# New Clinton Presidential portrait unveiled? What do you think? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 25, 2006, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-clinton-presidential-portrait-unveiled-what-do-you-think/354145 "2006-04-25T14:38:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lee\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/aeb1de/32.png) [@Lee\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lee_Q)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-clinton-presidential-portrait-unveiled-what-do-you-think/354145/41 "2015-03-04T00:26:03Z")
I don’t think it’s any good, regardless of the dress consideration, and neither is the one of Hillary (her head looks like it’s offset just a little to the right? Hmm, maybe that was intentional too). It’s clear the painter believes himself incredibly clever but I for one would love to know what we’d find if we went poking around in _his_ personal background. Sometimes it’s them that hollers loudest, y’know… Even if I thought it were an excellent piece of art otherwise, I’d want it removed. His “revelation” is petty, tacky, and beneath the dignity of the office. I know some people believe Clinton himself “disgraced” the office, but that doesn’t seem to be the issue here so I’m not getting into it. Maybe someone will start a thread about him, JFK, LBJ, and any others we know in retrospect enjoyed their extracurriculars while in office. But regarding just this painting? It needs to go, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-clinton-presidential-portrait-unveiled-what-do-you-think/354145/42 "2015-03-04T01:33:14Z")
I’m surprised he didn’t put Monica in the picture over the mantle. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-clinton-presidential-portrait-unveiled-what-do-you-think/354145/43 "2015-03-04T01:50:44Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Here’s _People_’s coverage of it. Not a very good portrait, I think, subliminal messages aside: [http://www.people.com/article/bill-clinton-portrait-monica-lewinsky-dress-artist-says](http://www.people.com/article/bill-clinton-portrait-monica-lewinsky-dress-artist-says) Here’s what he did to [Thatcher](http://img.theepochtimes.com/n3/eet-content/uploads/2013/04/Thatcher-crop-1024x675.jpg) and [Reagan](http://www.scanopia.com/nelson-shanks/ronald-reagan.jpg). This is definitely the guy you call when you want to look like shit. He even managed to make Marisa Tomei unappealing (nsfw) [Marisa](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/00/80/de/0080de74029fb3299258255ec35ba1cb.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-clinton-presidential-portrait-unveiled-what-do-you-think/354145/44 "2015-03-04T02:43:52Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Or why it’s in a portrait of Ted Koppel. I was thinking it was Hal Holbrook, but you may be right. Seriously, that guy paints Presidential Portraits!? (…and Marisa Tomei ought to beat him with a bat.) “A man’s got to know his limitations…” ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-clinton-presidential-portrait-unveiled-what-do-you-think/354145/45 "2015-03-04T03:56:01Z")
When a joke is so subtle that NO ONE would get it without the joker saying “Look at the joke I made!” its gone a bit beyond subtle and sneaking something by the censors. Maybe this artist was decent once (I actually like the Tomei painting) but you couldn’t tell from this example on any level, including the humor one. If you are going to have to explain the joke to _everyone_, literally in the old fashioned sense of the word, then he at least could have been more out there and used some blue dress threads mixed into his pigment as a very artsy joke, the medium is the message (and there is some art term for the material used in a work having symbolic value). Maybe a stain on the rug being painted out of that pigment as a metaphor for a stain on his presidency? This though? An ill-formed shadow? At most boring and in truth a bit sophomoric and boring. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-clinton-presidential-portrait-unveiled-what-do-you-think/354145/46 "2015-03-04T12:36:02Z")
I suspect that will be the last presidential commission this guy ever sees. Seems like a pretty childish and egotistical thing to do. “Look what I did! I snuck in a Lewinsky reference! I’m so fucking clever! Haw haw!” If I was Clinton I’d buy it back, hire a restorer to remove the shadow, and donate it back. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-clinton-presidential-portrait-unveiled-what-do-you-think/354145/47 "2015-03-04T13:42:21Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > If I was Clinton I’d buy it back, hire a restorer to remove the shadow, and donate it back. So you support government cover-ups? You think it’s okay to whitewash history? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-clinton-presidential-portrait-unveiled-what-do-you-think/354145/48 "2015-03-04T13:44:39Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > So you support government cover-ups? You think it’s okay to whitewash history? No, it has nothing to do with a government coverup. It’s just removing a childish prank from a work of art. Since the work isn’t that good in the first place, if I was Clinton I might buy it back and burn it (in an environmentally sound way, of course). ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-clinton-presidential-portrait-unveiled-what-do-you-think/354145/49 "2015-03-04T14:00:03Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > So you support government cover-ups? You think it’s okay to whitewash history? Pretty sure Clinton’s whitewashing IS his history ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-clinton-presidential-portrait-unveiled-what-do-you-think/354145/50 "2015-03-04T16:35:29Z")
> [@SJL4041](#): > > So the shadow is a reference to the Lewinsky scandal; did the artist mention the reason for the Incredible Hulk-sized bicep? It looks like the painting was unfinished and they got that old Spanish lady to touch up the arm. Well we all know Clinton likes himself a bit of strange so he probably does the whole sit on your left hand until it falls asleep trick. > [@BobLibDem](#): > > No, it has nothing to do with a government coverup. That is the very definition of a government cover-up. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-clinton-presidential-portrait-unveiled-what-do-you-think/354145/51 "2015-03-04T16:47:22Z")
Not a fan. A - it doesn’t look all that much like Bill (the Ted Koppel reference is spot on); B - it is far too casual for an official Presidential portrait; C - it is the epitome of disrespectful to the office of President to paint in a belittling pop culture reference to Bill’s wandering eye. There have been plenty of Presidents with wandering eyes in the past, but their official portraits are respectful of the office, not containing a snickering reference to their failings. (JFK f’rinstance). The artist may not like Clinton, or may see him as the butt of the joke, but the office should be respected. Ditch the picture and get a new one. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-clinton-presidential-portrait-unveiled-what-do-you-think/354145/52 "2015-03-04T19:49:16Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > No, it has nothing to do with a government coverup. It’s just removing a childish prank from a work of art. Since the work isn’t that good in the first place, if I was Clinton I might buy it back and burn it (in an environmentally sound way, of course). Winston Churchill’s wife destroyed a portrait of her husband that she knew he hated: [Portrait of Winston Churchill (Sutherland) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutherland's_Portrait_of_Winston_Churchill) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2015, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-clinton-presidential-portrait-unveiled-what-do-you-think/354145/53 "2015-03-06T04:17:27Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Here’s what he did to [Thatcher](http://img.theepochtimes.com/n3/eet-content/uploads/2013/04/Thatcher-crop-1024x675.jpg) and [Reagan](http://www.scanopia.com/nelson-shanks/ronald-reagan.jpg). He put shadows in the backgrounds of the Thatcher and Reagan portraits, too. The one behind Ronnie looks a little bit like the Elephant Man. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-clinton-presidential-portrait-unveiled-what-do-you-think/354145.md?page=2)