This story first ran in the Hawaii Catholic Herald in July 2008. It is being reprinted here after renewed interest in the Father Damien statue in the National Statuary Hall Collection. A duplicate statue sits outside the Hawaii state capitol.
The story of the statue
It took years of grassroots campaigning, political maneuvering, artistic disputes, and lost and wrecked models before the now familiar figure of Father Damien could stand serenely in front of the state capitol
By Anna Weaver | Hawaii Catholic Herald
The Father Damien Memorial Statue stands alone in front of the Hawaii State Capitol, looking like a timeless monument. A duplicate sculpture is in the National Statuary Hall Collection in WashingtonD.C.
But getting a sculpture of one Hawaii’s beloved heroes created and positioned where it is today was not an easy task.
Years of campaigning, political maneuvering, artistic disputes, and lost and wrecked sculptures all came before the statue of Father Damien de Veuster could rest easily on busy Beretania Street.
HCH File Photo: Dann Ebina
Lobbying
Almost as soon as Hawaii became a state in 1959, the discussion began as to which Hawaii figures should be chosen for the state’s two allotted spots in the national collection in Washington D.C.
The Young Men’s Institute, a Catholic lay association, was one of the early champions of Father Damien as one of the two people who should represent the 50th state. Members lobbied legislators, published a pamphlet, and circulated a petition in collaboration with the Young Ladies Institute and the Holy Name Society that collected 27,718 signatures and was submitted in 1961 to the state legislature.
Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole, King Kamehameha I, Bernice Pauahi Bishop, and Henry Opukahaia were other Hawaii luminaries considered for the prized WashingtonD.C. spots. In fact, the Hawaii State Senate passed two bills in April 1961 selecting Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole and Damien.
However, neither bill made it out of a House committee. According to accounts in the Honolulu daily newspapers, Damien supporters alleged that they were asked by House County Committee members to support a bill to legalize dog racing in exchange for getting the Damien bill put on the floor for a vote.
There were a number of objections to selecting Father Damien. He was not a native-born or naturalized resident of Hawaii and he was a priest. To counter those arguments, Damien allies cited examples of other priests in statuary hall (Father Jacques Marquette of Wisconsin and Father Junipero Serra of California) and the fact that other non-citizens of other states had been chosen in the past.
Bill is passed
In April 1965, both the state House and Senate passed a bill choosing Father Damien as the first of two selections for the National Statuary Hall Collection. On May 10, 1965, Gov. John A. Burns approved the bill, which stated that “the efforts of Father Damien among the sufferers of Hansen’s disease have made him a humanitarian of international renown” and “inspired the world toward tremendous strides in the suppression of this disease.”
“Father Damien truly symbolizes the Hawaiian spirit of Aloha, which infuses all who come to these islands,” Gov. Burns said at the bill signing.
The governor also appointed a seven-member Hawaii Statuary Hall Commission headed by Catholic layman Louis A. Lopez, the early leader in the effort to pick Damien, to select a sculptor.
Not long after Damien was chosen, Kamehameha I was selected for the other national statue. It was quickly decided to make a copy of the existing and well-known Kamehameha figure that stands in front of the JudiciaryBuilding.
Picking an artist to create the Damien statue was not as simple.
HCH file photo
Artistic arguments
The Hawaii Statuary Hall Commission received 66 requests from artists interested in creating the Father Damien sculpture. From that list they invited seven to submit 28-inch models. The final choice came down to two — a modern, cubic sculpture showing an aged, disfigured Damien by Marisol Escobar, and a more conventional sculpture by Nathan Cabot Hale depicting a younger Damien with a child at his knee.
Escobar was a rising artist in the early 1960s with links to the Pop Art movement. Many of her large sculptural pieces featured boxy figures and abstract, cubist, and surrealist influences.
Marisol, as she is known professionally, liked the idea of “body cubes” and “three dimensional portraits.” In the Damien sculpture, she worked from a photograph of the priest in the last years of his life when he was physically altered by Hansen’s Disease. (see below)
The Statuary Hall Commission voted 5-2 in favor of Marisol’s piece. The five for it said the sculpture was of the time, most resembled Father Damien in his face, and was strong and minimal.
Committee member Carl Farden said Marisol’s Damien was “a little more abstract, but the sense is so simple; it’s solid, stout and stubborn — which Father Damien was.”
However, the two dissenting committee members thought the boxy Damien was “artistically shocking” and gave the state legislature a strongly-worded report against the choice.
The artistic fight moved into the 1967 state legislature when the House of Representatives overturned the committee’s preference in favor of Hale’s more traditional portrayal.
The Senate reacted by approving $73,350 for two 7-foot casts of Marisol’s sculpture, saying her version would “impress the viewer not only with the temperament, character and greatness of the man it represents, but also provide an unforgettable visual experience.”
The House ultimately reversed its earlier decision and approved funding for Marisol’s Damien, but not before the artistic debate garnered national attention and the subject of a May 12, 1967, Time Magazine article titled “How to Portray a Martyr.”
Marisol Escobar. Photo: Herman Hiller, New York World-Telegram and the Sun staff photographer. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. CC via Wikimedia
‘Yes, it is ugly. It is Art!’
Soon after she made the sculpture, Marisol Escobar said in an interview in “A&B,” an Alexander and Baldwin publication, that friends tried to dissuade her from submitting a design in the competition.
“They knew it was ugly; they said the commission would be looking for a monument, not a work of art,” she said. “I made a man. Not a monument. Yes, it is ugly. It is Art!”
In a phone interview on May 9 with the Hawaii Catholic Herald, Escobar said she remembers the project in a positive light and still had the model she submitted to the Statuary Hall Commission.
“It was a nice project,” said the New York City-based artist. She also recalled visiting Kalaupapa on her trip to Hawaii for unveiling ceremonies in 1969.
Marisol explained that “all of my sculptures that I do are boxlike” and that the Damien sculpture was “an abstract idea.”
Production troubles plagued the project after Marisol made the 7-foot sculpture in wood — the medium in which she prefers to work. A plaster model was cast and sent to Italy to make the final bronze models, but was broken in transport. A second plaster cast was lost en route to Italy.
Marisol then made a wax impression that finally made it to Italy and two bronze casts were created. A longshoreman’s strike delayed the Hawaii-bound bronze in New York City. The Washington D.C. sculpture made it to Statuary Hall with no problems.
In a press release at the time, Marisol said she’d never had so much trouble with a project. “But it doesn’t matter,” she added. “I’m very pleased with it.”
The Damien statue in National Statuary Hall (HCH file photo)
Unveiling
On April 15, 1969, the 80th anniversary of Father Damien’s death, the Damien Memorial Statue was unveiled in Statuary Hall. King Kamehameha’s statue was unveiled at the same time in the nearby Hall of Columns. A few weeks later on May 8, Hawaii’s copy of the Damien statue made its debut at the capitol.
When the Hawaii Statuary Hall Commission later published a booklet on the Father Damien Memorial Sculpture in 1969 it stated, “The final selection of Marisol, a highly individualistic modernist, represented a victory of contemporary over traditional art.”
With the exception of a temporary removal of the sculpture in 1998 to replace its foundation, the Father Damien Memorial Statue has been sitting in front of the capitol ever since.
The late Hawaii artist Jean Charlot, who had been one of the seven finalists for the Damien commission, perhaps described the sculpture best: “Adapting itself to the basic logic of wood — it partakes of the immutability of a tree trunk … a sturdiness and a feeling of inner growth. The holy man planted by his own will on his chosen ground is obviously there to stay.”
Down to the Details
HCH File Photo: Anna Weaver
Face: Damien’s face shows scarring from Hansen’s Disease
Hat: This broad-rimmed hat was typical for missionaries. The strings hold up the hat brim.
Shoes: Damien and Kalaupapa historian Pat Boland said, “[Damien’s] feet gave him trouble” and that these were “stout shoes” to help him in his work.
HCH File Photo: Anna Weaver
Sling: The cloth with decorative patterns is not part of Father Damien’s religious garb but a simple sling, Boland says, given to the priest by Mother Marianne Cope to support his arm.
Cane: Damien, a skilled carpenter, made several guava wood canes himself. It is on the cane that artist Marisol carved her signature.
Hands: Damien’s hands are depicted as worn from work and disease.
HCH File Photo: Anna Weaver
Timeline
August 21, 1959: Hawaii becomes the 50th state, making it eligible for two statues in Washington D.C.’s National Statuary Hall collection.
December 1960: The County of Hawaii becomes the last county, after Maui, Kauai and Honolulu Counties, to pass resolutions in support of Father Damien as one of the two sculptures to be placed in Statuary Hall.
May 10, 1965: Gov. John A. Burns signs Act 53, selecting Father Damien as the first of two Hawaii representatives in Statuary Hall. He also establishes a commission to choose the artist of the Damien sculpture.
April 15, 1969: Damien statue unveiled in statuary hall and Kamehameha I’s statue in the Hall of Columns.
May 8, 1969: Kalaupapa patient James Davidson unveils the Damien statue at the state capitol. The date marks the 150th anniversary of Kamehameha I’s death and a ceremony is held at Honolulu’s King Kamehameha statue on the same day.
