NEW YORK—Although it was raining at Prospect Park on Tuesday, sculptor Neil Estern and Brooklyn officials were not under the weather.
After a round of speeches, they unveiled and rededicated the late President John F. Kennedy’s memorial bust. Estern’s original bust was launched at Grand Army Plaza on May 31, 1965, at a ceremony attended by Robert and Ethel Kennedy. The bust remained there until the Department of Parks & Recreation and the Prospect Park Alliance began a major restoration of the plaza in 2002.
Eight years later, the installation of a new granite pedestal gave Estern an opportunity to resculpt the bust of the 35th president and have it recast in bronze at the Beacon Fine Art Foundry in Beacon.
“I’m so honored that the John F. Kennedy memorial at Grand Army Plaza is being rededicated,” said Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President Kennedy, in a letter to the officials. “This memorial truly has a special place in the city and in the hearts of my family.”
“I hope everyone who passes this memorial will reflect on his words,” wrote Caroline Kennedy, in reference to the engraved quote on the new granite pedestal that reads, “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”
The sculptor said that he hopes the viewer will not only recognize the subjects of his statues, but also feel the aura he has recreated of that particular personality.
“When some sculptors do people, do well-known people, they concentrate on the exterior, the resemblance,” said Estern. “I’m always looking for what’s the inside, the inside of the person, and try to bring that out.”
While sculpting the original Kennedy bust, which took him two months, he had to find as many pictures of Kennedy as he could find.
“I was very much immersed in the subtle changes as Kennedy first entered politics to the day he died, … and it was the last year that I used,” he explained, adding, “When you study those pictures intensely, you really get to know a person.”
Estern was born in Brooklyn in 1926 and had lived in the borough for half a century. Over the years, he was commissioned to do two statues for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, Fiorella LaGuardia, J. Robert Taft, J. Edgar Hoover, Jimmy Carter, and Prince Charles and Princess Diana.
“It wasn’t my intention to do politicians, but I consider the people I’ve done … statesmen more than politicians, and without such people running our country, it wouldn’t be the country it is today.”
The launching ceremony was also attended by Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe, Prospect Park Alliance President Tupper Thomas, and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.
“Here it is, half a century later, JFK is still among the most revered leaders in the history of our great nation, and his connection to Brooklyn lives on in so many ways, including the fact that his niece Laurie Kennedy lives right nearby on Montgomery Place,” Markowitz said.
“JFK’s time in the presidency, as we all know, was tragically cut short, but his contributions to this nation endure to this day and all the days to come,” he added.
After a round of speeches, they unveiled and rededicated the late President John F. Kennedy’s memorial bust. Estern’s original bust was launched at Grand Army Plaza on May 31, 1965, at a ceremony attended by Robert and Ethel Kennedy. The bust remained there until the Department of Parks & Recreation and the Prospect Park Alliance began a major restoration of the plaza in 2002.
Eight years later, the installation of a new granite pedestal gave Estern an opportunity to resculpt the bust of the 35th president and have it recast in bronze at the Beacon Fine Art Foundry in Beacon.
“I’m so honored that the John F. Kennedy memorial at Grand Army Plaza is being rededicated,” said Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President Kennedy, in a letter to the officials. “This memorial truly has a special place in the city and in the hearts of my family.”
“I hope everyone who passes this memorial will reflect on his words,” wrote Caroline Kennedy, in reference to the engraved quote on the new granite pedestal that reads, “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”
The sculptor said that he hopes the viewer will not only recognize the subjects of his statues, but also feel the aura he has recreated of that particular personality.
“When some sculptors do people, do well-known people, they concentrate on the exterior, the resemblance,” said Estern. “I’m always looking for what’s the inside, the inside of the person, and try to bring that out.”
While sculpting the original Kennedy bust, which took him two months, he had to find as many pictures of Kennedy as he could find.
“I was very much immersed in the subtle changes as Kennedy first entered politics to the day he died, … and it was the last year that I used,” he explained, adding, “When you study those pictures intensely, you really get to know a person.”
Estern was born in Brooklyn in 1926 and had lived in the borough for half a century. Over the years, he was commissioned to do two statues for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, Fiorella LaGuardia, J. Robert Taft, J. Edgar Hoover, Jimmy Carter, and Prince Charles and Princess Diana.
“It wasn’t my intention to do politicians, but I consider the people I’ve done … statesmen more than politicians, and without such people running our country, it wouldn’t be the country it is today.”
The launching ceremony was also attended by Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe, Prospect Park Alliance President Tupper Thomas, and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.
“Here it is, half a century later, JFK is still among the most revered leaders in the history of our great nation, and his connection to Brooklyn lives on in so many ways, including the fact that his niece Laurie Kennedy lives right nearby on Montgomery Place,” Markowitz said.
“JFK’s time in the presidency, as we all know, was tragically cut short, but his contributions to this nation endure to this day and all the days to come,” he added.
