MetaChat - "Was there ever such a pretty wart?

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28 September 2008

"Was there ever such a pretty wart? There it sits beside the noble nose, the solitary imperfection in Avedon's impossibly beautiful 2004 portrait of Barack Obama, when Obama was the wunderkind of the struggling Democrats. You look at the clever, artless, eager child preserved in the star orator, civic gravity and American ardour overlaid on the same face, the open collar an advertisement of moral transparency, and two wistful thoughts come to mind". I miss Richard Avedon, I really do.

post by: matteo at: 10:16 | 4 comments

And by the way, Avedon's portraits are on show at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in DC, until January 25.

posted by matteo 28 September | 10:31

Obama is so pretty. He is like a graceful, mod cat.

posted by By the Grace of God 28 September | 13:09

Actually I don't see it. If you showed me the photo (as someone you were dating, or interviewing for a job, or supporting as a candidate) and I had no idea who he was I'd be like "okay." His face is a bit narrow?

I don't see much in the Reagan photo either. Maybe it's coz I'm lacking some intuitive skill but I think it's more because people are retrofitting sentiments onto the photographs.

I'm not criticizing them as portraits mind you; just as something that's ostensibly distilling the essence of the person behind the image.

posted by Firas 28 September | 14:59

Well, I don't think a photo of a public figure can exist disconnected wholly from the image of that public figure. It's a fantastic photo of Reagan (I'm less sure of Obama's being impossibly beautiful). The gallery of shots of people who are both public and not shows that it's no fluke, either. I don't know that any one photograph, either, can distill the essence of a person, but it can certainly illuminate one person's view of another.

posted by dhartung 28 September | 16:19

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