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69,950 USD
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Large Scale Bronze Sculpture
Authorized Estate Edition

Dimensions: 65”h x 33”w x 24”d

Limited Edition of 35 Arabic Numbers
15 Patrons’ Collection
10 Collaborators’ Proofs
5 Hors d’Commerce

Enlarged from an original maquette inspired by Dr. Seuss’s character and created by artist Leo Rijn.

Yertle the Turtle (1958) has a little-known and somewhat surprising origin. In a 1987 interview Dr. Seuss said: “Yertle was Hitler or Mussolini. Originally, Yertle had a moustache, but I took it off. I thought it was gilding the lily a little bit.” Yertle the Turtle delivers a powerful allegory on dictatorship and expansionism, conveying the final message with these words, “And the turtles, of course . . . all the turtles are free as turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.” Ted deliberately inserted the word “maybe” because he wanted children to really think about it and say to themselves that there’s no “maybe” about it—all creatures should be free!