JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Five bronze sculptures by Mississippi artist Bill Beckwith, originally commissioned for the Jackson airport in the late 1980s, are only partially accounted for and at least one was apparently sold on eBay in 2007.
Beckwith, who lives in Taylor, will be honored for lifetime achievement by the Mississippi Institute of Arts & Letters in June. His career of more than 30 years includes sculptures of such iconic Mississippans as B.B. King, Elvis Presley, Eudora Welty, Richard Wright and Tennessee Williams.
His sculptures of two identical architectural renderings - detailed models in bronze - of Mississippi’s State Capitol and three identical bronze eagles on cast bronze balls (as on the Capitol dome) were originally commissioned for the Jackson International Airport, as it was then known, in 1989.
“The architect who remodeled it … had those two (Capitols) up on columns and then those three eagles - it was all part of his design,” Beckwith said.
Jackson Municipal Airport Authority CEO Dirk Vanderleest said he didn’t recall the eagles but remembered the theme of the Capitol and a lot of flags in the terminal building, and the east concourse that was about to open when he arrived there in 1990.
In an extensive 2005-07 renovation, “we had a contractor and A&E (architecture and engineering) firm to do those improvements,” Vanderleest said, “and obviously, that particular piece of art was not a part of the overall plan. So, I don’t recall where the other - if there were other three - I don’t remember. That’s a long time ago.”
One bronze State Capitol and one bronze eagle are currently in storage at the airport. One of the State Capitols had been on view in a display case in the lobby for a long time.
Art is part of an overall project, Vanderleest said, and paid for through airport funds, not public funds. By that definition, the sculptures would not be considered public art.
The Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport’s current art focuses on works commissioned from Mississippi photographers.
Back in 2007, Beckwith was shocked to hear from a seller about one of the eagles on eBay.
“I think they emailed me and said, ’Did you do this?’ or something like that,” Beckwith said.
In an email exchange Beckwith shared with The Clarion-Ledger, the seller “Mark Davis (gravemower)” said he’d purchased the eagle and had been told it’d been located at the Jackson airport until about a year and a half prior, and was part of a “statue or something that was being destroyed” in a remodel.
“It went for $293, which is pretty cheap,” Beckwith said.
He said he received $18,000 for the commission, which took roughly six to nine months to complete. He’d kept up with the bidding and saved a printout; the winning bid was $293.94. The item’s location was listed as “Philadelphia, United States.”
“I was a little shocked that more value wasn’t placed on those bronzes,” Beckwith said. “I should have bid on them myself. It was worth more than that to me.”
He said he never contacted the airport about the matter.
“It was a little unnerving to think that they got thrown out with the trash.”
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Information from: The Clarion-Ledger, https://www.clarionledger.com
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