Roman numerals installed in Monument Circle for Super Bowl XLVI. Photo credit: Adam Becker.
Super Bowl XLVI has finally arrived. As an Iowan, I’ve grown accustomed to cornfields and churning combines as B-roll filler for nationally-televised college athletics or political events in my home state. These images not only project messages about the landscape, but also about the people who live there.
Here at Monument Circle Project we are interested in the monument as a symbol of Indianapolis, and with an international audience tuning in there has not been a better week to see this in action. The monument has served as a backdrop to the bikini-clad Shaquille O’Neal on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and the 96-ton Roman numerals installed on the south side of the Circle. From television spots to print media, the Indiana Soldiers and Sailors Monument has been at the center of the spectacle.
In particular, the crowning statue of Victory — a 38 ft. bronze statue cast in a Chicago foundry in the early 1890s — has taken her place in the limelight.
The Richmond Times in Richmond, Virginia, reported that the "tallest shaft in the world" was nearing completion on October 22, 1893.
Victory was sculpted by George Brewster (1862-1943), whose winning design entry pruned the expansive wings of the architect Bruno Schmitz’s original sketch — thought to be too wide for windy days — to a small, American eagle headpiece. The Richmond Times declared that Victory, modeled from the lower half of one Cleveland woman and the top half of another, was “free from conventionalities and is original as well as American in treatment.”
Victory was unveiled this past December as the star — literally — of a promotional poster by Indiana artist Walter Knabe for the Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee. The Indianapolis Star reported that the poster “was part of an effort to infuse as much culture into Indianapolis Super Bowl festivities as possible.”
At the unveiling of the poster, Knabe commented that “the concept was to create the celebration around the event and the city and what was the perfect celebratory piece? Of course, the monument.”
Chris Chase of Yahoo Sports quipped in response: “The statue, ‘Victory,’ is from Indy’s Soldiers and Sailors Monument. As I said above, it looks cool, though I doubt anyone outside Indianapolis, or those who read this news story, could have identified it.”
Beyond the Super Bowl Host Committee, local reaction to the commemorative poster was not as positive. One member of a Facebook group called Designers (and fans) Against Superbowl Indianapolis Poster wrote, “… I don’t know who approved this and said, ‘Oh, yes! I love it! Totally embodies Indianapolis!’ This is not a good representation of Indianapolis. This is NOT art.”
Victory dons eye black for the Super Bowl issue of NUVO News: Indianapolis, Indiana's Alternative Voice.
While the artistic merit of the poster seemed to be the chief culprit of the complaints, I also wondered if critics were in some part responding to the overtly patriotic tone of the poster. Yet Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times notes that the National Football League, like other sports organizations, has a long history of promoting “nationalistic fervor” for the beloved American pastime. With that in mind, the Indiana Soldiers and Sailors Monument seems to be an appropriate symbol for the hosts of the championship football game, of which some have argued should be considered a national holiday. Whether locals feel it should represent the city, however, might be a different story.
If you could project one image of Indianapolis to the world, what would you choose, and why?
–Maggie Schmidt
Monument Circle Project 