Lawrence Noble's Limited Edition Darth Vader Bronze Statue

Getting ready to patina the Darth Vader bronze
Larry & Darth Vader
At the foundry with my Darth Vader bronze, circa Spring of 2007

Not only has the Yoda bronze statue adorned on top a fountain in front of the Lucasfilm's Presidio facility entrance become somewhat of a proud symbol of Letterman Digital Art Center, but it also has become a popular tourist attraction in San Francisco. Thousands visit this site throughout the year and leave happy with plenty of pictures of our favorite Jedi Master. If you don't believe me, type "Yoda Fountain" on Google search and you'll see 141,000 web results! At one time, anyone who had the money could have actually gotten their very own Yoda bronze statues. Sold out few years back, they were limited to just 30 editions in the world. If you're looking for this grail and lucky enough to find one, be prepared to pay some big bucks.

People who missed an opportunity to pick-up the Yoda bronze statue now have a rare chance to acquire the 4 feet tall Darth Vader half life-sized bronze statue, which are also limited to just 30 editions. This thing weighs 150 lbs folks! Just imagine having Darth Vader displayed in your living room, scaring the heck out of your dog! If you're interested, the price tag is $18K and is available exclusively HERE at Star Wars Shop.

Here's an excerpt from an article written by Pete Vilmur at Star Wars.com:

The inspiration for this Vader bronze, which was modeled after the Dark Lord's appearance in The Empire Strikes Back, ironically came from a source usually associated with the Star Wars prequels -- the planet Coruscant. "For me, the idea was to do the kind of statue we would see in honor and tribute to Lord Vader on the planet of Coruscant," says Noble. "So if you were walking around the city on Coruscant and saw a statue of Darth Vader, it would hopefully be something along the lines of what we produced."

Noble admits that the greatest challenge to sculpting figures in costume is capturing the essence of the personality without the benefit of an individual's most expressive feature -- the face. In Vader's case, Noble had to find other means to transmit the character of the Star Wars saga's central figure. "I tried to show a bit of the inner man, which was difficult because the inner man is behind a mask," he explains, suggesting Vader's character would need to be expressed through pose alone. "He's got a particular attitude -- he's got one foot raised on a little precipice which tells the story of where he might end up. There are cracks in the precipice, and he's taking a step towards his own destiny.

"Also, while the mask is static, the hands are not," he continues. "The hands are set in an anticipation of potential movement, to be detrimental or positive." Noble explains that the hands and positioning of the feet form a vague loop, leading the eye from one to the other. From this, the viewer might discern a bit of who Vader is and where he is going. "What I tried to do was lead the viewer on a little bit of an inner journey about the man," he says.

You can read the entire article HERE.