Reykjavik’s National Phallus Museum has just added a prestigious new artifact to its vast collection: a plaster cast of legendary American guitarist Jimi Hendrix’s erect penis.
The star’s member now takes a place of choice among the roughly 400 genitalia already on display at the facility: penises of whales encased in plexiglass tubes, phallus of a raccoon dipped in formaldehyde, bronze sculptures of genitals from the Icelandic handball team that won silver at 2008 Beijing Olympics…
Curious visitors can view the new piece of jewelry, displayed in a glass cube, from all angles and take photos with their mobile phones.
At the origin of this work: the artist Cynthia Albritton, nicknamed “Cynthia the Plaster Maker”, who made the casts of almost 50 phalluses of rock personalities.
A certificate of authenticity describes the object as a near-perfect copy of the original 1968 version, reproduced in eight copies two years before Jimi Hendrix’s death. The musician, whose repertoire includes titles such as Foxy Lady and Hey Joe, died of an overdose in 1970 at the age of 27.
Plaster cast of legendary rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix’s erect penis, made by American artist Cynthia Albritton, nicknamed Cynthia “Plaster Caster”, on display at the Icelandic Museum of Phallology in Reykjavik, Iceland, June 14, 2022 (JEREMIE RICHARD / AFP)
“It is certainly one of our most valuable pieces in terms of monetary value,” said AFP Thórdur Ólafur Thórdarson, deputy curator of the phallological museum, which nonetheless contains the priceless organs of certain rare whale species.
“We are very lucky to have him”
Thordur Olafur Thordarson
chief phallologist
Cynthia the Plaster Maker agreed to donate this piece before her death in April, persuaded by a local couple who had visited the museum in downtown Reykjavik.
The American artist Cynthia Albritton aka “Cynthia Plaster Caster” posed in the exhibition “Penis Dimension” in Bad Doberan (Germany) in 2015, which featured plasters of penises and breasts of famous musicians, which the artist had cast throughout the 1960s (BERND WUSTNECK / DPA )
“They thought it would be a great opportunity for them to leave a lasting legacy,” says Thórdur Ólafur ThórdarsonThórdarson. Donations from visitors are the source of many items in the museum’s collection.
The cast was revealed in an intimate private ceremony in early June. “It’s funny,” smiles British tourist Steven Warren. “Why not? He’s a famous character, I’m even surprised they only have him.” Frenchman Pascal Podwojewski says he doesn’t think “history will remember the size of his penis, it will remember his music more.” .