art.wikisort.org - Sculpture

The Little Mermaid (Danish: Den lille Havfrue) is a bronze statue by Edvard Eriksen, depicting a mermaid becoming human. The sculpture is displayed on a rock by the waterside at the Langelinie promenade in Copenhagen, Denmark.[lower-alpha 1] It is 1.25 metres (4.1 ft) tall[2] and weighs 175 kilograms (385 lb).[3]

The Little Mermaid

Den lille Havfrue
Statue of The Little Mermaid at Langelinie
Coordinates	55°41′34.3″N 12°35′57.4″E
Location	Copenhagen, Denmark
Designer	Edvard Eriksen
Type	Statue
Material	Bronze
Opening date	August 23, 1913

Based on the 1837 fairy tale of the same name by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, the small and unimposing statue is a Copenhagen icon and has been a major tourist attraction since its unveiling in 1913. In recent decades it has become a popular target for defacement by vandals and political activists.

Mermaid is among iconic statues that symbolize cities; others include: the statue of Pania of the Reef in Napier, Manneken Pis in Brussels,[4] the Statue of Liberty in New York and Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro.

History

The statue was commissioned in 1909 by Carl Jacobsen, son of the founder of Carlsberg, who had been fascinated by a ballet about the fairytale in Copenhagen's Royal Theatre and asked the ballerina, Ellen Price, to model for the statue. The sculptor Edvard Eriksen created the bronze statue, which was unveiled on August 23, 1913.[5] The statue's head was modelled after Price, but as the ballerina did not agree to model in the nude, the sculptor's wife, Eline Eriksen, was used for the body.[5]

The Copenhagen City Council arranged to move the statue to Shanghai at the Danish Pavilion for the duration of the Expo 2010 (May to October), the first time it had been moved officially from its perch since it was installed almost a century earlier.[3][6] While the statue was away in Shanghai an authorised copy was displayed on a rock in the lake in Copenhagen's nearby Tivoli Gardens.[7] Copenhagen officials have considered moving the statue several meters out into the harbour to discourage vandalism and to prevent tourists from climbing onto it,[8] but as of September 2022 the statue remains on dry land at the water side at Langelinie.

Vandalism

The statue has been damaged and defaced many times since the mid-1960s for various reasons, but has been restored each time.

On April 24, 1964, the statue's head was sawn off and stolen by politically oriented artists of the Situationist movement, amongst them Jørgen Nash.[1] The head was never recovered and a new head was produced and placed on the statue.[1] On July 22, 1984, the right arm was sawn off and returned two days later by two young men.[1][9] In 1990, an attempt to sever the statue's head left an 18 centimeters (7 in) deep cut in the neck.[1]

On January 6, 1998, the statue was decapitated again;[9][10] the culprits were never found, but the head was returned anonymously to a nearby television station, and reattached on February 4. On the night of September 10, 2003, the statue was knocked off its base with explosives and later found in the harbour's waters. Holes had been blasted in the mermaid's wrist and knee.[11]

Paint has been poured on the statue several times, including one episode in 1963 and two in March and May 2007.[9][12] On March 8, 2006, a dildo was attached to the statue's hand, green paint was dumped over it, and the date March 8 were written on it. It is suspected that this vandalism was connected with International Women's Day, which is on March 8.[1][8][13] The statue was found drenched in red paint on May 30, 2017 with the message "Danmark [sic] defend the whales of the Faroe Islands", a reference to whaling in the Faroe Islands (an autonomous country in the Kingdom of Denmark), written on the ground in front of the statue.[14][15] About two weeks later, on June 14, the statue was drenched in blue and white paint. "Befri Abdulle" (Free Abdulle) was written in front of the statue, but it was unclear what this referred to at the time. Later, police said the writing was likely referring to Abdulle Ahmed, a Somalian refugee who has been detained in a high security unit in Denmark since 2001 due to a custody sentence.[16][17] On 13 January 2020, "Free Hong Kong" was painted on the stone the statue is mounted on by supporters of the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests.[18] On 3 June 2020, in the wake of the George Floyd protests and Black Lives Matter movement, the statue was vandalized with the words "racist fish" scrawled on its stone base,[19] which left observers and specialists puzzled, as nothing related to the statue, H.C. Andersen or his fairy tale could be construed as racist.[20]

Although not regarded as vandalism since no damage is done to the statue, people have also repeatedly dressed it, either for fun or to make more serious statements. In 2004, the statue was draped in a burqa in a protest against Turkey's application to join the European Union.[21] In May 2007, it was again found draped in Muslim dress and a head scarf.[22] Other examples are times where a Christmas hat has been put on the head, or it has been dressed in the jerseys of the Norwegian or Swedish national football teams (especially the Danish and Swedish teams have a highly competitive rivalry).[18]

Copies

Aside from the statue on display, which is a replica of the original,[1] more than thirteen undamaged copies of the statue are located around the world, listed by Mermaids of Earth,[23] including Solvang, California; Kimballton, Iowa;[24] Piatra Neamţ, Romania;[24] Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid), Spain; Seoul, South Korea;[25] and a half-sized copy in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.[26] The grave[27] of Danish-American entertainer Victor Borge includes a copy as well.[24] The Copenhagen Airport also has a replica of the mermaid along with a statue of Andersen.

Some statues similar to The Little Mermaid are in Sicily. The first it placed in 1962 on the seafront in Giardini Naxos, and measures about four meters high over a fountain.[28] A second always portraying a mermaid Post on a depth of sea about 18 meters. Inside the Marine Protected Area of Plemmiro of Siracusa.[29]

A statue of 'The Little Mermaid' looks out over Larvotto beach in Monaco. She was created, in 2000, with layers and layers of metal by Kristian Dahlgard, in homage to the Danes who live in Monaco and for the late Prince Rainier III to mark the 50th year of his reign.^{[citation needed]}

A copy of the statue forms the Danish contribution to the International Peace Gardens in Salt Lake City. The half-size replica was stolen on February 26, 2010, but was recovered on April 7 abandoned in the park.[30]

A replica of the statue was presented by Denmark to Brazil in 1960, in honor of the construction of Brasília, the country's new capital that was inaugurated in the year. It was installed just 5 years later in front of the main building of the Brazilian Navy Command, in Brasília, Federal District, where it remains today.[31]

Copyright issues

The statue is under copyright until 2029, seventy years after the 1959 death of the creator.[24] As of 2019^[update], replicas can be purchased, authorized for sale by the Eriksen family.[32] The Danish newspaper Berlingske was sued in 2020 for publishing cartoons that parodied the statue as part of an article about Danish debate culture and right-wing ideas.[33] The newspaper was accused of demonizing The Little Mermaid and the court ordered it to pay 285,000 kroner. The newspaper lost its appeal in February 2022.[34]

A replica was installed in Greenville, Michigan in 1994 to celebrate the town's Danish heritage,[24] at a cost of $10,000.[24] In 2009 the Artists Rights Society asked the town for a $3,800 licensing fee, claiming the work violated Eriksen's copyright.[24] At about 76 cm (30 in) in height, the replica in Greenville is half the size of the original, and has a different face and larger breasts as well as other distinguishing factors.[24] The copyright claim was later reported to have been dropped.[35]

There are similarities between The Little Mermaid statue and the Pania of the Reef statue on the beachfront at Napier in New Zealand, and some similarities in the little mermaid and Pania tales. The 1972 statue of a female diver (titled Girl in a Wetsuit by Elek Imredy) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada was commissioned when, unable to obtain permission to reproduce the Copenhagen statue, Vancouver authorities selected a modern version.[24]

In 2016, a similar statue was installed at the harbor in Asaa, Denmark, where it is also mounted on the top of a rock.[36] The heirs of the sculptor are suing, claiming that the Asaa statue bears too close a resemblance to the famous one, and they are demanding damages and the destruction of the Asaa statue.[36]

In popular culture

The sculpture is seen in the following films:[37]

• Sun Over Denmark (1936)
• Wienerbarnet (1941)
• Bundfald (1957)
• Forelsket i København (1960)
• Reptilicus (1961)
• Løgn og løvebrøl (1961)
• Pigen og millionæren (1965)
• En ven i bolignøden (1965)
• Slap af, Frede (1966)
• Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid (1975)
• Hopla på sengekanten (1976)
• Olsen-banden går i krig (1978)
• Walter og Carlo i Amerika (1989)
• Krummerne (1991)
• Copenhagen (2014)

See also

• Mermaid of Warsaw
• Mermaid of Zennor

Notes

References

External links

• Official website
• Mermaid of North
• The Little Mermaid. Photo gallery from Denmark. Hans Christian Andersen Information
• The Little Mermaid – 360 degree QuickTime VR panorama from Copenhagen
• The Little Mermaid human statue recreated in Sydney, Australia

На других языках

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[de] Kleine Meerjungfrau

Die Kleine Meerjungfrau (dänisch Den lille Havfrue) wird eine Bronzefigur an der Uferpromenade Langelinie in Kopenhagen genannt. Die Sitzfigur auf einem Findling hat ihr Vorbild in dem gleichnamigen Märchen des dänischen Dichters Hans Christian Andersen. Mit einer Höhe von 125 cm gilt das Kunstwerk nach dem Entwurf von Edvard Eriksen als eines der kleinsten Wahrzeichen der Welt.

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- [en] The Little Mermaid (statue)

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[es] La Sirenita (escultura)

La Sirenita (en danés Den lille havfrue) es una escultura de una sirena de bronce, que se encuentra en la ciudad de Copenhague. Realizado por el escultor danés Edvard Eriksen, se encuentra en el paseo de la costa Langelinie, en la bahía del Puerto de Copenhague, que desemboca al mar Báltico y próxima también al real palacio de Amalienborg, sobre unas rocas que se adentran en el mar. En la actualidad es el símbolo más prominente de la ciudad.

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[fr] La Petite Sirène (Copenhague)

La Petite Sirène (en danois : den lille havfrue) est une statue en bronze sur un rocher dans le port de Copenhague, dans le parc Churchill. Il s'agit d'une représentation du personnage du conte éponyme de Hans Christian Andersen.

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[it] Statua della Sirenetta

La statua della Sirenetta è una scultura bronzea alta 1,25 m e dal peso di 175 kg, situata all'ingresso del porto di Copenaghen ed è uno dei simboli della capitale danese. Raffigura la protagonista, Sirenetta, di una delle più celebri fiabe di Hans Christian Andersen, La sirenetta.[1]

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[ru] Русалочка (статуя)

Русалочка (дат. Den Lille Havfrue, в дословном переводе — «Морская дамочка») — статуя, изображающая персонажа из сказки «Русалочка» Ханса Кристиана Андерсена. Расположена в порту Копенгагена. Скульптура 1,25 м высотой и весит около 175 кг.

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