If I ever do a book on presidents and White House art, this photo absolutely will be the cover. For a reading of this image in the context of oil spill rhetoric, see my guest post today at BAGNews.
image credit: Pete Souza/White House. "President Barack Obama straightens a painting in the Oval Office, May 10, 2010."
Cara, great post on the Bag.
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06/08/2010 07:42am
stephen fery said:
The left side of the picture confirms the story: Decorative plants, healthy but not too exuberant, reach just to the lower edge of another gilded frame, with barely a leaf or two spilling over the marble of the Greek revival fireplace.
Its a totem pole, Harvard faculty club version: Reason (embodied in classical Greek proportions) upholds a tamed Nature, which in turn supports human taste for a certain luxury and Pride in our wisdom and power, as expressed by the gilt-edged painting.
Thus we have a President who seems to feel that capitalist hubris (gilt) is not exaggerated as long as reason, nature and profit are in their proper order. The same President who argued for a certain amount of off-shore drilling, just not so much as to make a mess.
Stephen
Posted by: stephen fery | 08 June 2010 at 09:47 AM
It have been delighting in viewing fellow artists sketch books.
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