# Wax Abe Lincoln Statue in DC starts melting **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 26, 2024, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wax-abe-lincoln-statue-in-dc-starts-melting/1003357 "2024-06-26T11:12:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2024, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wax-abe-lincoln-statue-in-dc-starts-melting/1003357/1 "2024-06-26T11:12:08Z")
“Oh, what a world, what a world…” Contrary to the headline, the head was apparently bremoved and put in storage to minimize damage. > [@](#): > > A six-foot-tall wax replica of the 16th president, created by artist [Sandy Williams IV](https://www.sandywilliamsiv.com/about-sandy), was installed in February on in Northwest Washington, [the Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/06/24/dc-heat-melts-abraham-lincoln-wax-sculpture/) reports. > > Although Williams [told New York Magazine](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/abraham-lincoln-melted-sculpture.html) that the public art piece was always meant to melt, it was installed under shady trees so it could survive the summer, per the Post. > > But thanks to the temperature [topping 100 degrees](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/06/22/dc-100-high-temperature/?itid=lk_inline_manual_7) over the weekend, Lincoln’s head got a little too gooey for comfort. So it was removed and stored for safe keeping, with plans to reattach it on Tuesday, the Post reported. > **[Abe Lincoln Wax Statue's Head Melts Off, And Of Course There Are Jokes](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/abraham-lincoln-wax-statue-head-melts-off_n_667b1854e4b05521a7efda59)** > > The Washington, D.C. statue couldn't stand the heat. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2024, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wax-abe-lincoln-statue-in-dc-starts-melting/1003357/2 "2024-06-26T12:28:29Z")
> Although Williams [told New York Magazine](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/abraham-lincoln-melted-sculpture.html) that the public art piece was always meant to melt, it was installed under shady trees so it could survive the summer, per the Post. “I’m sorry, you spent **how much** of our public spaces art budget on an installation that won’t even last through the summer? You’d better find somewhere cool to put it.” ---
**Author:** ![SomeDeadSinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@SomeDeadSinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SomeDeadSinger)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2024, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wax-abe-lincoln-statue-in-dc-starts-melting/1003357/3 "2024-06-26T20:33:28Z")
Done in by John Wilkes Tanning Booth. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2024, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wax-abe-lincoln-statue-in-dc-starts-melting/1003357/4 "2024-06-26T21:52:48Z")
Gives one pause. The past Madame Tussauds wax museums were not likely air conditioned. How did those statues and exhibits survive? Hmmm? I’m thinking statues made of wax, for art, are not made of common candle wax. Reading the artist intended the first Lincoln statue, they replicated was meant to melt. Even had wicks. I think it was probably ok that this one melted. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2024, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wax-abe-lincoln-statue-in-dc-starts-melting/1003357/5 "2024-06-26T22:42:16Z")
There was [Mark Quinn,](http://marcquinn.com/artworks/self) who created a bust of his own head with his frozen blood. [Janine Antonin](https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.206257.html)made busts of herself in chocolate and soap, then licked the former and bathed with the latter. Premier among those artists who bake bread with their own vaginal yeast is [Anicka Yi,](https://thewomensstudio.net/2021/12/08/anicka-yi/)who uses all sorts of swabs and stinks for the gallery-goers’ experience. With that in mind, Sandy Williams IV should bet busy with the Q-tips to truly make her mark as an enchausticist. Artist Justine Lai already owns the edgy presidential art with her paintings of herself having graphic sex with them (me ain’t linking that one). ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2024, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wax-abe-lincoln-statue-in-dc-starts-melting/1003357/6 "2024-06-26T23:23:36Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Contrary to the headline, the head was apparently bremoved and put in storage to minimize damage. I hope they did better with that than they did Ted Williams. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2024, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wax-abe-lincoln-statue-in-dc-starts-melting/1003357/7 "2024-06-26T23:31:48Z")
Yep. Artists can be weird. I remember reading about one artist using things like toenail clippings, hair and snot. Another used coffee filters she collected from restaurant trash and made beautiful Angel wing pictures. She moved into fish scales and I quit following. Then there’s all that hair jewelry from dead people that was popular. Gross happens. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wax-abe-lincoln-statue-in-dc-starts-melting/1003357/8 "2024-06-27T00:26:23Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Artist Justine Lai already owns the edgy presidential art with her paintings of herself having graphic sex with them (me ain’t linking that one). Okay, you got me. I had to go looking. And I found a Cracked collection of weird presidential art, including a series of nude Obama riding around Washington on a unicorn. And some of Justine Lai’s series. Plus Ronnie Reagan’s wattles turned into boobs Definitely not safe for work. I will break the link and spoiler it. https://. www. [cracked.com/](http://cracked.com/) article\_23684\_8-crazy-presidential-art-trends-that-should-not-exist.html ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wax-abe-lincoln-statue-in-dc-starts-melting/1003357/9 "2024-06-27T03:12:40Z")
It could have been worse. If Abe had been sculpted out of butter, he’d be a puddle, now. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wax-abe-lincoln-statue-in-dc-starts-melting/1003357/10 "2024-06-27T15:46:26Z")
Had I not contracted Covid I probably would have hightailed it down there to take my picture with it. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wax-abe-lincoln-statue-in-dc-starts-melting/1003357/11 "2024-06-27T19:08:14Z")
Oh, can you stand behind it, so that it’s your head showing? ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wax-abe-lincoln-statue-in-dc-starts-melting/1003357/12 "2024-06-27T19:29:50Z")
Has anyone seen crate [9906753](https://indianajones.fandom.com/wiki/9906753) lately? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wax-abe-lincoln-statue-in-dc-starts-melting/1003357/13 "2024-06-27T20:42:48Z")
Lincoln in effigy has seen worse times. Congressional Delegate from DC Elenor Holmes Norton is determined to see his [Emancipation Memorial](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_Memorial) removed from her district, for reasons that may be easily apparent: [![](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:750/format:webp/1*sQ80yFG0t-zk-MugzWTb2g.jpeg) ](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:750/format:webp/1*sQ80yFG0t-zk-MugzWTb2g.jpeg) [The Young Lincoln](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Young_Lincoln) stands in Los Angeles’ Spring Street Courthouse, sculpted to make Lincoln relatable to a generation saved by the Civilian Conservation Corps, only to attract the usual derision (“Abraham Twinkin”) [![](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/KUT4zV1s0bFCWQrOaNgW006bFl0=/1000x750/filters:no_upscale():focal(1887x647:1888x648)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/07/79/0779ee6a-baf1-4d4c-8166-54921b6e0ce4/4715184094_a75ba6404c_o.png) ](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/KUT4zV1s0bFCWQrOaNgW006bFl0=/1000x750/filters:no_upscale():focal(1887x647:1888x648)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/07/79/0779ee6a-baf1-4d4c-8166-54921b6e0ce4/4715184094_a75ba6404c_o.png) One recent painting I do like is by the Lucian Freud-inspired portraitist Alexander Newley, who happens to be the son of actress Joan Collins, as these things transpire. [![](http://alexandernewley.com/wp-content/uploads/ewpt_cache/0x650_95_3_c_FFFFFF_bbcff23b8fb6f4399933f273f6b73505.jpg) ](http://alexandernewley.com/wp-content/uploads/ewpt_cache/0x650_95_3_c_FFFFFF_bbcff23b8fb6f4399933f273f6b73505.jpg)