Rogue Trump statue in Center City commemorates ‘a lifetime of sexual assault’

A large gold-colored statue of former President Donald Trump with his right hand held out in a crude gesture appeared behind the Maja statue at Maja Park on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Wednesday morning.

While the work was not signed and no artist immediately took credit, a similar statue appeared in Portland, Ore., Sunday and was also placed near a statue of a nude woman.

The plaque at the base of the Philadelphia statue was titled: “In honor of a lifetime of sexual assault.” It read: “I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything.”

The quote is from Trump’s 2005 interview with Billy Bush of Access Hollywood, but his words were not meant to be aired.

The Trump statue was removed by city workers just as quickly and quietly as it appeared in the park. It was put in the back of a pickup truck shortly before noon.

The Maja statue by Gerhard Marcks, which depicts a nude woman with her eyes closed and hands resting on top of her head, was first exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1949 and was installed on the museum’s east terrace from 1954 to 1992. It was then placed in storage until it was reinstalled in its new home in Maja Park in 2021.

Marcks, a German, was labeled “a degenerate artist” by Nazis, who destroyed many of his works, according to the Association for Public Art, which owns the sculpture.

Charlotte Cohen, executive director of the association, said that Marcks immigrated to the United States, where he found freedom of expression, and that Maja is a “really gentle, beautiful work” that illustrates that.

“The fact that we were able to conserve it and put it out for the public to enjoy is a testament to that right we have in the United States … and it’s like it’s under attack by that figure that was approaching with a lewd gesture,” she said. “Those artists or those activists did a good job of fulfilling their goal of incredible satire.”

Without the accompanying text, the sculpture could have been interpreted in different ways, Cohen said, but with it, the intent was clear.

“They were really smart the way they selected the site and put the work in juxtaposition to a nude female sculpture and in a prominent position on the Parkway, in a swing state, of course,” she said.

The similar statue of Trump that appeared in downtown Portland, next to an abstract bronze sculpture of a nude woman titled Kvinneakt, was beheaded within hours and later removed.

Other satirical sculptures have recently appeared in Washington ahead of next week’s presidential election. On the National Mall, there is a bronze replica of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk with a large poop sculpture on it, the plaque of which says it “honors the brave men and women who broke into the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021 to loot, urinate and defecate throughout those hallowed halls in order to overturn an election.”

Another sculpture of a fist holding a tiki torch appeared on Freedom Plaza near the White House this week. The plaque on that one says it “pays tribute to President Donald Trump and the ‘very fine people’ he boldly stood to defend when they marched in Charlottesville, Virginia.”

A group named Civic Crafted LLC received permits from the National Park Service to erect those sculptures, according to NPR.

The Trump sculpture in Philly was not permitted and the artists activists behind it remain unknown.

“This is what public art does — it ignites these conversations and dialogue,” Cohen said.