{"id":1039620,"date":"2026-09-02T21:49:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T21:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1039620\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T21:49:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T21:49:19","slug":"critics-slam-petty-removal-of-joel-shapiro-sculpture-from-kennedy-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1039620\/","title":{"rendered":"Critics Slam \u201cPetty\u201d Removal of Joel Shapiro Sculpture From Kennedy Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

News<\/a><\/p>\n

Artists and activists condemned the National Park Service\u2019s dismantling of “Blue\u201d (2019), calling it an example of \u201cTrump\u2019s continued vandalism of the nation\u2019s artistic treasures.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n \"Emma
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

\"Critics
\n Crews separate and hoist one of the arms off Joel Shapiro\u2019s “Blue” (2019) outside the Kennedy Center on September 2, 2026 (all photos courtesy Chris Raleigh)<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON, DC \u2014 The National Park Service (NPS) deinstalled an iconic 24-foot-tall sculpture by late artist Joel Shapiro from the grounds of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today, September 2. <\/p>\n

Before dawn, crews began wrapping, disassembling, and moving \u201cBlue\u201d (2019), one of 10 inaugural works of visual art on display when the Kennedy Center\u2019s 4.6-acre REACH campus opened in September 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Kennedy Center did not provide a reason or advance notice of the work\u2019s deinstallation, but the NPS issued a street-closure notice<\/a> earlier this week indicating that the removal would be complete by Wednesday afternoon. The teardown project has caused major delays<\/a> on Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, a major thoroughfare into the city. According to the Washington Post<\/a>, the Joel Shapiro and Ellen Phelan Foundation will decide where it is next installed.<\/p>\n

The painted aluminum sculpture features rectangular appendages resembling arms and legs in the recognizable stick-figure style of the artist, who passed away last year<\/a> at the age of 83. In a 2019 announcement on its website<\/a>, the Kennedy Center described \u201cBlue\u201d as \u201cpoised in mid-kick, turning the surrounding landscape into a giant stage as it prepares to pirouette across the grass.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shapiro\u2019s angular sculptures are held in several DC museum collections and are displayed on their grounds, including the National Gallery of Art, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. \u201cLoss and Regeneration<\/a>\u201d (1993) sits just outside the latter\u2019s front doors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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