Iwo Jima Memorial, Arlington, Virginia

More appropriately known as the Marine Corps War Memorial, it commemorates all of the U.S. Marines who have served and died in the defense of their... more

by Douglas Taylor

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Price

$125

Dimensions

30.000 x 37.500 inches

Title

Iwo Jima Memorial, Arlington, Virginia

Artist

Douglas Taylor

Medium

Photograph - Fine Art Digital Photography

Description

More appropriately known as the Marine Corps War Memorial, it commemorates all of the U.S. Marines who have served and died in the defense of their country since 1775.

The giant statue was inspired by the iconic photograph of U.S. Marines raising the American flag at the summit of Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima by Joseph Rosenthal, taken February 23rd, 1945. Rosenthal’s photograph would become one of the most famous photographs of the 20th century, and earned him the Pulitzer Prize for 1945.

Artist and sculptor Felix de Weldon was so inspired upon seeing this photograph on the front pages of newspapers the following days that he created a scale model, or “maquette” of the sculpture over a single weekend at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station where he was serving in the Navy during the conflict. Such was the emotional spirit of the times for this young man who had fled the Nazi occupation of his native Austria just prior to the start of the war.

De Weldon’s extraordinary recreation was eventually chosen to be the focal point of the Marine Corps War Memorial in 1951, and he spent three painstaking years creating the colossal master model with figures 32 feet tall. Cast in bronze, the statue was then erected atop architect Horace W. Peaslee’s design for the base.

This base is faced with exquisite and polished black diabase granite and has inscribed in east side of the base "In Honor And Memory Of The Men Of The United States Marine Corps Who Have Given Their Lives To Their Country Since 10 November 1775". Around the top of the base is a litany of conflicts fought by the Marines for our country, starting with the Revolutionary War and (hopefully) ending with Iraq in 2003.

The west side of the memorial has an inscribed wreath. Prominent within this wreath are the words "Uncommon Valor Was A Common Virtue", with the Marines motto “Semper Fidelis” inscribed in the wreath’s ribbon. De Weldon and Rosenthal’s names are also inscribed here.

From this hill overlooking Washington, D.C. across the Potomac River one can gaze upon the memorials along the National Mall and see the dome of the U.S. Capitol rising in the distance. And from here one can reflect on the great distance between those times and great men memorialized at this magnificent monument, and what afflicted our country on January 6th, 2021.

CONTEST WINNER: 1st Place , "South Mid-Atlantic Group Historic Monuments Contest", sponsored by the Showcasing The South and Mid Atlantic art group, March 2024.

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June 28th, 2021