Meade called my attention to the TV screen. I'm trying to write a blog over here, but he thought it thought it was very funny. It's so awful — that "Warholized" photograph. What idea of Carter is that supposed to convey? That he's arty? Criminal?
I said, "I think that is Warhol," because the only explanation for using such a bad, inappropriate image would be that it's actually a Warhol.
I looked it up. Yeah, it's Warhol. Here's a closeup fragment, to justify my quote up there in the post title, which is what I said when I saw it:
From the link (which goes to the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery):
Created in 1976 and jointly signed by Andy Warhol and Jimmy Carter, this portrait, commissioned by the Democratic National Committee, served as a fundraiser for the presidential campaign. Based on photographs Warhol took of Carter for the cover portrait of the New York Times Magazine two months before Carter's election in November 1976, the candidate appears solemn and pensive. Rectangular planes of juxtaposed colors intensify the tense expression. Carter would later explain that his "frowning and scowling" reflected financial stress and other concerns.... Carter greatly appreciated the print, noting that Warhol and other artists helped "turn the tide" in his campaign with their fundraising efforts.Ha ha. Intensifying the tension. Carter liked it! None of that toothy smiling he'd used to steal his way into our squishy 1970s heart. Or maybe Carter didn't like it, but what are you going to say? It was Andy Warhol! Warhol! Making the obscure peanut farmer cool! Or making him ridiculous. Who could know??
Here's Jonathan Alter's book at Amazon:
ADDED: Following my practice of reading the 1-star reviews at Amazon, I encountered this gem: "Who knows how book reads as it was ruined with liquid calcium. Cant return items as post office wont let me ship the liquid sloshing around in the packing bag the bottle came in."
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38 comments:
Between Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama I have lived through two of the three worst presidents in the history of the country.
There is a story that a plumber spent several days working on a job at Rodin’s house and Rodin payed him by scribbling out a drawing in 30 seconds at the kitchen table and the plumber was quite happy.
Carter was a vindictive, nasty person.
He was a difficult backstabber and personally negative.
But then I only have that from second hand knowledge of a man who worked directly with Carter in Georgia.
And he only saw the real Carter over many decades.
Boy- my first thought: was this a promotion aimed at people taking liquid calcium? Buy this book and get 1 bottle of liquid calcium- free!. I mean- how many copies of another Jimmy Carter bio do they expect to sell?
I need more coffee. Clearly not waking up properly today. Already 10am. Jeez...
What's funny is when Amazon gets its wires crossed.
Jimmy Carter contacted Warhol to do his portrait for his 1976 election campaign. I thought that never happened. Or maybe that's the image on the book cover??
It should be noted they are celebrating the "Life", not the presidency, of Jimmy Carter.
In this case by scribbling on his face.
Heh, my wife and I love reading 1 star reviews.
Jimmy Carter was a decent man who didn’t know how to be President. He has been displaced as the worst POTUS in my lifetime by Obama.
Remember when Bobby thought Jimmy Carter was Jesus because Carter was a carpenter on a Habitat for Humanity project, solved conflicts and had a "J.C." monogram? Then J.C. discovered that his limo wasn't bullet-proof when Cotton shot holes in it with a nail gun.
Nothing more stupid than giving a book or product a one star review at Amazon because there was a problem with the shipping. I've actually seen something along the lines of: I really enjoyed the book but I'm giving it one star because the package arrived torn.
I like how the death-toll graphic is below the book: who knew Jimmy Carter was the cause of such damage?
Which makes me think: the running-total chryon was a thing on Nightline counting the days of the Iran hostage crisis, wasn't it?
Jimmy Carter has a lot to answer for*.
(*this includes the sitcom "Carter Country". You're damn right it does.)
I am Laslo.
Liquid calcium couldn't give Jimmah a spine, and it ruined his book's.
""Andy Warhol obviously just scribbled on a photograph. He spent, like, 1 minute."
Probably, but I do like the aesthetic of his scribbles. Years to experiment, a minute to do perhaps.
Or perhaps a squiggle is just a squiggle.
And I do see a lineage from Warhol's scribbles to Althouse's famed rat drawings (which I also like).
Compare and contrast, etc etc.
I am Laslo.
They say great artists can see into your heart.
The hand looks to be the size of a country ham.
Carter was an amazing president. He was willing to wear a sweater and suffer right along with everyone else he made suffer through his disastrous foreign and domestic policies. He made not just the US but the whole rest of the world worse off through his personal efforts, while trying to convince us that we were all in it together being misearable for our own good. God, what a lousy president. Unsurpassed until Obama (and VP Biden) took office, his destructive policies and absolutely unearned self-righteousness should be a lesson to us all. Don't do that.
A friend was at a convention in Atlanta while Jimma was running for Prez the first time. The friend was in the lobby when Carter entered. Carter immediately went over to all the white people in the lobby shaking hands (politician style) and totally ignored all the black staff also in the lobby.
You people would be happy to here that Jimma slipped my SIL the tongue when hugging her while disembarking from her catamaran after a "pleasure" cruise in Hawaii. Roslyn was right next to him at the time. It was the lust in his mouth, apparently.
Trivia question for famed LA-Hawaii sailor Doc Mike. Name the catamaran. It was once owned by Peter Graves brother. It was once a transpac winner before going to stud as a tour boat on the Big Island..
What a contrast between Carter's portrait on this book as commissioned by the DNC and the video of Trump in your next post! Carter is making Trump's point. The fear and tension on Carter's face were captured (and emphasized) by Warhol and were chosen to portray the Democrats' idea of leadership in the unsettled '70s. Trump's video speech and his leadership philosophy couldn't be more different: yes we're in the unsettled '20s, but don't be dominated by your fear!
Imagine hurtling toward old age as fast as Jonathan Alter appears to be (remember he was a hip-but-straight correspondent for MTV in the 90s), and spending those precious remaining few hours writing a book about Jimmy Carter.
hombre,
People who knew Carter in Georgia do not think he was a decent man.
He didn't drop a single bomb.
"Jimmy Carter was a decent man who didn’t know how to be President."
As Birkel said, "Carter was a vindictive, nasty person. He was a difficult backstabber and personally negative."
All four people whom I have known who have dealt with the Carters essentially had the same opinion as Birkel, specifically "Jehmy" is a total dick and Roslyn is a saint. I'll go with Birkel.
Carter was a vindictive, nasty person.
I remember reading an article by a Democrat political operative who wrote that Carter would rip your arm off at the shoulder if you stood between him and getting elected.
Post-Presidency, IIRC, Carter had much to say about election fraud in other countries. Nothing to say now about US elections?
Carter had his malaise, Reagan had his "City on a hill." The zeit geiss during the late '70s was doom and gloom, gasoline only to be had by waiting in line for hours. That changed after Reagan was elected, hope was abundant and gasoline was plentiful.
Jimmy Carter loved Obama because O took over the worst president trophy.
I was an enlisted man in the military when Carter was president. He sucked eggs as a commander in chief. Until Obama, Carter was the clear front-runner as the worst president of my lifetime.
I'll just note that the melting point of calcium is 1542˚ Fahrenheit. He's lucky the book wasn't reduced to ashes.
My Warhol non-encounter: then a Manhattanite, I would walk home (79th st) from midtown and one night I (fast walker) caught up with another man walking alone, Andy Warhol.
This was on Park Avenue which, having no stores, is relatively free of pedestrians.
Well-behaved New Yorker that I was, I simply passed him by w/o saying something stupid like "I've always admired your work."
(I did say it was a non-encounter.)
The ear phones look ridiculous.
Howard,
Wasn’t Peter Grave’s brother James Arness from Gunsmoke? I don’t know why I know that trivia.
I switched over and half listened during the commercials on CNBC. I admired the magnitude of the task Alter set before himself: the revision of Carter's reputation. Alter said that although Nixon was the one to open the USA to China, Carter was the one who got trade with China really going. I'm not so sure that that's something we want to continue to celebrate, but according to Alter that was one of Carter's big achievements. The other was the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty.....More mush from the wimps. If I was stranded on a desert island and because of some hideous turn of fate, this bio and the collected works of Hillary Clinton were tossed ashore, I think I might read this book. That's the only circumstance under which I would consider reading it.
I wonder what the dusty 6-pack of Billy Beer collecting dust in my garage is worth?
Rosalyn did the address at my Morrow High School in like 1993 and was a complete bitch per my wife, who had to deal with her. A complete and total bitch. Oh and by the way...you did NOT address Coretta King directly. She would have your job man. Andy Young? We talked sports. He is awesome.
The most bitter man alive?
re Floris @12:29 PM: And if he'd thrown water on it, there might well have been an exciting reaction when the acetylene ignited.
Sometimes I get the feeling that there's a lot of fantasy life on display in the internet world..
I actually like the Warhol portrait. It softens the face, gives it almost a Mick Jagger look around the mouth. The half peach / half grey face suggests internal tension or a half mask like they use in drama. It's certainly the most tense and pissed off Warhol portrait I've ever seen.
The actual scribbling might have only taken a few minutes, but I like the composition.
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