Parisian Suburb Wants Bronze Sculpture Depicting French President's Wife

Lenin Statue/Seattle

I recently traveled to Seattle, where a massive bronze statue of Lenin is on public display. I didn't have time to see it, but I wish I had. There is something genuinely strange about sculpture of public figures, whether they are artifacts from a bygone era (surely Leninism qualifies on that score) or manifestations of current popular sentiment (the bronze bull in New York's Financial District is a case in point).

However, the notion that anyone would want a bronze of the wife of French president Nicholas Sarkozy is from way out of left field. In this case, I should say right field, as the request came from the mayor of a Parisian suburb who is a member of Sarkozy's UMP "right-of-center" political party.

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy

Mrs. Sarkozy happens to be Carla Bruni (now Carla Bruni-Sarkozy), an Italian who made quite a name for herself as a world-class fashion model. She also has done some acting, notably a cameo in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris. The UK newspaper Guardian's report on the Bruni sculpture affair did not indicate whether the French first lady agreed to the sculpture project or if she was consulted.

However, the proposed six-foot piece will not be the same scale, or presumably historic intent, from the 16-foot replica of Lenin currently in Seattle's feisty Fremont neighborhood.