Jim Barber: Uh, a Time Magazine cover of Ernie Pyle— and those covers were, could be generated —some of those artists could generate those in a matter of hours, and they're excellent.
Jim Barber: Uhm, so I don't know how long Joe Davidson really spent. You ta-- Well, we do know three days, but what he did after that I'm not sure.
Jim Barber: So from that plaster, he will then create a mold, make a mold— and you have the, uhm, the bronze bust.
Jim Barber: This is what Ernie Pyle looked like. This is the photograph of the Time—you might want to pass that around. So the likeness, in my judgment, is excellent.
Jim Barber: Sculpture, it's unlike two-dimensional paintings, in that it's, it's — it can often be hit or miss, uh, both for the artist and for museums that display it.
Jim Barber: It's very hard to photograph, to get right. It's, it's, uh, and what you see here, if I-- had paid more attention I guess, early on I would've maybe tried to get the light people to, you know, focus.
Jim Barber: We need a light right here [[laughter]], uhm, but uh, you know, take a little time to look at the, uh, at the piece. It's just a very very good likeness.
[SILENCE]
Jim Barber: But he's sorely missed. He was buried three times. Once immediately, after he was killed. He was reburied on Okinawa for a little bit, and his final resting place now is in the National Memorial Cemetery in Honolulu. So that's where he seems to be [[laughter]] staying these days.
UNKNOWN AUDIENCE: Is this considered one of his smaller— I'm familiar with a few of his pr —is this considered one of his smaller sculptures that he did?
Jim Barber: Uh, Joe Davidson? Not really, this is about, uh, [[coughs]] pardon me, this is about normal for Joe Davidson. It's basically life-sized and it's extraordinary because it's— it's from life, so near his death.
Jim Barber: I mean that's— so, so often, before I really looked— paid any attention— much attention to this I thought, "Oh, it's dated 1944. It's probably— his death was probably the occasion for Joe Davidson to do the bust after photographs." But not so in this case, yeah.
Jim Barber: And Joe Davidson, for the most part, worked from life. Uhm— UNKNOWN AUDIENCE: Yeah. Jim Barber: —and all, so that's nice, too.
Jim Barber: So this is really the kind of portraiture, that the Portrait Gallery is really after.