If you’re looking for a great photo op while you’re in Siesta Key, check out the 26-foot tall Unconditional Surrender statue on the Sarasota Bayfront.
The sculpture, created by artist Seward Johnson, was bought by and donated to the city by World War II veteran Jack Curran, with help from a number of Sarasota veterans and organizations.
Unconditional Surrender is a recreation of the iconic Life Magazine cover celebrating the end of World War II on August 14, 1945, and depicts an anonymous serviceman dipping an unsuspecting nurse in the middle of Time Square in New York City. The black and white photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt has since gained worldwide fame and is one of the most recognizable images from the World War II era.
The Sarasota statue is actually part of a series of sculptures by Johnson similar to this one in Hamilton, New Jersey, Peral Harbor, Hawaii and Normandy, France.
At first, the Unconditional Surrender statue was hated by Sarasota’s Public Art Advisory Committee and was called tacky by many. But it’s since become an iconic part of Sarasota, with couples coming from all over the world to stand by it to recreate it in front of a camera.
The statue is made of aluminum and able to withstand winds from a category 3 hurricane, so it’s certainly not going anywhere.
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