Here's how Phoenix ended up with so many naked statues downtown

For the capital of a state with a national reputation for being conservative, Phoenix sure has a lot of naked people downtown.

They are statuesque, or more precisely, statues.

There are more than 20 artworks in the altogether permanently scattered throughout the downtown area.

And they are there, for the most part, because of powerful businessmen who pushed past social norms and government criticism in order to plunk the bare bronzes in the center of the city.

The statues have since become part of the scenery in Phoenix, a seemingly unexpected sight that has become accepted.

“For such a conservative city, it’s kind of surprising isn’t it?” said Beatrice Moore, an artist who was instrumental in creating the arts district along Grand Avenue, just west of downtown.

“They’re certainly not lewd,” Moore said. “They don’t verge on being risqué in my opinion.”

Others have had different opinions, mainly when the first set of stitchless statues was proposed. But there was never a groundswell to remove them.

There technically are clothes on one set of statues, at least enough to satisfy the government, although it would take a close look to find those traces, and taking that close look might cause more of a stir than the statues themselves.

Roll call of statues

One naked statue was removed from outside a building this month. It wasn’t for reasons of modesty, but rather renovation. The 9-foot-tall naked man that stood outside the Renaissance Square towers was expected to find another home downtown.

There is a family of seven statues on the east side of the Herberger Theater. A group is walking toward a grandfatherly type who has outstretched arms and trouserless legs and trunk.

On the south end, there are 10 nude figures dancing, with one playing the pan flute. An 11th statue was damaged and pulled for repairs in 2014 and has not returned.

Additionally, there is a family of four appearing to stroll blissfully buck naked outside the north plaza of the Maricopa County Superior Court building on Jefferson Street.

Those were the ones that started the collection back in the 1960s.

The statues were offered as a gift by the Valley Beautiful Council, according to a 1966 Republic story. Making the gift to the county Board of Supervisors were two men representing the council: Lewis Ruskin Jr. and Walter Bimson.

Ruskin was a retired owner of pharmacies in Chicago. Bimson owned Valley National Bank. Both men had money and influence. Both were also art lovers.

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Bimson was a champion of the sculptor John Waddell, an Arizonan who was living and working in Greece. Waddell specialized in nudes.

Reached by phone at his Verde Valley studio, Waddell, 96, said he was fortunate to count Bimson as a supporter.

“I had patrons who appreciate what I do and who are not offended by figurative work,” he said.

Uncompromised acceptance

The county was initially reluctant to accept the work. After seeing the clay models of the nude family, the board chairman, L. Alton Riggs, said, “I think many people would find it offensive.”

Ruskin was quoted at the time as saying Waddell was making the sculpture specifically for the county complex. He started working on it in Greece after walking the plaza and its surroundings.

“If it’s not accepted by the county, he’ll probably destroy it,” Ruskin said at the time.

More than a year later, in October 1967, the county accepted the statues after Waddell agreed to place shorts and halter tops on the statues.

Waddell was quoted at the time saying he did so in order to avoid issues of morality around the artwork. “I feel that I have clothed the figures in such a way that I have not compromised myself,” he said in an article at the time.

When the statues were installed in December 1967 passers-by could not detect the clothes.

“They don’t look as if they have clothes on,” said Edna Ong to The Republic. “Lots of statues don’t have clothes on. So what?”

Waddell, in the interview this month, said he “put a few lines” on the statues. “Enough to satisfy the complaints,” he said.

Influential art lovers

When Waddell was commissioned in 1974 to create the dozen nude figures to stand outside the Phoenix Civic Plaza, there was nary a peep of controversy found in Republic stories from the time.

That work was again championed by Bimson and Ruskin, who by that time had become head of the Arizona Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

Another patron, Louise Kerr, a musician, composer and one of the founders of the Phoenix Symphony, allowed Waddell to use her Cottonwood ranch as a studio. Kerr’s father was John C. Lincoln, who invested in the Camelback Inn and founded a hospital in the Sunnyslope area.

“My patrons were established enough in the community so they were respected,” Waddell said. “That’s how I think my work was accepted.”

When the plaza was renovated, the statues moved to the south entrance of the Herberger Theater.

And their acceptance meant there was nary a peep when Renaissance Square placed the 9-foot naked man outside its towers. The artwork, entitled "Full Life Reach," showed a man standing on an angled pedestal with arms raised.

The statue was removed in November as part of renovations of the plaza.

“It’s not going to go back there,” said Mark Clegg, a spokesperson for Hines, the property manager of the towers.

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Hines gave the statue to Downtown Phoenix Partnership. That group, according to R.J. Price, its vice president of marketing, was seeking a new home for it.

“In the meantime, we’re trying to make sure he is preserved,” Price said. “We’ll clean him up so he’s looking better than ever.”

Price said no parts of the statue were damaged during its removal. Especially that one.

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