Resolution
WHEREAS, August 15, 2017, officially marks the 50" Anniversary of the official unveiling of the "Chicago Picasso" in the Chicago Civic Center Plaza (now the Richard J. Daley Center); and
WHEREAS, the Chicago City Council has been informed of this anniversary by Alderman Edward M. Burke; and
WHEREAS, in 1963 the Chicago Public Building Commission chaired by Mayor Richard J. Daley, agreed to erect a Civic Center to house the law courts, and governmental offices opposite City Hall and the Cook County Building; and
WHEREAS, before construction began, the three project design architects, CF. Murphy Associates; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; and Loebl, Schlossman, Bennett and Dart decided upon the addition of significant work of public art to grace the Civic Center Plaza facing Washington Street; and
WHEREAS, the architects announced their intention to award the commission to the most famous living artist to design the sculpture; and
WHEREAS, Pablo Picasso, the renowned Spanish, painter, sculptor, poet and playwright and founder of the Cubist movement in the art world, became their unanimous choice through the urging of Richard Bennett who wrote Picasso a poem asking him to involve himself in the creation of the work; and
WHEREAS, William E. Hartmann of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, so instrumental in facilitating the creation of the Chicago Picasso, was presented with a Medal of Merit by the City of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, Pablo Picasso completed a maquette of the 162-ton, fifty-foot sculpture in 1965 and approved the final rendering in 1966; and
WHEREAS, Pablo Picasso refused an honorarium payment of $100,000, and instead expressed his wish to present his work as his gift to the City of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, three charitable foundations, the Woods Charitable Fund, the Field Foundation and the Chauncey and Marion Deering McCormick Foundation, funded the entire cost of construction of the sculpture, S351,959.17; and
WHEREAS, the American Bridge Company, a division of ...
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