website. The reclining mermaid rests atop whitecapped blue waves adjacent to a palm tree. In contrast to the otherwise serene tropical setting, Licthenstein includes grey steel clouds. His commentary on this work located in Miami Beach is to emphasize the "absurdity of creating sculptures from such painterly forms." Subsequent works expanded on "painterly sculpture". The work continued his 1970s sculptural theme of depicting ephemeral events in physical form with the inclusion of rays of sunlight upon the Mermaid's body. At the time, large-scale public art was something new to Lichtenstein. The work was regarded as an extension of his painting into public form rather than as an attempt to produce sculptural artwork. Incorporating a

palm tree The Arecaceae is a family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm ...

and a water-filled pool, ''Mermaid'' is regarded as "dazzlingly silly and provocative".

History

The statue has been touched up on several occasions by city employees in its first 15 years of existence to deal with fading paint and the impact of hurricane forces. According to a

Bluffton University Bluffton University is a private Mennonite university in Bluffton, Ohio. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, with four programs that have earned programmatic accreditation: dietetics, education, music, and social work. The unive ...

website, the sculpture was restored in 2000 and rededicated in 2001. In 2010, an additional restoration included "cleaning, corrosion removal and stabilization of its ferrous metal elements, compounding of the painted surfaces, concrete repair, and partial repainting". Other elements of the repair include the replacement of lost concrete and protective cooling.

Notes

External links

Lichtenstein Foundation website
{{Roy Lichtenstein 1979 sculptures Miami Beach, Florida Modernist sculpture Outdoor sculptures in Florida Sculptures by Roy Lichtenstein Sculptures of mermaids Sculptures of women in Florida 1979 establishments in Florida

Location

Detail

History

See also

Notes

External links