Discussion: Smithsonian Portrait Of Bill Clinton Has Hidden Lewinsky Reference: Painter

system1 · March 2, 2015, 3:16pm

Discussion for article #233830

manhattan123 · March 2, 2015, 4:22pm

Is this the same guy who made Bobby Jindal look like Greg Brady?

mantan · March 2, 2015, 4:24pm

Gosh, this is my favorite story of the month and the month just started. The artist is a classic of the type but he failed to ‘capture’ Clinton, the 42nd President looks like Ted Koppel absent wedding ring and shadow notwithstanding…
Did the Clintons ‘check the artist out’ beforehand? And, why did Shanks “terrify” Clinton?
Hillary, FYI, I know a couple of fabulous portrait artists with credits worthy of a major personage…be square politically but daring artistically, not sorry.

estamm · March 2, 2015, 4:26pm

Can I paint a portrait of W? Can I? Please?

rich_in_nj · March 2, 2015, 4:29pm

So if this “artist” has any intellectual integrity, if he did a portrait of Dubya, the shadow cast from the historically damaging lies of the Iraq war would be so dark that you would barely be able to recognize him.

ewparris · March 2, 2015, 4:30pm

Haters gonna hate.

doremus_jessup · March 2, 2015, 4:30pm

Can you paint the shadows of 4,000 American service members and half million dead Iraqis?

k_in_va · March 2, 2015, 4:44pm

Classy, Shanks, really classy.

adamw · March 2, 2015, 4:44pm

Looks like Rand Paul.

jimheartney · March 2, 2015, 4:47pm

Shadow nonsense aside, the image doesn’t capture Clinton’s personality at all. And it’s not like he doesn’t have a strong personality to capture.

538liberal · March 2, 2015, 4:50pm

Nelson Shanks: Shanked the POTUS

chatterboxing · March 2, 2015, 4:52pm

glad it’s not just me that found the Ted Koppel influence going on here

robcat2075 · March 2, 2015, 4:53pm

Shadow of a blue dress? I dunno… it looks like the shadow of a white dress to me.

538liberal · March 2, 2015, 4:55pm

Actually, yes.

avrahamb · March 2, 2015, 4:55pm

The Onion once addressed this - http://www.theonion.com/video/george-w-bush-debuts-new-paintings-of-dogs-friends,35799/

tomstewart · March 2, 2015, 4:55pm

Which explains why the composition is off.

marnold · March 2, 2015, 4:55pm

Oh dear god are there any grownups in goddamn Washington? Two wars and an economic collapse later y’all still want to talk about an act of infidelity that was never anyone’s damn business but Bill, Hillary and Monica’s?

littlegirlblue · March 2, 2015, 4:59pm

This is the official White House portrait of Bill Clinton painted for the first time by an African American named Simmie Knox. The mealy mouthed hater needs to be ignored…

mrblifil · March 2, 2015, 5:02pm

Only thing sadder than Obama Derangement Syndrome: old dudes obsessed with Monica Lewinsky. BTW Lewinsky obsession is highest in persons who are covering up their own embarrassing peccadilloes. Every strident rebel yell of tut-tutting disapproval is their attempt to divert suspicion. There’s just no basis for genuine outrage, if you’re a person with a modicum of understanding about how the human psyche works.

littlegirlblue · March 2, 2015, 5:02pm

It’s overwhelmingly sad