Unconditional Surrender (sculpture)
Unconditional Surrender is a series of computer-generated statues by Seward Johnson that resemble an iconic 1945 photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt, V–J day in Times Square.
[1][2][3] Seward Johnson manufactured a life-size bronze precursor to the huge statues of Unconditional Surrender using a computer copying technology that would be used for the entire series.
Robert L. Pincus, art critic of The San Diego Union Tribune, said that according to "theme-park logic" the statue suited the site, in front of the Midway Aircraft Museum, and that it pleased couples who mimicked the pose, but that it was kitsch and "The figures look like something from a cheap souvenir factory, blown up beyond any reason.
"[5][10] Interest in a revisit to Sarasota in 2009 was cultivated by a director of a bay-front biannual show and an aluminum copy was placed at the bay front, again temporarily.
An "88-year-old donor, who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II" offered to pay half a million dollars for it against an initial asking price of $680,000.
The chairwoman of the public art committee at the time said that "it doesn't even qualify as kitsch...It is like a giant cartoon image drafted by a computer emulating a famous photograph.
"[11] The statue was immediately controversial, with some people calling for its removal[12] for various reasons, including the fact that it may constitute copyright infringement,[13] as well as concern about its content representing a sexual assault.
The minimum distance for a road hazard established by the state of Florida is fourteen feet, but the location barely met that standard and it was erected near one of the busiest and most complex intersections in the city, the intersection of Tamiami Trail (U.S. 41), and the state route that must be taken for all traffic across Sarasota Bay to and from barrier islands and beaches situated between the mainland and the Gulf of Mexico.
In 2021, a proposal to place a second interpretive sign addressing the controversies was presented to the city commission at a public meeting in Sarasota on December 6.
After taking a large amount of public comment and following discussion among the commissioners, a closely divided vote of three-to-two resulted in dismissal of the proposal without consensus.
Shortly thereafter, a web site entitled, Project Delta Dawn, was created by Kelly Franklin, a city resident who has advocated for return of the statue to the Johnson estate, or, if it were to remain on public property, that signage accurately disclosing the nature of the non-consensual act it depicts be added in order to promote conversation and discourage emulation.
Her site provides a history of the original photograph, the copyright controversy, documentation of the subjects and their comments, how the statue was manufactured—rather than being the original art required by the city standards—and the number of other copies, public sentiments about the statue, and details about the proposal for an interpretive sign to address contemporary cultural attitudes regarding the non-consensual nature now known about the event captured in the famous photograph.
[21] Unconditional Surrender has been a topic of controversy many times, both pro and con, but in 2019,[22] after the man thought to be the subject of the original photograph, V-J Day in Times Square died and media coverage that followed made it better known that the woman thought to be the other subject was not known to the sailor depicted and had related that it was not consensual, controversy over the statue gained new momentum with more accusations that it depicts a sexual assault.
[24] A tweet from the police department stated late one evening that they had dispatched officers to the statue in response to a report that "Unconditional Surrender" had been vandalized.
[28] In August 2011, a life-size copy of the statue was unveiled in Waikiki, Hawaii, and later taken to the USS Missouri in Pearl Harbor, where it was to stay to commemorate the 66th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Although controversy regarding a temporary display since 2007 of a version of the statue was occurring, in March 2012 the San Diego Unified Port District voted to purchase a permanent bronze replacement for the loaner.
[10][30] Despite the controversy, construction of the new weather-resistant bronze statue proceeded,[31][32] in part due to a fundraising campaign by the Midway Museum that raised US$1 million.
