Behind him
Abigail Rockwell, granddaughter of the illustrator Norman Rockwell, points out the presence and positioning of a painting by the latter in the meeting between Obama and Donnie from Queens.
It’s the arm and torch of the Statue of Liberty.
A painting by Norman Rockwell was moved in the Oval Office for the first meeting between President Obama and Mr. Trump so it would hang over Mr. Trump’s shoulder. In the painting the torch of the Statue of Liberty is being repaired by five men, one of whom is an African-American. All of them are precariously roped to her flame.
Who moved the painting and why? It is clearly too small for that space; a larger landscape painting had hung there previously. Originally the Rockwell painting was displayed to the right of President Obama’s desk and the expansive window, over a Frederick Remington sculpture, The Bronco Buster.
What is the meaning of this gesture? Most of my grandfather Norman Rockwell’s paintings are about tolerance, unity and the inherent goodness and resilience of the human spirit. The reflection of that vision and the profound presence of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the bust below, by African-American sculptor Charles Alston, speak volumes without saying a word. Perhaps they are able to say what Obama could not in these circumstances of necessary protocol.
Whoever moved it must have done it with Obama’s knowledge and permission, if not on his instructions. I doubt people can just go in there and switch stuff around without his say-so.
Rockwell “snuck” in the man in the bright red shirt (which draws attention to him) with noticeably darker skin. My grandfather occasionally did this to skirt The Saturday Evening Post’s policy of only painting people of ethnicity in subservient roles to whites.
Its what? I have to say, I froze in surprise when I read that. How incredibly creepy and awful.
And here they are working together to repair our Lady’s torch. My grandfather left out the rest of liberty to focus on her strong arm outstretched to the sky, proclaiming the light of freedom to everyone, especially immigrants. The ornate protective fence around the flame is the painting’s most delicate detail.
Nicely done.
Yes, nicely done, though likely too subtle for the Orange Goblin. On the other hand, now Trump can offer free storage for his own portrait right there in the White House!
TRUMPORAMUS Von TRUMPENSTEIN gives some grounds for optimism. Being an egomaniac, with a track record of creating architectural monstrosites in NYC (esp Trump Tower, but there are no doubt more) to the greater glory of Trump, he is at least concerned with his own and his family’s survival.
If he was some kind of religious fanatic or self-proclaimed messianic figure like say the megalomaniac Adolf Hitler, I would be a lot more worried by him having access to The Button. Especially when things started going pear-shaped for him: which they no doubt will in due course.
“Make America great again” means return it to that halcyon 30-year period between the Hiroshima victory over Japan in 1945 and the catastrophic defeat in Vietnam in 1975, when the US had no unaddressible problems.
Jesus Christ himself could not fix all the problems of today.
How utterly shrewd! This will be THE historic picture for all times, forever reflecting the relative greatness of these men of importance. It is not an image that can be easily or unobtrusively exchanged for another, since it is indeed unique. (Confer for example how the Soviet Encyclopedia excised a number of pages in exchange for a long article on Bering Strait, after Beria had been shifted far off-stage following Stalin’s demise. Can’t pull that one here!) And way subtle too, as Not Bruce points out. Nice indeed.
Cool story.
What a pity that the most cursory fact-checking shows that it is not remotely true.
(Those links are in reverse chronological order – the last, and therefore earliest, is Feb 2014.)
I think “not even remotely true” is a bit over the top, don’t you think? The picture was placed in the Oval Office in 2010, originally to the right when facing the desk, as Abigail Rockwell noted. It appears there in many photos, including some as recent as this year. The earliest pictures I can find with the painting in the other location is 2014. “The most cursory fact checking” would show that the placement of artwork in the Oval Office is somewhat volatile. It does not appear to have been moved for Trump explicitly, but it is not so terribly surprising that Abigail Rockwell remembered the painting bring in the other location, and wondered why it was moved.
@ 5 Sackbut
Oh, gosh, brilliant observation! That would make the claim …
… completely untrue, or even, “not remotely true”. Good spot! You must be very proud of yourself.
“Completely untrue”, no. “Not remotely true”, no. Mistaken. Likely mistaken. Unless you are are the kind of person who thinks “There are eight eggs left in the box” is “not even remotely true” if there are seven eggs in the box.
The painting does not appear to have been moved for Trump explicitly. It might have been, but I doubt it. Evidence is that the painting is moved fairly frequently. Not, as your post suggests, moved once a few years ago.
Abigail Rockwell riffed on the symbolic meaning of the painting behind Trump, thinking the placement deliberate. Other articles (found in “the most cursory fact check”) disputed the “deliberate” idea but found the symbolic meaning appropriate. Good results despite her mistake.
I’m objecting to the severity of your reproach of a minor error. And to your overlooking how minor the error is through failing to do the small amount of simple searching you claimed was sufficient.
And that’s so typical of you, Silentbob. Your only motivation for commenting here seems to be to find something you dislike or consider an error so that you can pounce on it, usually with venom. I’m fed up with it. You don’t engage and converse and point out errors and things you dislike – you skip the whole engage and converse part, and just snipe. I don’t know why you do that, but it’s getting increasingly unpleasant. It feels like a deliberate campaign, motivated by malice. I’d like you to stop doing that. I could just ban you, but thought I would give you the opportunity to stop being such a fucking shithead first.