Happy Birthday, What's-Your-Name!
By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 15, 2011 7:15PM
One of the city's most recognizable public landmarks was dedicated on this date 44 years ago when Pablo Picasso's unnamed sculpture.
The sculpture was commissioned in 1963. Picasso turned in a maquette of the sculpture in 1965 and approved the final model a year later. It was built at a cost of $351,959.17 and fabricated from core-ten steel at U.S. Steel's Gary, IN plant. The sculpture rises 50 feet tall and weighs 160 tons. Picasso refused payment for the sculpture, insisting it was a gift to the city.
It was a gift that many residents for years didn't understand or derided outright by politicians. Picasso never explained what the sculpture was supposed to represent, but his grandson Olivier Widmaier Picasso believes it was inspired by a French woman named Lydia Corbett (formerly Sylvette David). Picasso was struck by Corbett's high ponytail and long neck, and made 40 works of art inspired by her.