Goodbye, Kiss

Categories:

 

Graham bid farewell Tuesday to this massive public art installation, which recreates the iconic Life Magazine photo of a kissing couple who were caught on film during the VJ-Day celebrations in New York’s Times Square on August 14, 1945.

The statue’s removal comes a few days after the 77th anniversary of the end of the War in the Pacific.

The sculpture by Seward Johnson, dubbed “Embracing Peace,” is modeled after the famous 1945 photo of a sailor and nurse kissing in Times Square celebrating the end of World War II.  Johnson, 89, died in 2020 while the statue was in Graham.

- Advertisement -

[See photos below.]


When the statue arrived in Graham on October 16, 2019.
Caption from the August 27, 1945, issue of LIFE. “In the middle of New York’s Times Square a white-clad girl clutches her purse and skirt as an uninhibited sailor plants his lips squarely on hers.”

LEAVING ON TUESDAY

   

- Advertisement -

Must Read

NC 54 property in Graham recommended for business rezoning

Graham’s planning board last week endorsed a proposed rezoning for property along East Harden Street (NC 54). The .73-acre lot at 1528 East Harden Street,...