PHOTO - CHICAGO - CIVIC CENTER PLAZA - 50 W WASHINGTON - (NOTE: NOT CALLED DALEY CENTER UNTIL 1976 JUST AFTER THE MAYOR'S DEATH - NO PICASSO SCULPTURE YET - AN ARCHITECT FOR THE CENTER WROTE A POEM TO PICASSO IN 1963 ASKING FOR A SCULPTURE FOR THE NEW CENTER - PICASSO ACCEPTED ON SOMETHING OF A WHIM BECAUSE HE USUALLY DID NOT ACCEPT REQUESTS - HE IS SAID TO HAVE BEEN TAKEN BY THE IDEA OF A GANGSTER CITY - IT TOOK FEW YEARS FROM START TO FINISH - PICASSO'S MODEL WAS READY IN 1965 AND THE FINISHED SCULPTURE WAS DEDICATED IN 1967 - IT IS MADE OF THE SAME SPECIAL COR-TEN STEEL AS THE BUILDING'S FACADE, A TREATED STEEL WHICH STARTS LOOKING ORANGE-RUSTY AND GRADUALLY AGES TO GET A PURPLISH-BROWN TEXTURED PATINA) - THE CITY'S MAIN CHRISTMAS TREE BEING TRIMMED - NOTE: CHICAGO'S HUGE TREE WAS AN ASSEMBLY OF REAL TREES FIXED TO A GIANT STEEL FRAME - IT WAS ALWAYS THICKLY DECORATED - I WAS VERY FOND OF IT AND TOOK MANY PHOTOS OVER THE YEARS - 1966 - EDITED FROM AN UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER - NOTE: THERE ARE SOME NICE CHICAGO CHRISTMAS TREE PHOTOS BY JOHN CHUCKMAN TO BE FOUND AT: "CHUCKMAN'S KODACHROMES ON WORDPRESS: JOHN AND BOBBY LONG AGO" https://chuckmankodachromejohnandbobby.wordpress.com/