Tapestry

Photograph by Alan Karchmer; memorial design by Gehry Partners, LLP; sculpture by Sergey Eylanbekov; tapestry by Tomas Osinski

Under the design direction of architect Frank Gehry, artist Tomas Osinski has created a stainless-steel tapestry for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial. The tapestry depicts the Pointe du Hoc promontory of France’s Normandy coastline during peacetime and serves as a symbol of the peace Eisenhower sought and won as Supreme Allied Commander during World War II and then maintained and nurtured as 34^th president. Although the artistic feature draws inspiration from historic tapestries, the process and materials implemented in the Eisenhower Memorial introduce a new innovative perspective on the conventional practice of tapestry weaving.

Juggling many factors and possibilities, the artistic team of the Eisenhower Memorial chose to use stainless steel for its durability. Stainless steel possesses a metal with natural qualities that ensure its longevity. The metal has a natural oxidation process that protects the steel from corrosion. The element of chromium in the steel makes the material resistant to corrosion when exposed to oxygen. Because the tapestry will reside outdoors, many physical and metallurgical tests were conducted to decide which type of steel would be used in the project. The tapestry proved widely successful in these tests including withstanding the vacuum pressure of an airplane propeller and losing only six of the six-thousand welds that were subject to simulated hurricane wind for one month.

At 447 feet long and 60 feet tall, a stainless steel tapestry of this size has never been attempted before. Made of 600 panels, each measuring 3 feet by 15 feet, the steel tapestry is supported by a cable net system suspended from a stone-clad concrete colonnade spanning the southern perimeter of the memorial. Architect Frank Gehry chose an expansive element to add gravitas to the memorial park, to serve as a commemorative element providing context for the memorial, and as an urban planning element defining the space in its urban surroundings.

The initial memorial narrative featured a depiction of the Kansas landscape, commemoratingEisenhower's ties to his home state. As the design process continued, the design team proposed an image of Normandy's coastline to symbolize Eisenhower's role as a preeminent world leader.

The initial artwork was a photographic representation of the Normandy cliffs and French landscape compiled from images captured by drone. As the team collaborated and received artistic feedback from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, the tapestry artwork evolved from a photographic montage to an artful abstract line drawing of the Pointe du Hoc promontory in peacetime.