Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the wax statue has been removed. In fact, the statue remains in place.
Four score and seven days ago — give or take — an artist brought forth on this D.C. elementary school campus a new statue, conceived in wax.
Then came a record heat wave.
You might have felt like you were melting during this heat wave, but the wax statue of Abraham Lincoln that sat on the Garrison Elementary School campus in D.C.’s Ward 2 literally was.
The Lincoln Memorial replica was commissioned by CulturalDC and created by artist Sandy Williams IV. It had been on the campus since February.
With several days of record-breaking heat, the Lincoln replica started going the way of the Wicked Witch of the West, melting and leaning backward as if the president was sitting in a recliner, his legs detaching and headless.
Kristi Maiselman, the executive director and curator at CulturalDC told WTOP, “We went ahead and removed his head temporarily. We are in discussions with the artist on kind of whether or not Lincoln can be repaired.”
“The wax the artist used has a congealing point of 140 degrees. So this was not something that we anticipated,” she continued.
“While I do often encourage these sculptures to melt, I was not expecting this version of the artwork to melt in this way. This melting is 100% due to the unexpected heatwaves we are experiencing on the East Coast and around the world. I have been using this type of wax for public sculptures since 2020, but this is the first time the ambient heat has had such a visible effect of its integrity,” said Williams in a statement.
The replica statue is part of Williams’ 40 ACRES Archive: The Wax Monument series. It was placed Garrison Elementary School because it is the site of Camp Barker, a contraband and refugee camp during the Civil War. Lincoln would often visit on his way back and forth from the White House to the Lincoln cottage nearby.
Williams also created wax replicas of famous monuments including Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, J.E.B. Stuart and Thomas Jefferson and centers on the history of the Reconstruction Era.
The Lincoln art installation was scheduled to stay until the end of September but may now be taken down early due to the summer heat.
“We’re just trying to determine whether or not we can put him back together and feel confident that he can make it to September or whether or not we make plans to de-install the entire sculpture ahead of schedule,” said Maiselman.
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