Writes Sandra E. Garcia in "What New Yorkers See in This Portrait of the Mayor’s Mother/Dorothy Mae Adams-Streeter posed for a portrait at her 75th birthday party. Her image, floating in a brandy snifter, has a powerful resonance" (NYT).
Watch the SNL skit here. It crudely mocks low-class white people who think that superimposing a brandy snifter on a photographed portrait is gorgeous and elegant. But now we're asked to show respect for black people who've been admiring the same photography. Fine.
I am encountering brandy snifter photography for the first time, and I'm completely distracted by the inaptness of the association with drinking alcohol. Why would you want the image of your child or your elderly mother inside a brandy glass?! But I can see that people have been doing this for 40 years, and I'm showing that I don't know any of them well enough to have seen that these are their treasured family portraits. The new mayor of New York City is displaying one of his mother, and I am not going to make fun of that photograph.
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64 comments:
I’d never heard of the brandy snifter portrait. Not a Nebraska or Midwest thing.
It seems to be a way to soft-focus the surroundings.
Yes, white liberals do love satirizing the lower classes- until it percolates down to the black underclass, at which point they declare the behavior Stunning and Brave, and that questioning the fundamental blackness of it is Racist.
The fact is that there has always been that similarity, especially within the South, and tapping into that culture is a great deal of how Donald Trump was so successful as a candidate.
Let's Go Brandy!
Ah, the contradictions of the class struggle. When the proletariat reaches awareness, the implications will be revolutionary! *waits*
The brandy snifter thing is new to me as well. I think at this point the folks without the sensibilities to cringe at the snifter do understand that they are held in contempt by their betters for their defective aesthetic sense. The part that is hardest to grasp is the degree of importance the betters assign to that aesthetic sense and its role in assigning value and worth.
What IS the meaning of life? Opinions differ.
As an example of what I was talking about earlier, take a webcomic like Achewood. More than a decade ago, they described Donald Trump as a homeless man's idea of what a billionaire would be like. Putting aside the obvious white liberal condescension, the fact is true in a lowest-common denominator sense. And it is very much key to how Donald Trump critically weakened the Democrat Party's grip on the minority vote- which they had to replace with mass vote fraud.
New to me too.
Seems to be imply that he wants to drown his mother in poison.
Although the glass is empty. (so far)
You know who else was pickled in booze? Nelson & Jones. 2 white men
John LGBTQBNY Henry
"But now we're asked to show respect for black people who've been admiring the same photography. Fine."
Fine only in a world where the N-word can be used, but only by blacks themselves, with an "a" ending. But if the word is pronounced with an "er," woe betide you, especially if you b a honky.
Haha. I suppose this is definitely a class thing. We never had a Brandy glass picture, but I've seen plenty in the houses of my friends and family.
David Begley said...
I’d never heard of the brandy snifter portrait. Not a Nebraska or Midwest thing.
Certainly not an Iowa thing! What's wrong with a traditional, tasteful picture;
of your grandmother smiling while holding up a stringer of fish?
(or, for you westerners; cradling a dead Antelope's head, with your rifle nearby?)
Reminds me of "Piss Christ" — an image of a revered person inside a glass vessel
Never seen the likes up here, but maybe it was like those silhouette pictures in graded school- we couldn’t afford them(or considered a waste of $). A cool kids thing- a(n) hierarchy amongst the lower class. The world is a ladder…
And, btw: who cares? Is there so little in this world not allowed to be printed by the vast NYTs that this is news?
Type- delete
Type- delete
Fine- if u think it’s Best …
I think its a nice picture of his Mother. Its hilarious that anyone at SNL thinks of themselves as "high class". They're the definition of low-class and for over 10 years dumb lowbrow comedy - that's not funny. That acting in that sketch was painful to watch.
It reminds me of HS, where the "Not cool kids" tried to make up for it by making fun of those even further down on the status totem pole. Like some average plain Jane making fun of a 200 lbs fat girl.
I've never understood the attraction of Brandy. I'd rather have Champagne or a good Red wine.
The new mayor of NYC has more to worry about than a picture of his mother. He is continuing the policies of the Communist before him, and the DA isn't going to prosecute any crimes. NYC has become the Sh*thole San Francisco already is, now we just need to have the sh*tting in the streets to make it San Fran East. Too bad, because I spent a lot of time in NYC, and loved every minute of it. Now, I don't think I will ever go back...and many of my friends feel the same. The Progressives can have it.
That (piece of subjective excrement)may have similarities, but intent is backwards…
"But now we're asked to show respect for black people who've been admiring the same photography. Fine."
Why is that fine? Why is it fine to have different standards for different groups, and why is it fine to give in to progressive demands?
Halyna Hutchins‘ last known portrait… in a brandy snifter!
Too much time on too many hands…
I think Adams should have velvetized it.
My own take leans toward Futurama and the 'head in the jar' motif over Serrano.
Through the Trump administration, I closed my eyes and visualized the animated "head in the jar" talking every time he was on TV and I had to watch for some reason.
It helped me keep perspective, I think. Still does. I recommend it. When it dawns on you that he's doing standup most of the time, this makes more sense.
But in the 1980s and 1990s, the brandy snifter photo was an innovative, attainable luxury, and it became ubiquitous in some communities.
We aren't just two countries. We are two planets.
And what planet is this person from?
The idea has gotten around that the internet makes it harder to fake things. It doesn't. Find some old SNL clip on YouTu.be and you can build and spread a whole mythology around it before the rest of the world gets up in the morning.
Of all the things mom said would "rot your brain," reading the Times style pages seems to be the only one that really does.
Cultural elites mocking that aspirations of the proletariat have fomented more revolutions than the writings of Marx.
My childhood background basically was the background depicted in the SNL sketch. I don't think brandy snifter photos are about drinking or alcohol per se. Brandy snifters are aspirational affectations. They're seen as luxury items that "classy" people who have achieved a certain economic status might have around the house, even if they're never actually used. I interpret "brandy snifter photos" as signifying hopes that the person in the photo will live or has lived "the good life."
I've also seen people display photos in actual brandy snifters. It's not my taste, but I don't think it is overstating the matter to say that those who mock these sorts of things are really mocking the joys and aspirations of a lot of very good, decent people on the basis of relatively arbitrary cultural characteristics. We're tribal animals, so we're always looking for tribal signifiers.
NYC thought they were voting for Giuliani Lite, or maybe Bloomberg Lite, and what they got was DeBlasio on steroids.
Its cultural significance is closely tied to the ambitions of the American working class.
I'm a juvenile product of the working class
Whose best friend floats in the bottom of a glass, oh...
Ann Althouse said...
Reminds me of "Piss Christ" — an image of a revered person inside a glass vessel
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Q: was piss curated to be authentic or just symbolic?
https://youtu.be/tdI29f1qN6Q
Be Best, Mary…
In my world, Jack Daniels Black Label was aspirational. Jack Daniels Green Label was up scale. Seagrams was acceptable. Carstairs doable if it was a long time between paydays. Brandy was mostly used by Alpine rescue teams. Drinking brandy is an affectation so why not go over the top and use a snifter. Hand blown Venetian glass would probably add to the enjoyment....Adams has said some things that I agree with. In this he differs from DeBlasio who was consistently wrong in a consistently annoying way. Adams might break new ground--a law and order Black Democrat.
so NYTimes : article about new mayor by appropriately complexioned writer
Michael M. Grynbaum - 1st inauguration of de blasio
J. David Goodman and William Neuman - 2 for the 2nd
complexion appropriate
looks like he carries ???it ???? everywhere ::::::
Adams carried a picture of his late mother into his polling place in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, where he said he cast his vote for himself.
It is a testament to her belief that her son could overcome a life of poverty and become mayor that when poll workers gave him an “I Voted” sticker, he placed it on his mother’s picture before putting one on his own lapel.
black abe beame, if you're lucky, better than german lindsay but not by much,
In the 1950s, Hennessey began marketing its cognac in black communities through ubiquitous billboards that sold the aspirational good life in the way that, back then, Cadillacs were a big deal to blacks who could barely, if at all, afford them.
The brandy snifter was its symbol, and it worked. Over time cognac became, for a certain and growing segment, the drink of choice to signify elevated class, especially in the ghetto.
Eventually even Remy Martin created campaigns aimed at black consumers. If you never spent any time in places like, for example, Watts--or read the black weeklies--you'd wouldn't know anything about this.
Just reading Thomas Sowell's 'Black Rednecks, White Liberals'. His thesis is that a lot of what is now defined as black culture is the culture of the poor Southern whites traceable back to the areas they emigrated from in the 17th century then taken into northern cities with Southern black migration for industrial jobs. White liberals celebrate the behavior in black inner cities, but find it deplorable in the poor whites with Borderer ancestry.
This brandy snifter portrait dichotomy seems to be a clear example.
Okay, I did a search on this idea. Not a lot out there. But I did get the sense that the idea is the snifter as a lens. Hold it up in front of someone to get a smaller image on the glass.
I’d never heard of the brandy snifter portrait. Not a Nebraska or Midwest thing.
Not a California thing.
Never saw it before. I'm gonna go out on a limb and call it a fad, rather than some mystical,symbolic, aspirational b.s.
It is a testament to her belief that her son could overcome a life of poverty and become mayor that when poll workers gave him an “I Voted” sticker, he placed it on his mother’s picture before putting one on his own lapel.
Or that she had cast a vote.
Just Google cognac/Hennessey and black culture. Hence the brandy snifter portrait.
gspencer said:
"Fine only in a world where the N-word can be used, but only by blacks themselves, with an "a" ending."
Here's how I look at that. I have two older brothers. When we get together we often play poker. About 1/2 down through the first bottle you'll hear dialog on the order of "Hey, needle dick, you going to bet or drop?" "Needle dick, eh? That's not what your wife said last night." But we're brothers. YOU don't get to use that language to refer to any of us. I figure it's a similar concept with regards to the use of the word you refer to and I'm perfectly comfortable with it.
I was born and raised in Massachusetts. Moved to the Chicago area between sophomore and junior year in H.S. Went back to Mass. for college, came back to Chicago and lived here ever since.
I have NEVER seen that kind of thing before. Who exactly are the supposedly "countless other people who see that image and immediately recognize and identify with it"?
I'm one of those New York Italians (55 years old, native New Yorker, still living here) being parodied here and I have never seen a portrait in a brandy snifter, EVER, in any Italian's home.
Maybe in New Jersey...
My family was sooo poor that all our photos were taken in Flintstones glasses.
Well, I liked the portraits in a brandy snifter. I liked the curved luminous outline and I definitely thought the whole suggested a moment during a trip to a great city as such trips used to be. Now of course the brandy snifter would be masked and a hypo would be more appropriate than a rose.
A repeated theme becomes tedious and stale, it's true, and maybe the propaganda media should think about that.
Let me join the crowd: Never heard of this brandy snifter phootgraphy till althouse posted this.
Hey! That brandy snifter thing is cool. Where can I get one?
The sort of midwits who sneer at this, are the sort who are still sneering at Norman Rockwell paintings. Always one step behind the cool kids.
My father was a studio photographer in the late 70's/earl 80's. I remember the brandy glass photos. And also the floating, semi-transparent heads looming over the actual subject. I think the image in the glass means that person is special, like an aged brandy, someone to appreciate. The images aren't sophisticated, but they're sweet.
Now I wonder if "Tennessee Whisky" was inspired by the fad or if the fad was inspired by the song! Gonna try my Google-fu out. Probably unrelated, but how do I prove a negative?!
You're as smoo......th as Tennessee whiskey,
You're as swee.......t as straw - berry wine.
You're as wa..aa...rm as a glass of brandy,
And I thank God for you're lovin' alllllll the t..i..ime.
I'd guess the inspiration of the brandy portrait is to "lift a glass" to someone loved who has passed away. Isn't it something you have done to an existing picture? I don't think I've ever seen one.
AZ Bob said...
I’d never heard of the brandy snifter portrait. Not a Nebraska or Midwest thing.
Not a California thing.
Not a Southern thing either.
gspencer said...
Fine only in a world where the N-word can be used, but only by blacks themselves, with an "a" ending. But if the word is pronounced with an "er," woe betide you, especially if you b a honky
Serious question. Is that a real problem for you? Do you have some all consuming desire to run around yelling the N-word at people?
Not sure about brandy, but Courvoisier is big with African-Americans as an indicator of class.
Witness Tim Meadows on SNL as Leon Phelps in 'The Ladies Man.'
"Why is that fine? Why is it fine to have different standards for different groups, and why is it fine to give in to progressive demands?"
I didn't say it was. I wasn't involved in putting down the low-class white people. In retrospect, I'm just not going to make fun of any of these people. It would be snotty and pointless.
"Q: was piss curated to be authentic or just symbolic?"
You mean "created"? I don't even understand the question.
I think the idea of "Piss Christ" was to create an interesting, complex, beautiful/ugly image and get people to look, remember, and talk about it — all of which was fabulously successful. I believe the artist thought the "piss" (whatever it was) was a beautiful golden color. A crucifix shows a tortured, dead/dying body and yet is often depicted in gold. It's complex! And the ordinary people who express shock and seek to censor are volunteering to pump up your artistic reputation. Everybody wins!
"They're seen as luxury items that "classy" people who have achieved a certain economic status might have around the house, even if they're never actually used. I interpret "brandy snifter photos" as signifying hopes that the person in the photo will live or has lived "the good life.""
That gave me a flashback to a craft project that was done in the 60s/70s where you created a little scene inside a brandy snifter — something like what might be in a snow globe — a little house, snow... various miniature things. And also people would make a little open terrarium — soil, pebbles, tiny cacti, a little ceramic frog.
I'm just here to say that I did not know Brandy Snifter Portraits were a thing until today.
"Q: was piss curated to be authentic or just symbolic?"
I think the quest may mean: is the piss authentic- or just tinted sugar water…
That would be interesting- something appears to be excrement, but is really sweetened.
Nah- the whole idea was blasphemous bs to begin w/.
I suppose that’s the coolest thing about art: it’s all subjective.
I am a white person from Texas. I have never seen a picture like that in my life.
Ann Althouse said...
"Q: was piss curated to be authentic or just symbolic?"
You mean "created"? I don't even understand the question.
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I am surprised that Q perplexes Professora and other elites
Since this is art exhibited in :exalted ambience / fervor = museum / gallery not sidewalk :
my question >>> was who was in charge of authenticating the provenance of the fluid claimed to be /piss/
on the other hand there is of course ?church relics purporting to be blood of saints? that /change physical state and prove miraculous/ but shielded from investigation
A million years ago, when this sort of thing bored the pants off everyone in 1L, why didn't law professors piss on a copy of the First Amendment instead of carrying on about the beauty of Piss Christ?
In other words, if you don't think the artist's intention was expressing contempt for the meaning of Christ's suffering, try sticking a photo of MLK in a snifter of urine. On the internet.
Chain of custody for the piss? Yuck.
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