Sadly, it has been sold and will be moved to a new location.  On Wednesday, it will be dug up and begin its move to its new home.

The good news. It isn’t moving far.

The National Park Service “temporary” 2-year permit initially allowed the piece to be located in the park in 1980. But it’s been there ever since.

It has since become one of the most popular non-monument sculptures in Washington, DC and a great photo op for parents with kids, lovers and tourists alike.  At night, the sculpture has an eerie yet tranquil feel to it overlooking the Potomac River and National Airport.

Installed in by American sculptor J. Seward Johnson, Jr., as part of a international sculpture exhibition; the 15-foot high, 5-piece cast aluminum sculpture overlooks the water at the end of East Potomac Park. 

The piece has been for sale ever since it was installed and last spring, it was sold for $740,000 to the developer of the new 300-acre National Harbor development on the Potomac River waterfront, in Prince Georges county in Maryland.

The piece will be placed near the harbor’s amphitheater, close enough to the water, that in times of flooding, it will be partially underwater.  It’s current positioning will also be changed slightly, to make the sculpture’s placement a bit more anatomically correct.

The sculpture’s new location will be visible from the Wilson Bridge and a focal point of the development.

Besides The Awakening, the new National Harbor will be home to four  boating docks, six new hotels including the Wyndham Vacation Resort with 1,100 rooms, a couple condo developments with 2,500 residential units, and a half million sq. feet of office space. 

Additionally, the National Children’s Museum will be opening there in 2012, as well as an outdoor movie theater, as well as a convention and entertainment center for events such as music concerts, Octoberfest and festivals.

The first events at he new National Harbor, starting in May of this year, include a luxury yacht show and a food and wine festival.

The Awakening at Hains Point
East Potomac Park
About ¾ miles south 1090 Ohio Dr. SW, at the end of the Hains Point
Washington, DC 20001

Images – personal collection – © 2008 – Jon Rochetti

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Post from: The DC Traveler

But I think the highlight is at the end of the park, on a peninsula called Hains Point. There you’ll find a most interesting sculpture called The Awakening. It’s a giant 5-part cast aluminum statue that looks like a 100 foot tall bearded man.  He’s mostly buried and appears to  be struggling to free himself, with only his face contorted in a scream, a single hand, arm, one bent knee and a foot exposed above ground. I believe the face looks Neptune-ish.

Created by American sculptor J. Seward Johnson, Jr., and installed in the park in 1980 for the International Sculpture Conference Exhibition; it has arguably become one of the most popular non-monument sculptures in DC. 

Kids love to play on it and photographers love to snap photos of it. The sculpture was even featured in the Sandra Bullock film, The Net.

The “temporary” National Park permit that was issued for the sculpture expired more than 25 years ago, but it seems as if it is so well liked by residents and the Park Service, that it’s become a welcomed and permanent resident of the park.

When the Potomac River swells during after heavy rains, the statute may actually be partially under water.  

It’s said that Johnson likes to occasionally visit his statues and while posing as a tourist, make negative comments about it to onlookers to get their honest reaction to his pieces.

Johnson is probably best known for making life-sized sculptures of people in normal daily life. And for turning famous Impressionist painting, such as Gustave Caillebotte’s Paris Street; Rainy Day or Vincent Van Gogh’s The Bedroom, into controversial life-sized sculptures. If these pieces are viewed from the just the right angle, they resemble the famous Impressionist piece it was based on.

Within view of National Airport, park visitors can also watch planes take off and land and get a great view of the National War College and the Potomac River.

Want to take The Awakening home with you as a souvenir?  Reportedly, it’s for sale by the artist for around $700,000.

Hains Point – The Awakening
About ¾ miles south 1090 Ohio Dr. SW, Washington, DC 20001, at the end of the Hains Point.  

Nearest Metro Subway stop: Smithsonian on the Blue and Orange lines (about about 2½ miles)

Post from: The DC Traveler