Following
the release of the US president-elect's official portrait, an expert
reveals how scouring the pages of art history can help decode its
meaning.
Whether
your politics align with those of Donald Trump or not, it is difficult
to deny that a string of recent photographs of the former-and-future
president of the United States are as visually arresting as any in US
political history – instantly etching themselves into cultural
consciousness.
The release of Trump's official presidential portrait
last week, ahead of today's inauguration, completes a triptych of
striking images that began with the circulation in late August 2023 of
his booking photo,
taken after he was indicted in Georgia for conspiring to overturn the
results of the 2020 election. That image, the mugshot heard around the
world, was followed, almost a year later, by the astonishing photo of a blood-streaked then-candidate Trump, defiantly pumping his fist in the air after being struck in the right ear by a would-be assassin's bullet.
Carefully
choreographed, every aspect of the official photo is calibrated for
maximum impact – from the almost metallic, crepuscular light in which
Trump's face is ignited from below to his severe, asymmetrical squint
Captivating
as those first two earlier photos are, the most recent portrait, taken
by Trump's chief photographer, Daniel Torok, and released by his
transition team in the lead up to Trump's retaking of the oath of
office, may be the most extraordinary of them all. There is simply no
precedent in US presidential portraiture for the piercing intensity of
expression and hawkish thrust of stare the image enshrines – an
aggressiveness of gaze for which one must scour the pages of art history
to find a compelling parallel.
Although Trump may have deliberately sculpted his defiant pose for his
mugshot in Atlanta, the staging of neither that photograph nor the
dramatic image captured in the chaotic moments after the attempt on his
life in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024, were under his control.
Torok's was. Carefully choreographed, every aspect of the official photo
is calibrated for maximum impact – from the almost metallic,
crepuscular light in which Trump's face is ignited from below to his
severe, asymmetrical squint. The photographer nailed it.
Traditionally,
official presidential photographs (even Trump's own from eight years
ago, when he first assumed the high office) are designed to communicate
openness and affability. They are serene, smiley, and, almost
invariably, forgettable. They seem to say, "better days are on their
way". Not this one. The portentous image is a steely statement of
impending purpose. Though journalists have endeavoured to distil the
portrait's essence into everyday language, auditioning words like
"scowl" and "stern", Trump's expression resists easy captioning. It is,
well, strange.
Ever
since Aaron Shikler's famous 1971 painting of a contemplative President
John F Kennedy, arm crossing has been the default posture for any
reflective executive
To capture the peculiarly penetrating pulse of the president-elect's
mien we really need a new word – one infixed with unflinching triumphant
intent. "Trumpant" will do. The closest echo in art history for such a
fiercely furrowed, lock-eyed, and, yes, trumpant glare is an
out-of-the-way portrait from the paintbrush of the 17th-Century Italian
Baroque artist Salvator Rosa, whose intense personification of the
scholarly discipline Philosophy (a riveting canvas that resides in
London's National Gallery) is similarly stark. The stares of both
images, painting and photo, seem calculated to stave off the slightest
whisper of dissent. Rosa's subject is depicted holding an intimidatory
sign that reads "Keep silent, unless your speech is better than
silence".
While ostensibly warmer in its aura, Torok's photograph of Vice
President-elect JD Vance, released together with Trump's, has an
unexpected edginess all its own. It too strikes up an intriguing
conversation with images from the history of art. Unlike Trump, Vance
is, technically, smiling. But his is more of a guarded, closed-off grin
than a wide-open beam. An abiding air of aloof reserve is amplified by
Vance's emphatically folded arms. He is happy enough to see you, but not
ready to share.
Too much can be made of Vance's body language. He is, after all, hardly
the first president-or vice-president-elect to cross his arms while
posing for an official portrait. Similar stances were adopted by both Joe Biden and Barack Obama for their official portraits. Ever since Aaron Shikler's famous 1971 painting of a contemplative President John F Kennedy, portrayed with arms folded and deep in thought, arm crossing has been the default posture for any reflective executive.
JD Vance's portrait can be compared with Paul Cezanne's Man With Crossed Arms, 1899
But in Vance's portrait, it isn't only his limbs that feel folded.
Everything about him appears sealed off and inaccessible. Even his lips
seem to be crossing their arms. His focus feels firmly fixed elsewhere,
outside the frame, recalling pioneering French artist Paul Cezanne's
inscrutable portrait Man With Crossed Arms, 1899.
As with Cezanne's sitter, Vance's mind, as much as his body, is wrapped
up, tightly bound, and unravelable. Announcing the release of the
official portraits to the media in an email, Trump's transition team
insisted the images "go hard" and punctuated the assertion with a fire
emoji. To what extent the photos provide a sneak peek of the impending
portrait of America that its new leaders intend to paint remains to be
seen.
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