In 1948, Polish-American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski began working on a carving of a famous historical figure that, when completed, would be one of the tallest freestanding sculptures in the world. It is an equestrian statue, which when completed is to be more than 3 times as tall as the Statue of Liberty. Its subject was not an American citizen. The likeness is also said to be more symbolic than realistic.
Ziolkowski died in 1982, but a private foundation carries on his work (they've only gotten as far as the face). You can support the cause by ordering a DVD called "The Fine Art of Drilling and Blasting" which apparently goes into some detail about the technical side of "mountain carving."
Who is the figure the statue represents?
No Googling, please. First correct answer posted to comments wins a copy of Edna McGuire's valuable 1945 work of scholarship, Glimpses into the Long-Ago.
Posted by BT at August 02, 2002 09:44 AMSitting Bull?
Posted by: Rory on August 2, 2002 10:07 AMNo, that's not it. Trying to think of other chiefs... Geronimo? Crazy Horse? Neil Young?
Actually, I think it's Crazy Horse.
Posted by: Rory on August 2, 2002 10:14 AMI can't think of any foreign horses, so going on the chief thing... how about Cheif Joseph of the Nez Pierce (can't google, please excuse the spelling)?
I meant Cheif Joseph's brother, CHIEF Joseph. The "I will fight no more" leader, not the cook.
Posted by: teenidol on August 2, 2002 10:23 AMI'm pretty sure Rory has it: drummer Ralph Molina, bassist Billy Talbot, and guitarist Frank Sampedro, aka Crazy Horse.
Posted by: Gavin on August 2, 2002 10:26 AMMan, I'm on crack. I just learned that chef and chief are words and cheif isn't. BT, I hope dictionary.com is not off limits (unless you can add a spell checker).
Posted by: teenidol on August 2, 2002 10:26 AMRory has it indeed -- well done, Snail-Who-Posts-Quickly.
Am I providing too much detail in these questions? Should I have witheld the "non-American citizen" part? The "equestrian" part of the statue? Or is this just a more famous project than I was aware of?
Desiring to provide a maximally diverting and challenging quiz,
I remain your humble servant,
BT&tc.
Posted by: BT on August 2, 2002 10:35 AMNo, you did a fine job of disguising it, Bill - but I've seen a couple of TV reports about that guy and his giant sculpture, how it took his whole life and is being carried on by others, etc., so it was the first thing that came to mind. The names of the chiefs were just guesses, I admit, but in the absence of Google Pigeon Rank technology that's all I've got!
Posted by: Rory on August 2, 2002 10:41 AMDAG nabit! Good work, Rory! But I don't have a thing to do for the rest of the day now!
Posted by: on August 2, 2002 11:10 AMI was gonna guess L. Ron Hubbard. Or does he count as an American citizen?
Posted by: mlang on August 2, 2002 12:12 PMAny con artist as completely masterful as LRH should be granted American citizenship as a simple matter of respect for his talents.
Posted by: BT on August 2, 2002 01:14 PMI think it's just a more famous sculpture than you realized, Bill--it's the sort of thing that sticks in your head, even if you last heard about it eight years ago.
Posted by: Gavin on August 4, 2002 08:12 PMHmpf. Just peeved at my own out-of-it-ness then.
Posted by: BT on August 5, 2002 12:04 AM