This is the teaser for my research topic that was handed out before I was to present it to my fellowship group.
Can a single work of art shape the destiny of an entire modern nation? It seems like a stretch to even think so, but in fact the political landscape of the contemporary United States could be vastly different from what we know it to be today if not for a certain painting by Victorian artist G.F. Watts.
In 1886, Watts painted Hope, an allegorical work depicting a blindfolded woman on a desolate globe, plucking the last remaining string on her lyre. It is a cynical, modified representation of a rare classical subject that some critics have said would be more accurately titled “Despair.” Despite its visual gloominess and eventual descent into relative obscurity within the pantheon of art historical masterpieces, Hope made its way into a series of lectures, sermons, writings, and political speeches, all leading up to and including the political campaign of Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential election.
In my presentation, I will first detail the extremely serendipitous circumstances under which this topic manifested itself to me, then give a brief overview of Watt’s biography and oeuvre. After providing a formal analysis of the painting Hope, I will precisely trace a series of textual references to it, beginning with a 1980s lecture by a Michigan pastor which inspired a 1990 sermon by Chicago-based Reverend Jeremiah Wright, entitled “The Audacity to Hope.” Present for this sermon was a young Barack Obama, whose susceptibility to Wright’s influence may already be evident by the aforementioned title. Over the course of almost two decades, Obama simultaneously internalized and transformed the theme of hope that he inherited from Wright, expertly crafting it into wildly effective political rhetoric. Finally, I will analyze the now iconic poster HOPE, designed by Chicago street artist Shepard Fairey on commission by Obama himself, specifically comparing Obama’s brand of hope therein to Watts’.
This comparison will illustrate the mutation of that singular idea over time through particular texts and interpretations by individuals. In doing so, I hope to demonstrate the legitimate influence that Watts’ painting did in fact exert over our political future. The boundaries between art-as-therapeutic and art-as-propaganda are not as distinct and unassuming as we like to think.
