Frudakis Sculpture of Martin Luther King, Jr. Unveiled in Chester

CHESTER, Pa., Nov. 23, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- A bronze bust of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was unveiled today in Chester's Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park.  The five-foot high, 685-pound bust, installed facing the J. Lewis Crozer Library, is the creation of sculptor Zenos Frudakis.  The park and the sculpture pay homage to the slain civil rights leader who spent three years locally, attending Crozer Theological Seminary and serving as assistant pastor of Calvary Baptist Church.  

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101123/PH06300 )

"I've seen dozens upon dozens of pictures of Dr. King," said Wendell N. Butler, mayor of Chester.  "I've seen statues of him.  This, bar none, is the best in all the continental United States.  I told Zenos, the sculptor, that in the African-American community we say 'he sticks his foot in it.'  That's exactly what he did.  He put both feet in this sculpture."

Frudakis spent years working on the sculpture in his suburban Philadelphia studio.  He used hundreds of photographs from the private collection of Flip Schulke, the photographer whose close friendship with King began in 1958, when Schulke was on assignment for Ebony magazine.  The sculpture does not depict King from any one moment, but "conveys time in three dimensions," said Frudakis.  "It's a biography, but a visual biography."

"I was trying to create the essential, definitive Martin Luther King portrait bust," said Frudakis.  "I have such admiration for King, a man I consider one of the greatest in modern times, a man who truly left this world better than he found it."

The sculpture was created in the same clay that was used to create the Lincoln Memorial and was cast in bronze at Chester's own Laran Bronze Foundry.  A life-size bust of King by Frudakis is installed at the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, where its dedication was broadcast around the world.

Zenos Frudakis is a sculptor of international renown, an Academician of the National Academy of Design in New York and, since 1983, a fellow of the National Sculpture Society, on whose Board of Directors he served for six years.  He also served on the Editorial Board of Sculpture Review for three years.  He holds a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Fine Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

Frudakis has created over one hundred life-size and over-life-size portrait busts and figure sculptures for public and private collections, including General Douglas MacArthur for the MacArthur Memorial Foundation and the Pentagon, John D. MacArthur for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and sports notables for various teams and golf resorts.  He is particularly well known for his sculpture of the Honor Guard at the U.S. Air Force Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, as well as the Freedom sculpture in Philadelphia, which features four large bronze figures emerging from a long bronze wall.

His studio is in Glenside, Pennsylvania.

www.zenosfrudakis.com

SOURCE Frudakis Studio, Inc.