Artist Kara Walker is using the decommissioned bronze equestrian statue of Confederate general Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson from Charlottesville, Virginia, as material for a new art installation.
“Art”, the word itself, must have no meaning at all, if everyone is free or deluded by astonishingly twisted propaganda and presentism, to fabricate his own definition and even to call wanton, vengeful vandalism, “art”. It’s sophistry at its lowest, meanest level. The destruction of these historic and truly artistic memorials to great men of their time and place, is mere savage barbarity. It is Taliban-esque in its violent, philosophical brutality and disgusting in its deliberate ignorance. Everyone involved should be ashamed of such uncivilized, mob-think impulses. In a previous era, they’d be gathered around the gillotine and mindlessly cheering mean and gruesome beheadings.
Of course, many of them are still in place, but just as many have been removed for all sorts of reasons. Many of them were destroyed which you can see in the form of statues without various limbs. Statues have come down for all sorts of reasons. Do you consider the removal of the statue of Sadaam Hussein in Baghdad by US troops to be a Taliban-inspired act? What about the decision on the part of eastern Europeans to pull down statues celebrating communism and communist leaders? Should the statues that the Nazis be put back up?
"The USA at some point in the late 1890s early 1900s had a reconciliation moment that allowed the south to honor its states’ gifted confederate generals in the cw and you see these statues being built at 50-75 year anniversaries of the war."
Your understanding of Civil War memory and the history of slavery is pretty limited. I'll leave it at that.
While I no longer (overall) support monument removal, Walker's vision is something I can get behind. That she has Sorrel as a worthy subject is very heartening & unusual. If Jackson had to face beheading, at least an artist like Walker now took the stage for him. Brava.
Very interesting! I wish I could go to the opening. I used to think that the monuments on Monument Avenue (before they came down) should be surrounded by artistic responses by artists like Kara Walker.
No one seems to pay attention to the fact that 3 Confederates are still standing on Capitol Square in Richmond: William “Extra Billy” Smith, Governor of Virginia and Confederate Brigadier General; Confederate Major General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson; and Dr. Hunter Holmes McGuire, Surgeon to the Army of N. VA, Stonewall's personal doctor, founder of several hospitals and one-time President of the AMA (and my ancestor).
congratulations. show me one example where a person's life ( anyone at all! (perhaps a kid in school , person work, parent, anyone! )has improved as a result of this process. cannot call it art. it's not really duchamp. sir, you are a school teacher , you know about empirical truth. show me the excellence and happiness brought on by this. one actual example. just one.
sorry, if comments are too abstract. you always respond to me that you don't understand. has the removal of statues and signage helped anyone? you are always kind , thank you. i am retired and unlike you not on the cutting edge of scholarship. but the question is basic. who, what , when, where is empirical proof that it makes an actual difference.
I don't often hear people frame the question of removal along these lines. What I typically hear is consideration of whether a monument reflects the values of the community. For an increasing number of people they no longer do and as a result have called for their removal. That's how democracy works.
While her artistic approach isn't the normal binary, I believe the reaction is going to be VERY binary. Given Stephen Lang's research and portrayal of Jackson I'd be very interested in his artistic reflections on this project. I look forward to learning/seeing more. I always felt really sorry for Little Sorrel's fate.
Certainly from certain quarters, but I am much more interested in how people who choose to engage seriously with the exhibit will respond, including Stephen Lang. Perhaps he lives in LA.
Jackson’s horse, “Sorrel” was Connecticut bred. Somers in fact.Captured near Harper’s Ferry. As a PoW it deserved to be repatriated rather than turned into a Sw. J relic.
A quick question, please. I love examining old photos. The flags on the building in the background of the Jackson monument's dedication caught my eye. The center flag with the X appears to be in the same basic design as what is being used on Elon Musk's X site today. Is there a possible connection - or is this just an odd coincidence?
Many thanks for your article and the free(!) NYT link to the lengthy article on the Jackson statue and Kara Walker's repurposing of it. (BTW: I am a big fan of Kara Walker whose vision works on the subconscious as well as the conscious.) Can't wait to see photos of the updated Jackson.
Fascinating! So much here, including the merging of art and history. David Bilght's class last fall, Can It Happen Here, mentions the soldier's desire to protect the poets among their ranks, so they will be left to tell the story. So I'm pondering what's going on here: "a 2006 apologia that presents the Confederate general as a Christian evangelizer who disliked slavery but defended it as part divine law, part subordinate to the cause of ‘states’ rights.’ " Is it total whitewashing? Are there attenuated nuances in Jackson that merit this balance? How much does/should "presentism" guide our moral judgment? How hard should we work to try to understand his muddled thinking (OMG such brilliance, "Head Not in the Right Place") But of course we are surrounded by muddled thinking about evil right now. 1921-2021. Charlottesville 2017 was the fruit of not naming the evil.
Thanks for this update. Of course the title caught my eye! I like your suggestion that this goes beyond the binary choice of leave/remove. As a work of art, the original statue was my favorite of the many Jackson statues.
Yes, we do have many opportunities and ways to preserve, record, and research these late nineteenth and early twentieth century monuments. Photography and printing press and digitization allows a global record of the states these sculptures have had and will record the alternative states and meanings they may assume in future time.
Agree with you. As a work of art, it was an iconic portrayal of Jackson. I used to live in Virginia and remember it. Interesting that it is being reworked and has another life. As an artist and art historian, I admit the repurposing makes me feel unsettled, but I understand why. I am a specialist in Medieval Art. I am aware of the widespread destruction of icons of Christ and saints made in the Byzantine world in two periods of iconoclasm (image-breaking) in the 8th and 9th centuries. The images made before this period were deliberately defaced or broken because eastern church and secular leaders were concerned these images were being worshipped rather than the Christ and the saints themselves. Leadership deemed the icons needed to be destroyed as they were causing people to worship graven images. This destruction left gaps in our knowledge of what important or beautiful works of art were made prior to but destroyed in the iconoclasm. A similar movement happened in the Protestant Reformation and in the French Revolution. Churches were stripped of their possessions, defaced and whitewashed, and even, like the great monastery of Cluny, torn down completely. I have studied and written about the amazingly beautiful and sophisticated remnants of art that survived this destruction. We only have written descriptions or drawings of the elaborate decorative schemes that once were. As a result, it is hard for me to see really well-crafted and beautifully made things defaced (and in this case beheaded). However I have no qualms about changing the message and patronage of this sculpture in particular on a theoretical level.
Thanks for taking the time to add this historical context. I share your ambivalence about this repurposing. The Jackson monument was really well executed compared to the Lee monument nearby. I always thought Lee looked constipated. And as you know, most soldier statues were mass produced so there is no concern about losing them as documentation. In comparison with what you referenced, we have plenty of opportunities to preserve these monuments in various ways for further research and study.
Re “there is some good news regarding another historical monument. Moses Ezekiel’s Reconciliation Memorial, 1914, is being sent back to Arlington National Cemetery after a recent loan agreement with Secretary Hegseth and Governor Youngkin”:
1. “Good news”? It’s actually an anti-reconciliation memorial. It’s a sneering middle finger, 32 feet tall, for anybody who believes that whatever is to be said about honoring the Confederate dead, you can’t reconcile north and south by blatantly glorifying the Lost Cause and its crimes against humanity.
2. Secretary Hegseth and Governor Youngkin? They side with the violent 1/6 traitor against the Constitution.
Sometimes Lew Rockwell libertarians truly earn their crackpot reputation.
“Art”, the word itself, must have no meaning at all, if everyone is free or deluded by astonishingly twisted propaganda and presentism, to fabricate his own definition and even to call wanton, vengeful vandalism, “art”. It’s sophistry at its lowest, meanest level. The destruction of these historic and truly artistic memorials to great men of their time and place, is mere savage barbarity. It is Taliban-esque in its violent, philosophical brutality and disgusting in its deliberate ignorance. Everyone involved should be ashamed of such uncivilized, mob-think impulses. In a previous era, they’d be gathered around the gillotine and mindlessly cheering mean and gruesome beheadings.
Thanks for sharing your perspective, Lloyd.
I highly recommend that you never step into a museum with statues from ancient Greece or Rome. It's going to be too much for your fragile self. LOL
Of course, many of them are still in place, but just as many have been removed for all sorts of reasons. Many of them were destroyed which you can see in the form of statues without various limbs. Statues have come down for all sorts of reasons. Do you consider the removal of the statue of Sadaam Hussein in Baghdad by US troops to be a Taliban-inspired act? What about the decision on the part of eastern Europeans to pull down statues celebrating communism and communist leaders? Should the statues that the Nazis be put back up?
"The USA at some point in the late 1890s early 1900s had a reconciliation moment that allowed the south to honor its states’ gifted confederate generals in the cw and you see these statues being built at 50-75 year anniversaries of the war."
Your understanding of Civil War memory and the history of slavery is pretty limited. I'll leave it at that.
While I no longer (overall) support monument removal, Walker's vision is something I can get behind. That she has Sorrel as a worthy subject is very heartening & unusual. If Jackson had to face beheading, at least an artist like Walker now took the stage for him. Brava.
Very interesting! I wish I could go to the opening. I used to think that the monuments on Monument Avenue (before they came down) should be surrounded by artistic responses by artists like Kara Walker.
No one seems to pay attention to the fact that 3 Confederates are still standing on Capitol Square in Richmond: William “Extra Billy” Smith, Governor of Virginia and Confederate Brigadier General; Confederate Major General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson; and Dr. Hunter Holmes McGuire, Surgeon to the Army of N. VA, Stonewall's personal doctor, founder of several hospitals and one-time President of the AMA (and my ancestor).
I do love that spot in Richmond.
congratulations. show me one example where a person's life ( anyone at all! (perhaps a kid in school , person work, parent, anyone! )has improved as a result of this process. cannot call it art. it's not really duchamp. sir, you are a school teacher , you know about empirical truth. show me the excellence and happiness brought on by this. one actual example. just one.
I am not sure I understand your request. You clearly don’t see this as art and that is your prerogative. What else is there to discuss?
sorry, if comments are too abstract. you always respond to me that you don't understand. has the removal of statues and signage helped anyone? you are always kind , thank you. i am retired and unlike you not on the cutting edge of scholarship. but the question is basic. who, what , when, where is empirical proof that it makes an actual difference.
I don't often hear people frame the question of removal along these lines. What I typically hear is consideration of whether a monument reflects the values of the community. For an increasing number of people they no longer do and as a result have called for their removal. That's how democracy works.
Love Kara Walker and her art!
NYT Kara Walker article, gifted. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/arts/design/kara-walker-moca-monuments.html?unlocked_article_code=1.kk8.ggC7.cVRqoLXUBsb9&smid=url-share
Thank you.
While her artistic approach isn't the normal binary, I believe the reaction is going to be VERY binary. Given Stephen Lang's research and portrayal of Jackson I'd be very interested in his artistic reflections on this project. I look forward to learning/seeing more. I always felt really sorry for Little Sorrel's fate.
Certainly from certain quarters, but I am much more interested in how people who choose to engage seriously with the exhibit will respond, including Stephen Lang. Perhaps he lives in LA.
I think he's in NY
I actually had forgotten about the Williams book. Flashbacks, man.
The good old days, Ken.
This is wicked and grotesque.
Art can do that.
Jackson’s horse, “Sorrel” was Connecticut bred. Somers in fact.Captured near Harper’s Ferry. As a PoW it deserved to be repatriated rather than turned into a Sw. J relic.
A quick question, please. I love examining old photos. The flags on the building in the background of the Jackson monument's dedication caught my eye. The center flag with the X appears to be in the same basic design as what is being used on Elon Musk's X site today. Is there a possible connection - or is this just an odd coincidence?
Many thanks for your article and the free(!) NYT link to the lengthy article on the Jackson statue and Kara Walker's repurposing of it. (BTW: I am a big fan of Kara Walker whose vision works on the subconscious as well as the conscious.) Can't wait to see photos of the updated Jackson.
In life, the arm; in death, the head.
Fascinating! So much here, including the merging of art and history. David Bilght's class last fall, Can It Happen Here, mentions the soldier's desire to protect the poets among their ranks, so they will be left to tell the story. So I'm pondering what's going on here: "a 2006 apologia that presents the Confederate general as a Christian evangelizer who disliked slavery but defended it as part divine law, part subordinate to the cause of ‘states’ rights.’ " Is it total whitewashing? Are there attenuated nuances in Jackson that merit this balance? How much does/should "presentism" guide our moral judgment? How hard should we work to try to understand his muddled thinking (OMG such brilliance, "Head Not in the Right Place") But of course we are surrounded by muddled thinking about evil right now. 1921-2021. Charlottesville 2017 was the fruit of not naming the evil.
I've written extensively about the book referenced in this article. In fact, I wrote the blog post linked to in the piece. https://cwmemory.com/2013/03/26/stonewall-jacksons-black-friend/
The narrative is an extension of the old "loyal slave" narrative.
Thanks, Kevin, just clicked on the link.
ok
Thanks for this update. Of course the title caught my eye! I like your suggestion that this goes beyond the binary choice of leave/remove. As a work of art, the original statue was my favorite of the many Jackson statues.
Yes, we do have many opportunities and ways to preserve, record, and research these late nineteenth and early twentieth century monuments. Photography and printing press and digitization allows a global record of the states these sculptures have had and will record the alternative states and meanings they may assume in future time.
Agree with you. As a work of art, it was an iconic portrayal of Jackson. I used to live in Virginia and remember it. Interesting that it is being reworked and has another life. As an artist and art historian, I admit the repurposing makes me feel unsettled, but I understand why. I am a specialist in Medieval Art. I am aware of the widespread destruction of icons of Christ and saints made in the Byzantine world in two periods of iconoclasm (image-breaking) in the 8th and 9th centuries. The images made before this period were deliberately defaced or broken because eastern church and secular leaders were concerned these images were being worshipped rather than the Christ and the saints themselves. Leadership deemed the icons needed to be destroyed as they were causing people to worship graven images. This destruction left gaps in our knowledge of what important or beautiful works of art were made prior to but destroyed in the iconoclasm. A similar movement happened in the Protestant Reformation and in the French Revolution. Churches were stripped of their possessions, defaced and whitewashed, and even, like the great monastery of Cluny, torn down completely. I have studied and written about the amazingly beautiful and sophisticated remnants of art that survived this destruction. We only have written descriptions or drawings of the elaborate decorative schemes that once were. As a result, it is hard for me to see really well-crafted and beautifully made things defaced (and in this case beheaded). However I have no qualms about changing the message and patronage of this sculpture in particular on a theoretical level.
Thanks for taking the time to add this historical context. I share your ambivalence about this repurposing. The Jackson monument was really well executed compared to the Lee monument nearby. I always thought Lee looked constipated. And as you know, most soldier statues were mass produced so there is no concern about losing them as documentation. In comparison with what you referenced, we have plenty of opportunities to preserve these monuments in various ways for further research and study.
Have you seen this? https://www.lewrockwell.com/2025/08/no_author/concerned-citizens-refuse-to-send-confederate-sculptures-to-las-monuments-exhibition/
Such interesting offensiveness.
Re “there is some good news regarding another historical monument. Moses Ezekiel’s Reconciliation Memorial, 1914, is being sent back to Arlington National Cemetery after a recent loan agreement with Secretary Hegseth and Governor Youngkin”:
1. “Good news”? It’s actually an anti-reconciliation memorial. It’s a sneering middle finger, 32 feet tall, for anybody who believes that whatever is to be said about honoring the Confederate dead, you can’t reconcile north and south by blatantly glorifying the Lost Cause and its crimes against humanity.
2. Secretary Hegseth and Governor Youngkin? They side with the violent 1/6 traitor against the Constitution.
Sometimes Lew Rockwell libertarians truly earn their crackpot reputation.
And I love the suggestion that this exhibit will cause racial division. You can't make this up.