ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 21, 1995 TAG: 9512210097
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: By MARGARET EDDS STAFF WRITER
Art critics in Virginia's capitol have quietly mounted an effort to do what Confederate aficionados last summer could not: delay the placement of a statue of tennis great Arthur Ashe on Monument Avenue.
Unlike last summer, however, when controversy over the Ashe statue drew international attention, the issue is not location, but the statue itself.
Everyone in the newly resurfaced debate agrees that the work should rest on Monument Avenue, Richmond's storied boulevard honoring Confederate war heroes.
The question now is whether to elevate the work of a local sculptor who consulted with Ashe about the project before his death from AIDS in 1993 - or launch an international competition.
In their first public outing Wednesday, the critics - including Frances Lewis, a founder of Best Products and one of Virginia's premier art patrons - suffered a setback before the city's Commission of Architectural Review.
The commission gave unanimous "conditional approval" to the statue of Ashe under construction by local sculptor Paul DiPasquale, although several members of the commission were assigned to meet with him to consider revisions.
Admirers of DiPasquale's work, including members of the Ashe family, have praised his vision in launching the Ashe project even before the death of the tennis star and humanitarian.
The critics say the work is "wooden" and an "embarrassing mediocrity" in urging the commission to sponsor an international competition to honor one of Richmond's best-known native sons.
Admirers were adamant in saying DiPasquale had been true to the requests of Ashe and his family and the rendering, which many of the critics have seen only in newspaper photographs, is an inspiring one.
The sculptor and Ashe had a telephone conversation in which Ashe outlined his preferences for the statue, including that he be informally dressed in tennis sweats, that his shoes be untied and that he be interacting with children.
But critics suggested that the informality and the depiction of Ashe as he looked near the end of his life create a less-than-dignified impression.
Since Ashe will be the first African-American to be honored on Monument Avenue, "it's very important to me that it be done with great dignity," said Sandi Stovall, a commission member and president of the Jackson Ward Historic Foundation.
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