NO THINKERS ALLOWED IN JERUSALEM

The irony. The Thinker's not allowed in Jerusalem. Some local authorites have greeted this as old news, claiming that there's been no thinking in Jerusalem for years.

The great quote from this article? Hats off (or maybe we should just keep our heads covered) to Deputy Mayor Shlomi Atias (Shas Party). "If he was wearing a bathing suit, then maybe it would have passed, but he is totally naked."

Now, what few people know is that Rodin's original statue was slightly different. First iterations of the sculpture had the hunching Thinker dressed in a banana-yellow Speedo. While this tested well with European audiences and some Israeli beachgoers in their late 50s and early 60s, nudist American influences convinced the artist that nudity was preferable to the swimsuit because the color of the Speedo was too distracting. Additionally, many early critics claimed that the tight swimwear also further helped them to see what the statue was, ahem, thinking about.

Funny how you never read about that in the newspaper.

(Hat tip to Jewschool.)

NO THINKERS ALLOWED IN JERUSALEM

The irony. The Thinker's not allowed in Jerusalem. Some local authorites have greeted this as old news, claiming that there's been no thinking in Jerusalem for years.

The great quote from this article? Hats off (or maybe we should just keep our heads covered) to Deputy Mayor Shlomi Atias (Shas Party). "If he was wearing a bathing suit, then maybe it would have passed, but he is totally naked."

Now, what few people know is that Rodin's original statue was slightly different. First iterations of the sculpture had the hunching Thinker dressed in a banana-yellow Speedo. While this tested well with European audiences and some Israeli beachgoers in their late 50s and early 60s, nudist American influences convinced the artist that nudity was preferable to the swimsuit because the color of the Speedo was too distracting. Additionally, many early critics claimed that the tight swimwear also further helped them to see what the statue was, ahem, thinking about.

Funny how you never read about that in the newspaper.

(Hat tip to Jewschool.)