This year is rapidly approaching its end and come November we are going to be voting in what seems like a monumental election for a number of reasons. At the time of writing this I have already cast my ballot and got my first-ever flu shot - two civic duties performed while wearing a mask. I never imagined it would be like this but here we are. I am sure someday we will look back on these times and be able to see the forest, but right now I am only seeing the undergrowth in front of me, not even the trees and there seems no way out of the forest.
If anyone out there is still wondering if they should vote then I am going to turn to art to help inspire them - specifically two artworks that have been speaking to me in these times. Many years back, at the Louvre I gave them only a fleeting glance, but if I ever make it to the Louvre again then I know where I am headed.
The Raft of the Medusa by Gericault seems like the perfect metaphor for our times. An incompetent and inexperienced captain given command over a ship because of political connections wrecks the Meduse. Not enough boats to carry the 400 people, a make-shift raft is all that is available for the unlucky who are then cut loose to fend for themselves with just one bag of biscuits. Only a dozen survive after a chance rescue in the open ocean but only after resorting to cannibalism. Gericault portrays human misery but his work is also an ode to survival against all odds.
This painting has been on my mind for the past few weeks. Covid, economic collapse, environmental disasters are all hitting us and we have callous, unreliable, incompetent "leaders" who are quick to cut the raft adrift. I know that given my socioeconomic situation I will probably be on one of the boats and not on the raft, but I also know that these past four years the raft has been occupied by Dreamers, migrant children at the border, Puerto Ricans following Maria, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and soon it could be occupied by people with pre-existing conditions. The French monarchy was shamed following the incident depicted in the painting. Unfortunately, shame and embarrassment don't seem to exist for our current crop of leaders who can say one thing today and take a 180 degree view tomorrow all without missing a heartbeat. So it is time we ask ourselves if passivity is acceptable, when people on rafts are being abandoned by those on boats, knowing well that the randomness of tragedy can put any one of us on a raft?
The other painting on my mind is by Gros - Napoleon visiting the plague victims at Jaffa
One of the best known pieces of propaganda art, this shows Napoleon at his best. A fearless leader, with no masks or PPE, visits victims of the plague quarantined in an Armenian monastery and in fact touches them despite his doctor trying to stop him. The consensus of art historians is that this painting was commissioned as a propaganda piece especially to quell rumors that after this visit Napoleon ordered the execution of the plague victims. Besides Napoleon's photo-op this painting reflects our current crisis in many other ways. Do you have any doubts who is held responsible for the plague? Not the invading army or the sack of Jaffa, but this is "foreign plague" as seen by the exotic backdrop for the painting. The Orients have always been blamed for the plague in history and one overlooks the fact that in this case the invading French army intruded into the Ottomans' domain. The conflict between what Napoleon wanted and what his medical officer recommended is left unsaid. Napoleon is in the business of politics, the doctor in the business of saving lives. Napoleon eventually blamed the plague and the practitioners of medicine for his failed campaign and left it to them to deal with the victims. Sounds familiar? All leaders make use of art as a propaganda tool and Napoleon was no different. What one sees in this painting depends on what one feels about Napoleon. But it is important to remember that Napoleon met his Waterloo eventually and Gros who had hitched his fortunes to the Emperor found critics coming after his painting and his part in the propaganda.
This election season, I am sick and tired of TV ads and the pamphlets that bombard me with propaganda. Unlike Gros' painting I can't admire these propaganda pieces as I am living through these times. Truth and trust have vanished from the system. While all politicians lie, some do lie far, far more than others. While we all have come to expect some lies from our leaders and can live with those in "normal" circumstances these are anything but normal times. So am hoping that people don't get deterred by long lines and having to wear masks but take the time to vote so we can restore some semblance of normalcy. I will look forward to the day when all this is behind us and future historians and artists look back and say, yes it was a time of chaos and pain but people didn't let covid-fatigue stop them from putting their best foot forward.
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