Vivien Green Fryd Statue Of Freedom

In the excerpt from the book Critical Issues in Public Art: Content, Context, and Controversy by Vivien Green Fryd, Fryd dissects the creative process behind the creation of Thomas Crawford’s Statue of Freedom in the time period from 1855 to 1863. I believe that the most significant aspect of the artwork is the iconography because without the idea of iconography, the Statue of Freedom wouldn't be a blend of American and Native American influences. In the book, Fryd is trying to demonstrate how art needs to be created with the mindset of one artist instead of having various mindsets molding together for one outcome. Various viewpoints from multiple people can be helpful or destructive in some instances. In the case with the creation of the
An artwork is an extension of the artist and many artists take pride with “showing off” their artwork. First, Captain Meigs brought forth an idea for the statue and Crawford gripped that idea and transformed it into a beautiful sketch. “In this first design, Freedom does not have the pole, cap, or any other emblems traditionally associated with Liberty. Instead Crawford's modest, softly rounded female figure wears a wreath on her head composed of wheat sprigs and laurel” (Fryd, pg.106). The initial sketch of Liberty encompassed the pure simplistic art style that Crawford was known to create. Like all initial drafts of an artwork, there as a call for revisions. After Crawford and Meigs had a face-to-face discussion about the Statue of Freedom. Crawford drew a second draft, this time “he artist added the liberty cap, eliminated the olive branch and its reference to peace, and retained the sword” (Fryd, pg.106). Crawford’s second draft still had a statute revolving in a world of simplicity. The addition of the liberty cap was to display America’s strong idea of liberty and justice. Although Crawford’s second draft had symbols which had a high correlation with America’s ideals while also keeping a sense of simplicity; his statue would soon become victim to Davis’ “picky” mentality. The first aspect of the artwork Davis wanted to get rid of was the liberty cap. The liberty cap needed to be removed from the draft due to its Roman tie to freed-slaves. During a time of slavery and Davis being a slave owner himself, Davis didn't want Liberty to wear a cap that was a symbol of liberation due to the hypocritical nature it would've have created for the United States. Davis’ extensive knowledge of Roman culture was one of the driving forces for his multiple changes to the Statue of Freedom.