PHILADELPHIA — On a recent windy Saturday, a half-dozen groups waited patiently outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art for their turn to have their pictures taken with a statue. The statue again resides near the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It may not be great art, but the sculpture of Rocky, the fictional boxer portrayed by Sylvester Stallone in what seems like an endless series of movies, is definitely a great draw.
“I only came for Rocky, but, heck, why not go inside?” said Miller Redpath, a visitor from Minneapolis, there with his two sons. “Who figured Rocky would lead me to culture?”
The 8-foot-6 statue took up residence this fall in a prime landscaped cove just to the right of the museum steps — the very steps that Rocky climbed triumphantly, to the sounds of “Gonna Fly Now,” in the first installment of the Rocky saga in 1976.
Inside the museum, there are Van Goghs, Picassos and Titians, but there are lots of them at other museums, too. No other museum, though, has an outsized movie prop that has become its prime attraction.
“It is unbelievable what an icon it is for visitors and residents alike,” said Stephanie Naidoff, the city’s director of commerce. “There is no doubt that lots of people are now coming just to see the statue — and then a good number of them are attracted to the museum. I can’t see any real downside to it.”
“Some people who believed themselves to be definers of what art is may not be pleased, but who are they to be the only definers?” she said.
Ms. Naidoff’s résumé might seem to lead her the other way. After all, she was the founding president of the Kimmel Center, the five-year-old hall that is home to the Philadelphia Orchestra. Yet she speaks with admiration of the Rocky statue. So does James Binns Sr., a former Pennsylvania boxing commissioner and a friend of Mr. Stallone.
“Look, if art is supposed to inspire, then this is it,” Mr. Binns said. “Rocky was a winner, and now he’s a winner in his proper place, by the steps he made famous.”
Mr. Stallone commissioned the statue for “Rocky III” in 1982. It was done by A. Thomas Schomberg, a Colorado sculptor, many of whose works are of athletes.
Though the famous “Rocky” scene has the fighter jumping up and down at the top of the steps in a sweat suit, raising his arms in jubilation, the statue is of Rocky in his boxing regalia, presumably after winning a championship fight. In “Rocky III,” it is unveiled by the city’s fictional mayor at the top of the steps in tribute to the hometown boxing hero.
In real life, the statue stayed on the museum steps for the filming of the movie and was then placed several miles to the south at the outdoor entrance to the Spectrum, which was then the city’s largest sports arena.
When Mr. Stallone came back last year to shoot “Rocky Balboa,” he asked Mr. Binns to see if the statue could be moved somewhere around the museum. After negotiations with Mayor John F. Street, the museum and the Fairmount Park Commission, which oversees the land around the museum, Mr. Binns got to his final hurdle, the Philadelphia Art Commission.
Its hearings last summer started a flood of newspaper editorials, letters to the editor and radio talk-show vituperation on whether a movie prop should stand permanently in front of an art museum.
Miguel Angel Corzo, a commission member and president of the University of the Arts, voted against the statue’s coming to the museum. Since the steps were what inspired “Rocky,” Mr. Corzo said, there was no need for some other physical reminder of the movie.
Ms. Naidoff, for her part, said that if the museum could show the wedding dress of another Philadelphia native, Grace Kelly, the princess of Monaco, inside, then it could certainly show a depiction of Rocky outside.
On Sept. 6, the commission voted 6 to 2 to allow the statue in its new space. By Sept. 8, Mr. Binns had the statue in place and held a dedication ceremony, complete with Mr. Stallone.
“Why waste time?” Mr. Binns said. “People wanted to see it out there.”
The public’s response, he said, justified his enthusiasm.
“I’ve driven past there at 2 a.m. and seen people taking photos with it,” Mr. Binns said. “I’ve been past at 6 a.m. and seen it. When I go by on a good Saturday afternoon, they are waiting in line.”
