Oh god, I hope he never finds himself in Fremont in Seattle…
:eek: That’s what Charles Darwin looks like?
:rolleyes:
You know, there is a possibility that anybody is wrong about any given thing, but I kind of doubt it in this case. And if he was wrong, it certainly wasn’t because didn’t know what Charles freakin’ Darwin looked like. If there is a better argument than “he looks like Darwin” out there, I’ll gladly accept it. Until then, I’ll believe the guy with the PhD in hispanic studies.
Didn’t mean my reply to be condescending–I just thought I’d link to that photo to compare it to the figure in the lower left. I just can’t see how the professor could see that figure and not see it as a portrait of Darwin–it looks exactly like Darwin.
And I’ll see your professor’s PhD in Hispanic Studies and raise it with my own PhD in Art History.
How much do you know about this particular painting? Darwin would seem out of place on the left side of it.
If it’s not Darwin, why is he surrounded by animals?
Rivera biographer Patrick Marnham says it’s Darwin:
Mea culpa, mea culpa. I have stayed in touch with that professor and I just emailed him and got a quick response. I must’ve been misremembering what he said, or perhaps he misunderstood my question that day.
Well, I’m not a Rivera specialist, but it’s the one Rivera mural that I’ve studied in any depth at all (mainly in American art history classes when I was a grad student, although as a professor myself I’ve shown it in a few of my classes and discussed it).
You’re right that it does seem odd to place Darwin on the left side along with religion, capitalism, police brutality against striking workers, etc.–all clearly forces of repression and countered by the progressive forces (as Rivera would have it) of the proletariat on the right side of the composition. I suspect that, if Rivera intended this placement as a sign of disrespect for Darwin, it may be because of the association of Social Darwinism with right-wing politics and eugenics.
It’s unfair to associate Darwin with those theories, to be sure, but if Rivera felt that way about him, it would explain the placement of that figure on the left side of the composition.
On preview: I was going to link to the same cite as Biffy the Elephant Shrew did.
No problem. It is curious why Darwin would be placed on that side of the composition, and that placement is definitely a valid point to debate. I hadn’t really thought about it before.
Nonsense, I [sub]Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah-nagl ftaghn[/sub] watched every [sub]Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah-nagl ftaghn[/sub] second and I’[sub]Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah-nagl ftaghn[/sub]m fine. IG diLEdn’t sNeNe BanEyCKthing wrGLEong wiNNBEth iCKt.
I turned it off with a few seconds remaining, thereby avoiding the… OMIGOD MY NEIGHBORS ARE TALKING CROUTONS!
Communist Nazi croutons!!! Glenn Beck was right!
I wonder what he’d make of the Austrian coat of arms.
Know what else was from Austria?
Delicious Sacher Torte.
Mmmm…torte…
Is Glenn Beck saying that John D. Rockefeller was a communist? If so, can I retort that Glenn Beck has a big red wall in his studio and therefore is clearly a communist?
FACT: Glenn Beck has a “B” in his name. Do you know who else has a “B” in his name!?
BOB THE BUILDER therefore Glenn Beck is a COMMUNIST, wake up, sheeple.
And you know who stood the Czar up against a wall?
Harvey Wallbanger!
Pink Floyd?
Pleased to meet you!