Bush Administration doesn't like Picasso?

[ck4829]

A tapestry copy of Picasso's Guernica is displayed on the wall of the United Nations building in New York City, at the entrance to the Security Council room. It was placed there as a reminder of the horrors of war. Commissioned and donated by Nelson Rockefeller, it is not quite as monochromatic as the original, using several shades of brown. On February 5, 2003, a large blue curtain was placed to cover this work, so that it would not be visible in the background when Colin Powell and John Negroponte gave press conferences at the United Nations. On the following day, it was claimed that the curtain was placed there at the request of television news crews, who had complained that the wild lines and screaming figures made for a bad backdrop, and that a horse's hindquarters appeared just above the faces of any speakers. Diplomats, however, told journalists that the Bush Administration pressured UN officials to cover the tapestry, rather than have it in the background while Powell or other U.S. diplomats argued for war on Iraq.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernica_%28painting%29#Guernica_at_the_United_Nations

[sui generis]

1. now THAT's irony. /nt

[radfringe]

2. rather than have it in the background

should have been in the foreground and on the desks of everyone there as a reminder

[Kutjara]

3. Yeah, fascists and nazis have a problem with 'Guernica'.

I guess its similar to the problem vampires have with mirrors: because they have no souls, nothing is reflected. All they see are lines and squiggles. The deeper significance is invisible to them.

[htuttle]

4. Well, Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole

That's more than you can say about Bush...

[XNASA]

5. Curses.

You beat me by one minute. ;)

[MADem]

6. How hard is it to move the goddamned podium?

Between Ashcroft and Minnie's tittie, and now this, I cannot, for the life of me, figure out WHY it's so damn hard for these bastards to just CHOOSE ANOTHER VENUE?

Do your remarks OUTSIDE, or in another area of the building, if it's so bothersome.

[Solly Mack]

7. I remember when that happened(link to when it took place)

http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/03/02/07_Guernica.html

[hippiechick]

8. Horse's hindquarters would be an appropriate frame, I think ...

:evilgrin: Especially for the shit Powell and Negroponte were spewing that day.

[saltpoint]

9. A masterpiece depicting the human toll of war and naturally the

propagandists of the Bush administration want it out of the picture.

All the more reason it should be highlighted.

[Sydnie]

10. They borrowed a sheet from Ashcroft

at $8,000 a pop. Art is something they buy and sell, they don't have to look at it.