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=> Chicago Pamphlet

Posted by parhad (Guest) - Saturday, May 15 2004, 15:17:52 (CEST)
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...this is the pamphlet I took to Chicago for the AANF convention in 2000. I tried to explain to people why the Shumirum Monument hadn`t been installed in time for the convention...which several people heard was to happen. Many were wondering if I`d told the truth at all when I said the city accepted the monument and was planning to have it up by the concention so everyone could participate in the unveiling.

They confiscated all copies and that began a four day tussle to get me shut down...my sculptures removed, me arrested, threats of physical violence...all of which ended in them running to hide when the Chicago police came looking for THEM. In a contest between an Assyrian and a bunch of Christians..it`s a no-brainer.

Nimrod went on to sttle with me out of court...he kept maintaining there had been no such agreement between his sister and I, that the money she`d paid as a down payment on the work she ordered was just a "gift" and his lawyers warned me if I didn`t drop the suit they`d demand I return A GIFT! Since Helen was dead I`d have had a harder time making my case, but the number of times she`s commissioned me already, plus the fact that her two sone and she herself had sent me family photos it would be hard to esplain other than what they were intended for...commissioned portraits of them AND the putz, her brother...I had a good chance.

Nimrod caved when we produced a hand written letter to me from his wife Inga, a delightful woman, stating that Nimrod knew all about the commissions and was thrilled..or some such words. That did the lying son of a bitch in and he finally told Helen`s son the truth and they paid up. I told them all I`d finish the portraits but I would only send them to Northwestern University, where they were supposed to be installed at the entrance to a building dedicated to Helen and her first husband. They never sent me any names and I never sent the sculptures. They`re there...any time they want them.

CHICAGO
FORCED TO CANCEL SHUMIRUM MONUMENT

? After 12 years of effort...
? After 4 years have passed since the Arts Council of Chicago accepted
the monument…
? After the Assyrian American National Federation donated $10,000...
? After over $80,000 was donated by individuals from the Americas and
Europe…
? After Helen Schwarten, frustrated by her brother Senator John Nimrod’s
failure to raise a single dime in four years, donated $120,000 of her
own money…
? After the City of Chicago generously offered to cover installation
costs, to provide a granite pedestal worth over $23,000 and began
preparations for a gala unveiling ceremony for this Labor Day (2000)

After all of this, John Nimrod writes a letter to the Public Arts
Committee of the City of Chicago warning it of legal complications if it
proceeds. He did this, as he said he would in retaliation for a lawsuit
I was forced to bring charging him with making false statements and
non-payment for sculptures commissioned and only partially paid for by
his sister, the late Helen Schwarten.

FROM LETTER WRITTEN BY JOHN NIMROD TO MICHAEL LASH, DIRECTOR OF THE
PUBLIC ARTS COMMITTEE FOR THE CITY OF CHICAGO, DATED MAY 8, 2000:

Dear Mr. Lash,

…I do not want to involve the City of Chicago so I would suggest that you delay any further discussion on accepting or placing the Sumuramat Monument OF THE FOUNDATION (caps mine)…I`m sure that the City of Chicago does not want to get involved in any law suit.

The letter contains more than a hint of trouble for the city and
reflects Mr. Nimrod’s belief that the Assyrian Universal Alliance
Foundation, of which he is now president, owns the monument because of
his sister’s generous donation, made during her presidency.

FROM A LETTER WRITTEN IN RESPONSE BY MICHAEL LASH TO SENATOR NIMROD,
DATED JUNE 21, 2000:

“I regret to advise you that as a result of correspondence dated May 8,
2000 I received from the Assyrian Universal Alliance Foundation, the
Public Arts Committee voted on May 16, 2000 to suspend the acceptance of
this sculpture.”

There is no link, no connection, between my lawsuit and the installation
of the Sumuramat Monument by the City of Chicago, as Mr. Nimrod well
knows. Indeed, it was Helen Schwarten who sponsored and originally
presented the monument to the City in 1996, and who waited anxiously for
four years to see it installed. Her brother’s letter is merely an
attempt to force me to drop a personal and completely unrelated matter
between the two of us, i.e. his refusal to pay for sculpture his sister
asked me to make before her final illness and the false and misleading
statements he’s made to her sons who control the estate.

Figure 1: Photo of Helen Schwarten Admiring the Shumirum Monument

The City of Chicago has waited eagerly and patiently for four years to
install our monument which was given as a gift by the Assyrian community
worldwide. It has been kept from doing so by only one person: John
Nimrod. From the first day, four years ago, when the Public Arts
Committee proposed to install the monument near the Oriental Institute
on the campus of the University of Chicago, Mr. Nimrod has been opposed
to that excellent site, carefully chosen by a government agency made up
of professionals from all the Arts, entrusted by the voters to oversee
and maintain one of the country’s greatest collections of public art.
And even though he demanded, and they gave him, additional time to find
another location more to his personal liking, he has failed to do so for
four years.

Looking back at his inability, or more likely his unwillingness, to
either raise a cent or find a site pleasing to himself, I believe his
intention all along was to frustrate the city’s plans, forcing it
eventually to refuse our gift, returning it so that Mr. Nimrod, who
believes he owns the monument because his sister was the major donor,
can install it at a years-in-the-talking-stage, and unlikely ever to be
built community center of his. So that, without spending any money of
his own, with very little effort and with funds provided by others, he
could claim our monument, to do with as he pleases. None of the donors,
and certainly not his sister, ever agreed to such a thing, or wants it now.

Figure 2: John Nimrod at his AUA Library

Helen Schwarten was a great lady who believed in this monument…in its
benefits, not only for our people directly, but its usefulness in
educating others about our heritage, of which she was very proud. I
believe she would have condemned Mr. Nimrod’s actions today with most
colorful language and in no uncertain terms.

FROM LETTER SENT TO FRED PARHAD BY ELIZABETH KELLEY, PUBLIC ART CURATOR
FOR THE CITY OF CHICAGO, DATED JUNE 21, 2000:

“The Public Arts Committee remains committed to adding this magnificent
sculpture to Chicago’s internationally acclaimed public art collection.”

Both Michael Lash and Elizabeth Kelley, along with several people from
our community asked Mr. Nimrod to contact the city, in writing,
releasing it from any threat of legal action so that we could have
installed the Sumuramat Monument in time for an unveiling at this year’s
National Federation convention. He has continued to refuse to do so
unless I drop my lawsuit.

FROM LETTER TO FRED PARHAD BY MR. JOHN NIMROD, DATED JULY 21, 2000:

“You asked me to expedite my letter to the arch (sic) council of the
City of Chicago…Remember, the only person causing any legal
complications and delays is you. My letter is ready to send, it depends
on you.”

Even though he insists that the monument be turned over to the Public
Arts Committee, he has no intention of ever allowing it to be installed
at the designated site, or any other that the Arts Committee might
choose. If the Sumuramat Monument were to be turned over to the custody
of the Public Arts Committee, Mr. Nimrod would merely stall, grumble,
and make threats until that agency, already worn down by four years of
these kinds of tactics and having more pressing business, rejects and
returns the monument to the Foundation which originally, under the
enlightened leadership of Helen Schwarten, presented it to the city.

At that point a long legal battle would begin to prove ownership of the
monument, which Mr. Nimrod and the sons of Helen Schwarten, backed by a
major law firm, would eventually win. At least that is his hope.

It is outrageous that Mr. Nimrod should hold us all, including the City
of Chicago, hostage in his efforts to avoid a fair hearing of my suit.
It is equally outrageous that he claims ownership of a monument to which
many people, not only his sister, gave so much, while he gave nothing at
all and only created embarrassment, delays, and ultimately,
cancellation, so that in the end he could appropriate our monument to
place at some ill-defined and yet to be built location which can never
compare to the one chosen by the Public Arts Committee of Chicago.
Furthermore, the City of Chicago would maintain and protect the monument
for all time, placing it on their registry of public art and giving us
the exposure for our heritage, which was a large part of our goal in
creating the Sumuramat Monument. The difference between being included
in a world-class art collection and being tossed in the cellar of the
Assyrian Universal Alliance Foundation building on Clark Street, should
be plainly clear to anyone. It would either be that, or winding up on
the lawn in front of one of Mr. Nimrod’s nephew’s properties, possibly a
golf course.

Figure 3: Busts of Assyrian Kings, Sculpted by Fred Parhad,
commissioned by Helen Schwarten, in the basement of the AUA Building on
Clark Street (Photo Taken March, 2002)

I believe one man has blocked the installation of our monument long
enough. However, as long as he continues to make his threat to involve
the city in a lawsuit, the Public Arts Committee has no choice but to
postpone and eventually cancel our monument altogether. If this happens
it will be, most likely, the first time such a thing has ever occurred;
that a group, in this case the Assyrian community, gave such a gift to a
major city…kept that city hanging and waiting for four years to do what
we asked them to, namely, install it, all because one man was opposed,
and no one did anything about it. If Mr. Nimrod succeeds, we will face
the humiliation of having besmirched our good name…by having our gift
returned. And…it wouldn’t be returned to us, but to Mr. Nimrod’s
foundation which could then do what it pleased. From something so
positive for our entire community, we have been brought so low.

The only chance left to install our monument is to present the city with
a petition showing support for their efforts to honor us. Please do
your part. All that is asked of you is to add your name to those who
believe the monument should be immediately installed by the City of
Chicago. The petition will be presented to the Public Arts Committee at
their next scheduled meeting on September 16, 2000

FROM LETTER SENT BY FRED PARHAD TO JOHN NIMROD, DATED JULY 21, 2000:

“All these points need to be clarified so people can learn the truth. I
therefore invite you, Ken and Ed James (sons of Mrs. Schwarten) to join
me in debate at the convention. The topic will be:

The Sumuramat Monument
1. Who paid for it
2. Approved site and delays
3. Reasons for cancellation
4. Where we go from here

Many institutions and cities in this country and abroad would be pleased
at the chance to claim the Sumuramat Monument for their own. I remain
committed to placing it in Chicago, as I promised and tried to do all
along. With your help perhaps we can still see the Sumuramat Monument
OF THE ASSYRIAN PEOPLE grace the magnificent skyline of the great City
of Chicago.

- Fred Parhad

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