Santo Toribio Romo, born Toribio Romo Gonzalez, is a minor saint popular in Mexico for being the saint patron of immigrants.
He himself is a Christian martyr from the Cristero War, a popular counter-revolution movement that followed the Mexican Revolution. It was initiated by a series of anti-clerical attacks, one of them eventually leading to Toribio Romo’s death at the arms of governmental troops in 1928. He was then beatified in 1992 and canonized in 2000.
He purportedly appears to migrants in distress in the desert helping them to get to the other side. He is worshipped both in Mexico and in southern parts of the USA.
Here in Santa Ana in the Jalisco province of Mexico :
A man with a Santo Toribio Romo scapular :
Betsy Ross is the woman widely credited with the creation of the first American flag although there are not credible records of such a thing.
The house where she MAY have lived and MAY have made the flag is still standing and can be visited in Philadelphia, PA.
And now a few illustrations of the illustrious act:
Presenting her work to the founding fathers :
Sewing some liberty with her friends :
On her own :
This circular pattern is cleverly called “Betsy Ross Flag” but there are many others, which had different popularity and uses, let’s have a nice array of some of them :
Now it is bonus time with a gif detailing the proper way to fold your flag and a pattern for a 51-stars flag that may come if Puerto Rico, Guam or Canada is elected to become a state
It’s all over the news and I tried to find some monuments already existing honouring Neil Armstrong but the man wanted to stay out of the spotlight so I came back pretty much empty handed. Then I thought of Yuri Gagarin.
I got a little sloppy on informations regarding the following monuments but they come thinner than those concerning American presidents.
For those interested, this is a very complete website
Let’s begin with Moscow
Isn’t it neat?
In Star City near Moscow
Ok this one isn’t USSR related but I find Xavier Veilhan has a soviet-ish touch in his simplification of shapes into facets, and I was glad to find this one.
Now I don’t know exactly where this one is located, although I’m pretty sure it’s in Russia, but there are copies in Garden City, New York and Mumbai in India.
Garden City
Mumbai
To be continued
Julien Fargetton, D’après Gombrowicz, Photography, digital print, 50x70cm, 2012
Julien Fargetton is a nice fellow, you should visit his website.
The most commonly immortalised person in the US of A is without contest Christopher Columbus, but what about the “true” discoverer of America, Norseman Leif Ericson?
Let’s see him in Boston, Massachusetts, as recreated by Anne Whitney in 1885 :
There exists an identical version of this statue in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Now to Chicago, Illinois, 1901 by Sigvald Asbjornsen and funded by the Norwegian community
In Newport News, Virginia, circa 1938 by Alexander Stirling Calder, father of Alexander Calder:
A replica of Calder’s statue in a slightly more dramatic display in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Now in Duluth, Minnesota, 1956 by John Karl Daniels and funded by the Norwegian League:
By the same Karl Daniels in Saint-Paul, Minnesota, 1949.
Going West in Minot, North Dakota, 1994 by Arlen Evensen and donated by the Icelandic Heritage Society
West Coast Leif now in Seattle, Washington, 1962 by August Werner. Erected in the Scandinavian neighbourhood of Ballard by the Leif Eriksson League.
There is a bust copied from this statue in Cleveland, Ohio
And Finally in Los Angeles, California, I have no date or artist’s name but it was funded by the Nordic Civil League.
As a conclusion I find interesting that the great majority of statues depicting Leif Ericson (or Erickson, or Eriksson…) were erected in Northern states, which were a privileged area for Nordic immigration, and most of the time with the help of Scandinavian communities.
I also like how the style ranges from Alexander-the-Great-ish to classic 30’s hairless square-jaw to winged-helmet and full beard.
Statues of people in a suit always catch my interest. Also : Ronald Reagan.
Ballybunion, Ireland
Pristina, Kosovo
That’s for Bill Clinton.
George Bush Sr., George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston.
Now the Ronald Reagan Special :
Tbilissi, Georgia.
Budapest, Hungary.
Warsaw, Poland.
Reagan National Airport, Washington D.C.
Jimmy Carter, Georgia’s state capitol.
Bonus :
Georges Pompidou, Paris.
Patton Memorial in West Point.
I’m sure there is sculpted mud on his shoes.
Patton Museum in California
MacArthur landing in the Philippines.
The sunglasses, the attitude, he seems half bigger than the others
The same in West Point
Straight as a lamppost but still relaxed, says the folded vest on his arm.
Omar Bradley in Moberly, Missouri
Eisenhower in West Point
The same in Colby, Kansas
And again in South Dakota
The badass MacArthur-landing-in-the-Philippines group triggered this for me, the others followed easily and I was really glad to find such nice examples as the memorials for Patton and Bradley.
Modern clothing on statues always caught my attention, statues of Reagan and Clinton for instance.
“And this is why we don’t have tourism”
“Looking upstream at Piss Creek”
“Shitstorm on the Cliff”
Geometry during Wartime 