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Many Trump-era photos look like dramatic old paintings. That's no 'accident.'
Museums
Many Trump-era photos look like dramatic old paintings. That’s no ‘accident.’
By Kelsey Ables
Jan. 16, 2021 at 7:00 a.m. EST
Last week at the U.S. Capitol, before the focus would shift to shattering windows and a flood of red-hatted rioters, photographer Olivier Douliery pointed his lens toward a quieter turning point.
Four masked Senate aides. Between them, two austere wooden boxes. Heavy with ballots. Heavier with history. Hips and shoulders twisted, one aide takes an athletic step, conjuring a sculpture cast in contrapposto, the weight in her left foot. Another gazes down as if making sure the box is still in his hand. Pearl-necklaced and poised, his counterpart looks out at the solemn surroundings: an event long considered a bureaucratic formality unfolding with the sanctity of a ritual.
“I was struck by how these little wooden boxes full of pieces of paper that nobody ever cares about all of a sudden, in this one moment, became the most sacred objects of the American republic,” Christopher Nygren, a professor of Renaissance and Baroque art at the University of Pittsburgh, says of seeing the Douliery image after a violent mob stormed the building.
{snip}
Or maybe even online — on a popular Reddit page called “Accidental Renaissance,” where nearly 800,000 armchair art historians discuss contemporary photographs that look like classical paintings. In 2014, Alexis Smith, known by her username, “openmindedskeptic,” created the page after an image of a brawl in the Ukrainian parliament earned comparisons to Renaissance paintings.
{snip}
By Kelsey Ables
Kelsey Ables is an editorial aide in features focusing on visual art. Before joining The Washington Post in 2019, she wrote about visual culture and contemporary art for Artsy. Twitter https://twitter.com/ables_kelsey
Many Trump-era photos look like dramatic old paintings. That’s no ‘accident.’
By Kelsey Ables
Jan. 16, 2021 at 7:00 a.m. EST
Last week at the U.S. Capitol, before the focus would shift to shattering windows and a flood of red-hatted rioters, photographer Olivier Douliery pointed his lens toward a quieter turning point.
Four masked Senate aides. Between them, two austere wooden boxes. Heavy with ballots. Heavier with history. Hips and shoulders twisted, one aide takes an athletic step, conjuring a sculpture cast in contrapposto, the weight in her left foot. Another gazes down as if making sure the box is still in his hand. Pearl-necklaced and poised, his counterpart looks out at the solemn surroundings: an event long considered a bureaucratic formality unfolding with the sanctity of a ritual.
“I was struck by how these little wooden boxes full of pieces of paper that nobody ever cares about all of a sudden, in this one moment, became the most sacred objects of the American republic,” Christopher Nygren, a professor of Renaissance and Baroque art at the University of Pittsburgh, says of seeing the Douliery image after a violent mob stormed the building.
{snip}
Or maybe even online — on a popular Reddit page called “Accidental Renaissance,” where nearly 800,000 armchair art historians discuss contemporary photographs that look like classical paintings. In 2014, Alexis Smith, known by her username, “openmindedskeptic,” created the page after an image of a brawl in the Ukrainian parliament earned comparisons to Renaissance paintings.
{snip}
By Kelsey Ables
Kelsey Ables is an editorial aide in features focusing on visual art. Before joining The Washington Post in 2019, she wrote about visual culture and contemporary art for Artsy. Twitter https://twitter.com/ables_kelsey
Boy napping at a Dairy Fair
r/AccidentalRenaissance
Welcome to /r/AccidentalRenaissance, the subreddit that showcases photographs that inadvertently resemble well-composed Renaissance style art. We recognize there are many related art movements between the 14th and 19th centuries including: Baroque, Neo-classicism, Romantic, Dutch Golden Age, etc. All of these styles are appreciated and welcomed within this subreddit!
r/AccidentalRenaissance
Welcome to /r/AccidentalRenaissance, the subreddit that showcases photographs that inadvertently resemble well-composed Renaissance style art. We recognize there are many related art movements between the 14th and 19th centuries including: Baroque, Neo-classicism, Romantic, Dutch Golden Age, etc. All of these styles are appreciated and welcomed within this subreddit!