March 6 2000

ARTICLE TOOLS

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In the 1997 movie Devil's Advocate, the devil heads a major law firm. The devil's protegé is a young attorney groomed to be "The One." Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves are fantastic. The dialogue is gripping. The special effects are spellbinding. The premise is, by Hollywood standards, quite creative. But there is one huge problem.At the movie's climax, there is a clash in the devil's penthouse suite. As the devil stands before a larger-than-life sculpture of naked men and women who seem caught in a whirlpool of carved marble, the figures begin to move; soon they are coupling in orgiastic frenzy. The problem is, the art resembles a sculpture depicting God's creation that graces the entrance of National Cathedral in Washington. When the artist of the Creation piece learns of the movie, he is enraged beyond words. Like David battling Goliath, the artist engages several law firms and threatens to sue the Warner Brothers division of the media giant Time Warner. Against all odds, the sculptor wins.Although his was hardly a household name, sculptor Frederick Hart has been compared to the French sculptor Rodin. Some people hailed him as America's most popular contemporary sculptor. Ronald Reagan gave him a Presidential Design Excellence Award; President Bush commemorated his National Cathedral sculptures; and Pope John Paul II called one of Hart's processional crosses "a profound theological statement." Hart died tragically and unexpectedly at age 55 last August.He received an honorary doctorate from the University of South Carolina for his "ability to create art that uplifts the human spirit, [his] commitment to the ideal that art must renew its moral authority, [his] skill, and his contributions to the rich cultural heritage of our ...