Unconditional Surrender - Civitavecchia, Lazio, Italy - Figurative Public Sculpture on Waymarking.com

This famous 7.6 meters (25 feet) high styrofoam statue of a sailor kissing a nurse is located on Piazza della Vita, a part of the seafront in Civitaveccia, Lazio, Italy. According to some sources, it shows a couple celebrating Japan's unconditional surrender in World War II with a long kiss in September 1945.

It is one of the several copies which can be also found in Sarasota and latter in Key West (Florida), San Diego (California), New York (New York), Hamilton (New Jersey), Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), Caen (France), Royal Oak (Michigan), Bastogne (Belgium), HMNB Portsmouth (United Kingdom), Graham (North Carolina) and Omaha (Nebraska).

According to Wikipedia, "Unconditional Surrender (in Italian Resa incondizionata) is a series of computer-generated statues by Seward Johnson that resemble an iconic 1945 photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt, V–J day in Times Square, but was said by Johnson to be based on a similar, less well-known, photograph by Victor Jorgensen that is in the public domain.

Seward Johnson manufactured a life-size bronze precursor to the huge statues of Unconditional Surrender using a computer copying technology that would be used for the entire series. A 25-feet-tall (7.6 m) styrofoam version of the statue was part of a temporary exhibition in Sarasota, Florida in 2005, at its bay front. The technology he used copies two-dimensional images in order to manufacture three-dimensional objects.

Johnson proceeded with the manufacture of aluminum versions of the 25-feet-tall statue, marketing them through a foundation he had created. He offered copies ranging from $542,500 for styrofoam (plastic), $980,000 for aluminum, and $1,140,000 for bronze.[4] Johnson established the Sculpture Foundation to disseminate his work".

The city of Civitavecchia purchased and installed its copy in 2012.

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Name or use 'Unknown' if not known: Unconditional Surrender Figure Type: Human Artist Name or use 'Unknown' if not known: Seward Johnson Jr. Date created or placed or use 'Unknown' if not known: 2012 Materials used: styrofoam Location: the seafront in Civitaveccia, Lazio, Italy

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