Human Statue of Liberty

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This is a photograph of a Paris street performer dressed as the Statue of Liberty. Many street performers dress as statues in pure white (although I’ve seen Egyptian mummies and other variations on the theme), but most are far less convincing than this individual. This performer even had a real flame in his hand, although that is hard to see in this photograph. As far as I could tell, the performer was a man, even though the real Statue of Liberty is a statue of a woman; the woman in the real statue looks pretty masculine, though, so I guess it evens out. With all that green makeup, I wonder what his bathtub looks like after a hard day at work, eh? This performer was on the avenue des Champs-Élysées, near the place de la Concorde. I saw another person dressed as the Statue of Liberty on the same day in Montmartre, but it was a pretty dismal depiction; this person was doing far better.

For those who have forgotten their history, recall that the Statue of Liberty, now in New York, was in fact a gift from France. There is a small version of the same statue west of the Eiffel Tower, of which I have a photo. There is also an exact duplicate of the gold-plated “flame” that the statue holds in her hand on the Place de l’Alma (better known as the embarcation point for the Bateaux-Mouches excursion boats). Finally, there is a tiny version of the statue in the Luxembourg Gardens.

By the way, common courtesy dictates that, if you take a picture of a street performer, you should at least give him some money. Note that this performer has a little box at his feet intended specifically to receive donations. I gave him about eight euros, which seemed fair.

Photographed on August 7, 1999.