Edgar Allan Poe Bronze Bust Going on Public Display
One of the most famous horror writers of all time has been immortalized in a very cool way. Edgar Allan Poe has received his very own bronze bust, which was unveiled in 2014 and will be on public display at the Boston Public Library after its grand reopening today, July 9th!
From the Press Release:
The Edgar Allan Poe bronze bust will soon be on display for public viewing in the newly renovated Johnson building at the Boston Public Library’s Central Library in Copley Square, following the building’s grand reopening ceremony on July 9th.
The bust was formally unveiled and donated to the library on October 30, 2014, the plan being that its final placement would indeed be alongside many other fine busts in the library’s vast art collection in the Johnson building. Supporters of the project included literary and film heavyweights Guillermo del Toro, Neil Gaiman, Peter Straub, George R.R. Martin, Stuart Gordon, Jeffrey Combs, and Jen and Sylvia Soska.
While the initial presentation was on the traditional black alder pedestal with a bronze donor plaque as with Bryan Moore’s busts of H.P. Lovecraft and Bram Stoker, the library has elected to create a new plaque in a prime location for an updated presentation consistent with the design motif of the other displayed busts.
“Moore’s bust of Edgar Allan Poe is in good company in the Central Library’s fiction area, alongside other notable literary influencers – Maya Angelou, Henry James, and Mark Twain,” reports Boston Public Library’s Director of Library Services, Michael Colford.
Sculptor Bryan Moore adds, “When the project team and I donated the Poe bust to the library, it’s exact display location was unknown so we provided a bust pedestal and donor plaque so that it could be placed anywhere in the fair and pillared halls of the Boston Public Library. Seeing these new photos of the bust in the Johnson building, I think the staff of the Boston Public Library has made a wonderful decision that I believe truly elevates the display status of the Poe bust, ensuring that all the project donors are honored and making the bust much more accessible for readers and visitors to the library. I applaud the Boston Public Library and wholeheartedly support their decision for allowing Edgar Allan Poe fans from across the globe to pay tribute to its native son in the city of his birth in one of Boston’s finest institutions.”
As part of the fundraising campaign, Moore will be making a financial donation of $1,000.00 on behalf of the project donors to Boston’s children’s literacy program “Read Boston” concurrent with the new Johnson Wing opening. “Now that the bust of Poe is finally available for public viewing, it’s my pleasure to put the finishing touch on the project by presenting a donation to ‘Read Boston’ in the middle of August,” says Moore. “Part of the joy of doing these bust projects of famous authors of the macabre is being able to give back something to future generations of readers.”
Moore’s bust of H.P. Lovecraft is on public view at the Providence Athenaeum Library in Providence, Rhode Island, and his bust of Bram Stoker will be unveiled in Ireland at the Dublin Writers Museum on November 8, 2016.
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