26-Foot Marilyn Monroe Statue Still Causing a Stir Among the Palm Springs Elite
For the second time, a group of well-heeled Palm Springs residents is fighting to remove the 26-foot statue of Marilyn Monroe by the late sculptor Seward Johnson that was installed last year on a public site next to the Palm Springs Museum of Art, the Art Newspaper reported Monday.
Forever Marilyn depicts Monroe in the iconic white dress she wore in the 1955 romcom The Seven Year Itch and, just as in the movie’s most memorable scene, the dress’ hem is lofted upward, as if the actress is perpetually standing over a New York City subway grate.Residents are infuriated by the sculpture’s “provocative” nature, specifically the lifted dress that reveals Marilyn’s unmentionables from some angles.
“You come out of the museum and the first thing you … see is a 26-foot-tall Marilyn Monroe with her entire backside and underwear exposed,” Palm Springs Museum of Art’s executive director Louis Grachos said at a city council meeting in 2020, when he opposed the installation. “What message does that send to our young people, our visitors and community to present a statue that objectifies women, is sexually charged and disrespectful?” Read More..