During the heady years of the tech boom, and its after shocks, photographers like myself and, of course, Henry White, often found themselves in unusual places. During the course of one shoot I spent the evening at Donald Trump's house in Florida. It is called Mar-A-Lago and was built in the 1920's by one of the Merriweather-Post heirs. As I roamed through the house I was struck by this painting. It's an oil on canvas and on the bottom edge of the painting, in the center, there is a brass nameplate which reads:
"The Visionary"
Donald Trump
The brass plate goes on to name the painter but I have long since forgotten his name. While it seems unusual to me to have a painting of one's self in one's home I have recently been coming around on the idea. I'm thinking of commissioning one for myself. I will get myself a brass nameplate to complete the effect. It will read:
"The Well Traveled Cynic"
Kirk Tuck
Taken with a Nikon D300 and the 18-200mm lens.
To delve into art appreciation for a moment; I am captivated by the sun rays that come from top left to middle right behind Mr. Trump. They attempt to motivate the hard and overdone backlighting on the main subject but there is a disconnection since the sun is visually referenced at a different angle behind him. Ah. But, for a big enough commission, a painter may attempt to transmute the laws of physics....
I soon got bored looking at the art collection and headed off to find my seat for dinner.
I can recommend the lobster at Mar-A-Lago. It was very fresh!
4 comments:
Trump's long-time butler, Anthony Senecal, spoke of the painting in a March feature story run by The New York Times:
"I've been in other homes in Palm Beach -- same exact painting," Mr. Senecal confided archly. "Just a different head."
Senecal, who may be Trump's secret campaign manager, then gained greater prominence by posting a series of wild comments about Muslims and immigrants, hitting his all-time peak in calling for the death of President Obama as a traitor. The candidate then publicly disavowed those comments from the man he had appointed 'unofficial historian of Mar-A-Lago' upon his retirement as butler-in-chief.
As to the dining room decor, it would be interesting to know which came first -- the dining room or the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City.
It looks like the kind of painting you might have seen on the set of 'Dallas' or 'Dynasty' - snobbery plus points for being a painting not a photo, but totally devoid of artistic merit. Extremely - dare I say it? - VULGAR, and hence perhaps an appropriate expression of its subject matter.
To quote the words of the British novelist Margaret Drabble (in a different context), 'too, too ghastly'.
The visionary. As Helmut Kohl is said to have said "When someone sees visions, it's time to get them a doctor"
I can't help but notice the small hands.
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