Via Ann at Feministing, I read a good Susan Faludi op-ed about gender and the campaign for the presidency:
…A Barack Obama versus John McCain match-up still has the makings of an epic American gender showdown.
The reason is a gender ethic that has guided American politics since the age of Andrew Jackson. The sentiment was succinctly expressed in a massive marble statue that stood on the steps of the United States Capitol from 1853 to 1958. Named “The Rescue,” but more commonly known as “Daniel Boone Protects His Family,” the monument featured a gigantic white pioneer in a buckskin coat holding a nearly naked Indian in a death’s grip, while off to the side a frail white woman crouched over her infant.
The question asked by this American Sphinx to all who dared enter the halls of leadership was, “Are you man enough?” This year, Senator Obama has notably refused to give the traditional answer.
I agree with what Ann, Faludi, Hilzoy and Dana said about gender, but what about that statue?
The statue is by Horatio Greenough, who has the unfortunate distinction of being the most embarrassing of America’s great sculptors. He produced two Great Works, and both of them are cringeworthy.
Greenough’s most famous statue depicts a musclebound, toga-clad George Washington (inspired by a famous sculpture of Zeus). From the moment it was installed in the Capitol Rotunda ((It had to be moved just a few years later, when it was discovered that the twelve-ton marble statue was cracking the Rotunda floor.)), the half-naked Washington was considered a scandal by those who didn’t consider it a joke. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote: “Did anybody ever see Washington naked! It is inconceivable. He had no nakedness, but I imagine, was born with his clothes on and his hair powdered, and made a stately bow on his first appearance in the world.”
According to one theory, Greenough originally designed the statue to be sitting on a chariot being drawn by six horses — the outstretched left hand was to be holding reigns reins — but Congress was unwilling to pay for all that. But looking at the statue now, I can see that the pose — which I find very awkward, with its slight backwards lean and the outstretched left foot — would have been better if Washington was leaning back against reigns reins.
I remember seeing this statue when I was a kid, in the Smithsonian in D.C., and being shushed because I broke out in giggles. But at least I got to see it. Greenough’s other great sculpture, described in Faludi’s op-ed, started life on the steps of the Capitol building. Now it’s hidden away in storage (except for one small piece of it, as we will see), and probably will never see daylight again.
And that’s for the best, because it would be hard to find a more blatant piece of racist, sexist propaganda. Take a look at this thing:
“The Rescue” brings two images from pop culture to my mind:
1) In one of the Harry Potter books, in the Ministry of Magic, there’s an enormous statue of a heroic Wizard, surrounded by lesser beings (witches, elves, giants, etc?), which Harry finds embarrassing to look at, because the self-aggrandizing racism is so transparent. In my mind, that atrocity was sculpted by Horatio Greenough.
2) In the climax of the movie True Lies, the hero, played by monument to unstoppable ambition Arnold Schwarzenegger, winds up facing the Evil Terrorist Mastermind, who is armed only with a knife clenched between his teeth. Arnold is armed with a Harrier Jet. Are we really supposed to find the guy with the frakkin’ Harrier Jet to be the brave one? Similarly, Greenough’s sculpture makes Boone so huge and dominating that the result looks like God wrestling a ten-year-old.
I imagine that when this statue was installed on the Capitol steps, Greenough thought he had achieved immortal fame. But, instead, it apparently became all too embarrassing by 1959, when it was taken down and put into permanent storage. Four decades later, the only part of this statue that wouldn’t make modern viewers cringe — the dog — was sent to Middlebury College to join an exhibit of Greenough’s drawings.
And as far as I can tell, that’s the closest “The Rescue” has come to a public showing in the last half-century.
I am so, so glad they have moved/gotten rid of that statue, that is a huge embarassment to all white people and sickening besides. The sad, even more embarassing part is that many people today would still look at that statue and not see anything wrong. Grah.
Also; it pleases me GREATLY that you would bring up racism in Harry Potter! I am a huge nerd for it, and have always loved JK Rowling for including many strong characters of different races and nationalities (or, well, as strong as her minor characters get). Her using wizarding dominance over magical creatures is a great metaphor for racism, since actual racism doesn’t ever seem to occur in the books.
My one beef with her books is the way she handles purebloods (i.e., wizards being a persecuted minority that has gone into hiding to the point where they are considered mythical, then you BLAME THEM for being resentful towards the non-magical majority?), which I think is done totally wrong, but that is a whole other post for some preferably more geeky website. (: Thanks for teaching something new, Amp. Peace.
Ah, yes, that makes sense. Either you’re frothing at the mouth, barely able to contain your bloodlust…or you’re a woman.
Why is this objectionable when Joe Scarborough says it, but seems to garner no comment when a member of Women for Obama says it?
My one beef with her books is the way she handles purebloods (i.e., wizards being a persecuted minority that has gone into hiding to the point where they are considered mythical, then you BLAME THEM for being resentful towards the non-magical majority?),
Ok, this may get the thread messy, but…persecute minority? By whom were they persecuted? Rowling kept making it clear that the non-magical population had no means of actually hurting the magical population. I never was clear on why they were hiding, except for convenience (I think Hagrid says something about how otherwise everyone’d keep bugging them for magical solutions to their problems. Inconvenient, but hardly persecution.) More like wealthy people moving into “gated communities” where they never see or are seen by poor people (and hence never have to think about whether they maybe should be doing something to help people who have less than themselves) than people hiding out of fear.
Gack. Sterile classicism wedded to melodrama. The man was a pioneer in kitsch and camp verging on the surreal. An eye for the male form seems to be the only point of continuity.
Why does Boone look vaguely Roman to my eyes?
(Bjartmarr, did you mean to comment on another post, or are seeing something I’m not?)
I saw a bas-relief sculpture in the Canadian House of Parliament in Ottawa, on the wall of a hall, just outside the library if I recall correctly.
I was quite shocked at the image, the naked savage depicted with animal muscularity, and I think that the women in danger were nurses, also rather sexualized. No rescuer, though.
hf – read the Susan Faludi op ed.
reins, not reigns, unless it’s an intentional pun regarding washington’s wish that he would be a king…
[Thanks! Correction made. –Amp]
The Boone statue is interesting. like much of that stuff, we can view it through a modern lens (depicting people as savages = bad; Boone protecting women = bad, etc.) or through a period lens (there was some fear of attack by some folks in the area where Boone was. Some of the attacks were brutal. More women back then–it being an even more sexist society than we have now–were relegated to the role of caretaker of children.)
I think its bad statuary, but the cringe issue depends entirely on which lens I view it through.
Dog? I thought it was a sheep.
Through a ‘period lens’, it depicts Boone as a hero saving Our Women from the Rampaging Savage. I don’t think you can massage it any more than that. The difference is that now we see that as bigotry rather than an accurate depiction of reality.
Dianne – Rowling has been very clear that the “Mudblood” issue in her books is meant as a rebuke to racism in the real world.
there was some fear of attack by some folks in the area where Boone was. Some of the attacks were brutal.
It’s true. Some of the Anglos could be downright disgusting in their attacks and were quite overt in their genocidal intentions. Wait, that wasn’t what you meant?
As far as perceptions go, the Boone statue is amazingly reminiscent of a print on my wall of Zeus abducting Ganymede. Here’s a thought experiment. Imagine the same statue, only change the gender of the warrior. What would it suggest then?