Federal Panel: Changes to King Memorial Design 'Positive'

WASHINGTON — Martin Luther King Jr. didn't quite get a makeover, but a key federal panel is signaling its approval for a revised rendering of the slain civil rights leader, two months after it criticized an earlier design as "confrontational."

The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts met here yesterday to consider the latest proposal for a 28-foot granite statue planned as the centerpiece of a memorial to King near the National Mall. The foundation in charge of the memorial submitted a revised design in response to a sharply worded letter in April in which the commission complained that the likeness of King "features a stiffly frontal image, static pose, confrontational in character" and said "the colossal scale and Social Realist style of the proposed statue recalls a genre of political sculpture that has recently been pulled down in other countries."

Artists for the King foundation had already softened the features of his face to make his expression appear less "concerned," smoothing a furrowed brow and tweaking his mouth to suggest the hint of a smile. And after receiving the letter they enhanced the mountainous base of the statue — called the Stone of Hope — to address the commission's complaint that King was simply placed atop the stone, rather than "emerging" from it, as the original renderings indicated.

The changes appeared minor overall: King still had his arms crossed in front of him, facing forward, with a stern expression on his face. But they were enough for the six-member commission, which must approve the design of the memorial before construction can begin.

"I think the improvements are very positive. We very much appreciate it," the panel's chairman, Earl Powell III, told the foundation's executive architect, Ed Jackson Jr., after he presented the revised design yesterday.

Although the commission gave a tentative go-ahead to the statue, its members asked to see a plaster model later this year before taking a final approval vote. The presentation yesterday consisted mostly of digitally altered photographs of a clay model of the statue, which is being built in China by the sculptor Lei Yixin.

"We're very pleased with the process today," the president of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Harry Johnson, said afterward.

He defended the scope of the changes made to the design, which had sparked a contentious debate about King's legacy. "We're trying to come up with the best representation of Dr. King possible," Mr. Johnson told reporters. "Whether it's confrontational or not confrontational, that's going to be up to the individual viewing it."

During his presentation to the commission, he said the revisions to King's face had been shown to members of King's family, who had praised them.

Mr. Johnson also confirmed yesterday that the inspector general for the Department of the Interior was investigating the foundation over the bidding process it used in awarding design contracts for the memorial. He said he had met with federal officials last week in Washington and that the inspector general planned to release a report that Mr. Johnson anticipated would be "very favorable" to the foundation. The inquiry centered on whether the foundation was required to follow so-called "Buy America" rules in awarding contracts.

A spokesman for the inspector general declined to comment.