NEW BEDFORD — The city of New Bedford is moving forward with initial plans to memorialize one of the Bay State’s most famous authors in its downtown historic district.
Last week marked 183 years since a young Herman Melville set sail from the whaling city aboard the Acushnet on the voyage that later became the inspiration for his masterpiece, “Moby Dick, or the Whale.” Some traces of Melville remain in New Bedford, including a sign on the pew of the church where Melville worshiped, and a monument to his fictional work already erected, a statue of Moby Dick near the ferry pier. It is being
But Mayor Jonathan Mitchell said last week that highlighting the artist himself on the statue was “long overdue” and announced he was inviting applications from interested artists.
The mayor’s office highlighted other artwork recently unveiled in New Bedford, including statues of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and former Congressman Thomas Lopez.
“New Bedford has been the setting for arguably the greatest work of American literature. This novel has had a profound influence on artists around the world and on American culture itself. Not long ago, Frederick Douglass A monument is being erected in Melville’s honor. A new Bedford is long overdue,” Mitchell said in a statement.
City spokesman Jonathan Darling said Monday that a location for the Melville statue has not yet been determined, but it will be placed somewhere in the city’s historic district, which spans several blocks around Johnny Cake Hill. It’s where Melville would have spent time while in New Bedford — “where all the whaling ships used to go and all the fishermen and whalers hung out,” Darling said. said.
The project will be funded through a combination of public and private funds, according to the mayor’s office, but Darling said specific funding sources have not yet been determined.
The city asks artists to submit a budget estimate, resume, samples of other work, and a “statement of interest in a commission” by Feb. 16, including “how you would approach this project.” I’m looking for it.
Each finalist, chosen by an advisory committee of historians and “representatives from the arts and culture community,” will receive $2,500 to help write their proposal and travel to New Bedford to present it. A scholarship will be awarded.
New Bedford Whaling Museum Director Amanda McMullen said in a statement that “Melville’s spirit still resonates throughout New Bedford,” and that the proposed statue would be a “great piece of public art” in the city. He added that it would be a great addition. .
Moreover, echoes of Melville can still be heard across the state.
Best known for his maritime epics and his association with whaling cities, Melville is the quintessential local writer from border to border. He wrote “Moby Dick” while living in western Pittsfield.
Known as Arrowhead, the author’s Pittsfield mansion from 1850 to 1863 is now the headquarters of the Berkshire County Historical Society, which offers guided tours of the grounds. The Berkshire Community College campus in Pittsfield has Melville Hall as one of its academic buildings.
Affinity for Melville in Western Massachusetts is so great that a few years ago, fifth graders at Egremont Elementary School in Pittsfield lobbied Congress to name Moby Dick as the official “Epic of the Union.”
Former Rep. Christopher Speranzo of Pittsfield introduced the bill, which was approved by the House in 2008, but died in the Senate at the end of his term in 2009 without taking any action.
