Sep 082011
Chinatown
St Mary’s Square
Quincy, Pine, California and Kearny Streets
Sculpted by Beniaminio BufanoThis 12 foot statue is inscribed (in Chinese):
Dr. Sun Yat Sen 1866-1925
Father of the Chinese Republic and First President
Founder of the Kuo Min Tang
Champion of Democracy
Lover of mankind: Proponent of friendship and peace among the nations,
based on equality, justice and goodwill
Bufano has been in this blog before. His work usually used an easily-recognized style of glazed terra-cotta, a technique he learned from porcelain glazers while traveling in China. Also while in China, Bufano met and befriended the Chinese revolutionary leader, Dr. Sun Yat Sen. His claim to have stayed at the Sun home has never been substantiated, but it is clear he knew the man.
When Sun was in political exile, he visited San Francisco with the largest Chinese community outside Asia, to rally support for his overthrow of the Manchu Empire. Sun was successful in founding the Chinese Republic in 1911, and was inaugurated as first president on January 1, 1912. He served only six weeks, but the republic lasted more than a year. Dr. Sun lived until 1924.
In 1938, Chinatown business leaders commissioned this stainless steel and red granite statue of Sun, to commemorate Sun’s visit to the city. Bufano received the commission.
Dr. Sun Yat Sen was recently described by the People’s Daily (official paper of China) as, “the forerunner of the democratic revolution in China.…a great revolutionary and a great statesman who fought against imperialist aggression and for the independence and freedom of China.” Dr. Sun was among the first graduates of the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese.
Photographers note: That is a pigeon on Dr. Sun’s head. The bane of statuary photography.
Interesting post.
Quite unusual materials! We have a statue of him here too which i posted here (http://occasionaltoronto.blogspot.com/2011/06/dr-sun-yat-sen.html). Not sure how to do a link in a comment but it was in June.
What a wonderful work of art this is!!
I really like this! Love the sculpter’s style…
Very interesting and beautiful.
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