Photo Phriday

Finally got around to taking some pix of those giant presidential heads, along with Rob, Ted, and non-blogging buddies Steve and Patrick. They’re below the More link for those of you (and you know who you are) who have a morbid interest in things like that. I’m going to try to make a habit of taking pictures of oddball things in and around my neighborhood and posting them on Fridays. We’ll see if I can stick to it.


LBJ and the Big Dog. The trucks behind them give you an idea of the size.

Truman and Ike.

Inside the artist’s workshop.

Hoover, Grant, and Nixon – a triumverate of failure.

UPDATE: Several people say that the middle statue is Rutherford Hayes, not US Grant. They’re probably right, but if so it ruins the whole “triumverate of failure” thing. Such is life, I guess.

TR guards the door.

I don’t quite recognize these five. Leave a comment if you think you can identify any of them.

UPDATE: See comments for various attempts at identifying these five.

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20 Responses to Photo Phriday

  1. William Hughes says:

    The five presidents you can’t recognize are from right to left:

    Martin Van Buren (8th)
    William Henry Harrison (9th)
    James Tyler (10th)
    James Polk (11th)
    Zachary Taylor (12th)

  2. danil says:

    Your “Grant” looks to me like Hayes

    Gah – I’m going cross-eyed trying to reference these against the official portraits. Surely Harrison, Johnson, and Polk are clear. I think it’s Pierce or Fillmore on the far end – I know I’ve seen that likeness, but it doesn’t appear to be the official protrait. Early 19th century fashions, though.

    The big ape in the middle has me stumped, but it has to be Roosevelt, doesn’t it? It’s using the same model as the dime.

  3. I’m pretty sure that’s Grant. There was another statue just like it elsewhere that I took to be Hayes. I admit that I could have it backwards, though.

    You sure about that middle guy being Tyler, William? He’s wearing awfully 20th century clothing, I think. That’d pretty much reduce the choices to Coolidge or Harding, since he’s too small to be Taft and he ain’t Wilson.

  4. danil says:

    But for the missing glasses, I might place ape in the middle as President Cheney.

  5. Linkmeister says:

    You’re trying to replace CalPundit’s catblogging? 😉

  6. William Hughes says:

    The other choice for the one in the middle is William McKinley. Wilson had a longer face and the clothing is too modern to be Tyler. The other 4 I am 100% certain of.

    As for Grant, I thought it could be Hayes or Benjamin Harrison. Grant’s beard was more rounded and unkempt (probably because most of the pictures of him were from the Civil War battelfront), while Hayes and Harrison had traditional 1880’s beards, such as what you see in the statue.

    Coolidge had a long, guant body (much like Lincoln), while Harding had gray hair and a sort of “angry” look in his pictures. FDR always had a positive look on his face (as per his requirements, since he did not want people to know about his handicap).

  7. Jeff N. says:

    Those five are (L-R):

    Pierce, Polk, Cheney wearing a rug, Taylor, and Andrew Johnson.

    I guess the middle guy has to be Harding, based on the hair and the suit.

  8. Aziz says:

    man i wish i could have made it. unfortunately weekends are (paradoxically) worse for me than weekdays.

    how about a lunchtime excursion sometime to check out the view from the tallest building in town?

  9. how about a lunchtime excursion sometime to check out the view from the tallest building in town?

    That’s definitely on my to-do list. I’ll be in touch about it, because “sooner” is gonna work better than “later” for me. 🙂

  10. Retrogrouch says:

    The last phot L-R
    Andrew Jackson
    James K. Polk
    Warren G. Harding
    William H. Harrison
    Millard Fillmore

    The one you identified as Grant is Rutherford B. Hayes

  11. Retrogrouch says:

    The HTML didn’t work, let me try again:

    Last phot l-r

    Andrew Jackson, although Pierce is possible.
    James K. Polk (sporting the original presidential mullet)
    Warren G. Harding
    William H. Harrison
    Millard Fillmore

  12. I’m amazed at how many of these have been misidentified, even after multiple comments and weeks.

    Running left to right through the final five, the first one is of course Franklin Pierce, the only American President to die of alcoholism (and a collateral ancestor of Barbara Bush). It doesn’t look remotely like Andrew Jackson. Just get out a $20 bill, for pity’s sake.

    The second is Polk, as several people have said.

    The third is a real poser. If it’s Harding or Coolidge, it’s a remarkably bad likeness. The face could be McKinley if you squint really hard, but if so, the clothing is decades off. If it’s supposed to be FDR, the artist is on drugs.

    The fourth is unmistakeably William Henry Harrison.

    The fifth is neither Zachary Taylor (as two people suggested) nor Millard Fillmore. It’s obviously Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s successor and the first President to be impeached. Really, I’m at a loss to see any resemblance to Taylor or Fillmore, while it actually captures Johnson’s distinctive glare quite well.

    Meanwhile, the guy between Hoover and Nixon is definitely not Grant, whose beard and mustache never looked so flowing and cultivated. Admittedly it’s easy to confuse the Several Bearded Presidents of the Gilded Age, but it looks a lot more like Hayes than like Garfield or Benjamin Harrison.

  13. 'stina says:

    I can’t believe you didn’t post a picture of Carolyn Farb’s bust. It is my favorite of the bunch.

  14. 'stina says:

    I can’t believe you didn’t post a picture of Carolyn Farb’s bust. It is my favorite of the bunch.

  15. Tinkerbell says:

    Hey, where are these heads? I would love to see them in real life.

  16. peter says:

    the guy on the right is Andrew Johnson, undoubtedly. The middle man is either Harding or Roosevelt, and the second from the right is william Henry Harrison. Polk is second from the left. I don’t know about the one on the far left.

  17. David Adickes says:

    Today, Nov 18,2005, is the first time I’ve seen this site, or I would have shed some light on the five figure photo sooner. Left to right, they are: Pierce, Polk,Harding, Wm Henry Harrison, and Andrew Johnson

  18. Support Science to Reverse Global Warming, if still possible says:

    The artist should consider Ann Richards.

  19. Interested in having a statue of Stephen F. Austin built for a subdivision in Sealy/San Felipe Texas. Who do I talk to?

    Regards, Phillip

  20. Pingback: A new Presidential head comes to Pearland – Off the Kuff

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