A 1,200-pound bronze sculpture of Barack and Michelle Obama from their 2009 Inauguration Day walk will stand on the Obama Presidential Center’s entry plaza, already becoming a selfie magnet as visitors touch and pose with the nearly 7-foot figures.
Two weeks before the Obama Presidential Center officially opens, the biggest draw isn’t inside a gallery at all—it’s waiting on the entry plaza outside the front door of the Museum Tower.
There. a 1. 200-lb bronze sculpture memorializing former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama’s historic walk down crowd-lined Pennsylvania Avenue on Inauguration Day in 2009 stands at the center of the approach. The waving Obamas have quickly become a favorite backdrop for selfies and other photo-takers. and during a visit last week. people could be seen touching the sculpture. shaking its hands. and posing for pictures.
The work was created by StudioEIS, a 50-year-old Brooklyn sculpture and design company. The firm’s presidential creations include a striding John F. Kennedy at the Kennedy Center in Washington. D.C.; a Thomas Jefferson statue at the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond; and a seated Franklin D. Roosevelt for the National WWII Museum in New Orleans.
StudioEIS founder and Director Ivan Schwartz said the team built the piece around the moment’s symbolism. “We just thought that President Obama was a young and vigorous president. and therefore. the photographs of the Obamas walking down Pennsylvania Avenue seemed a kind of fitting image that would endure for a very long time. ” Schwartz said.
To get the scene right, the studio pored over hundreds of Inauguration Day photos supplied by the Obama Foundation to find a “suitable interpretation” of what happened on Pennsylvania Avenue, Schwartz said.
The figures capture the couple in motion—holding hands and smiling at the throngs. StudioEIS artists also aimed for specific details, Schwartz said, including the waves in Barack Obama’s close-cropped hair. The president’s fresh cut that day came courtesy of his long-time Hyde Park barber, Zariff. Michelle Obama’s sheath dress and matching coat were created by fashion designer Isabel Toledo, who died in 2019.
Schwartz said the task carried pressure because the Obamas still feel close to many people. “The Obamas left office not that long ago [and are] still front and center in people’s minds,” Schwartz said. “If we don’t come within the tiniest margin of getting it absolutely right in terms of the representation. then we have failed. And so there really is that burden.”.
Size was part of that commitment. The bronze figures. an Obama Foundation spokesperson said. are about 6 inches taller than the couple’s actual heights—making their figures about 6’7″ and 6’5″. The highest point of the sculpture is Michelle Obama’s raised hand. which measures 6’9″ from the work’s base to her fingertip.
The studio and the foundation also accounted for the setting. The sculpture sits on the large plaza next to the 225-foot Museum Tower, and Schwartz said the scale helps ensure the figures don’t get visually lost.
“I’ve seen the photographs,” Schwartz said. “I think it was the right decision.”
Hundreds of visitors have already come through during soft openings that began last month, and Catherine Moylan Mini was among them. She said she was so captivated by the sculpture that she gave it a high-five and then hugged it. She and her husband, Mike, posted the images on social media.
“I was so pleased the scale allowed me to give Michelle Obama a high-five,” Mini said. “I went over to President Obama and gave the sculpture a high-five [and] the spirit moved me to hug him around the waist.”
Schwartz said interaction like that is expected—and even desired—even if it eventually wears away the bronze patina. “This happens when people love touching these things,” he said. “And one day we’ll get a call saying, ‘Hey, you need to come out here and restore this. So many people have touched this and the feet have been rubbed [and it’s] looking like a copper penny.’”.
Obama Presidential Center Barack Obama sculpture Michelle Obama sculpture StudioEIS Inauguration Day 2009 Pennsylvania Avenue Museum Tower bronze sculpture