Although photography has almost completely displaced illustration as the visual art of print journalism, some newspapers still use drawings regularly. The New York Times is particularly inventive in that regard (as well as with graphic art, but that’s another topic). The Sunday Times featured a terrific drawing that dominated the space above the fold for Frank Rich’s weekly essay on political culture.

Rich was remarking on “the G.O.P.’s overdue summer of love,” whereby the Party was caught between the David Vitter prostitution scandal and having a twice-divorced adulterer as the front runner for the presidential nomination. Gloating aside, Rich’s main point is that the electorate may be moving beyond Family Values prudery. The illustrator got that idea big time. The drawing fuses two iconic images: Marilyn Monroe’s publicity shot for The Seven Year Itch, and the Statue of Liberty. If the image seems incongruous or naughty, that shouldn’t be surprising. Whether you see Lady Liberty enjoying the not rush of air up her thighs, or Marilyn donning a the civic crown as part of her erotic playfulness, these are not attitudes that are likely to be taught to home schoolers. (Pedantic aside: “prurient,” meaning lascivious or lustful, is derived from the Latin word for itch.) That transgressiveness is reinforced by the formal hybridity of the image: the icons in question began as photograph and a statue (neither of which is an illustration); they became icons of celebrity culture and civic culture; they reflect 19th century civic republican art and 20th century image making.

The drawing may be go farther than Rich would like. He is suggesting that the electorate is coming to its senses, not in the sense of having its own summer of love, but rather in becoming prudent rather than moralistic about the relationship between private life and public policy. The drawing, however, suggests that when the private passions and civic ideals go public together, the result is much more a matter of desire than restraint. Or perhaps I’m being moralistic. In any case, this is a great example of how illustrators still can play an provocative role in the visual public sphere.

Illustration by Barry Blitt for the New York Times, The Week in Review, July 22, 2007. (NB: Blitt already has a place in the history of iconic images, as he created the New Yorker cover that depicted two male sailors kissing in the manner of the iconic photograph of a sailor and a nurse clenched in Times Square on VJ Day. You can see the cover here (scroll down). If you have a copy of No Caption Needed, it’s on page 79.)

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One of our readers asked for a post on this picture, which accompanied a Washington Post report on the presentation of the Congressional Gold Medal to Norman Borlaug. I’m tempted to say it needs no caption.

The paper said this: President Bush, right, listens as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., left, speaks in the Capitol Rotunda on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 17, 2007, during a ceremony for Congressional Gold Medal recipient Norman Borlaug. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

If this were a scene from a TV drama, we would know exactly what was up. And, of course, it is a scene from a TV drama. It also could be an object lesson in civility: despite the intensity of this antagonism, the guy will not actually put a knife in her back. I don’t think that is why the Post used the photo, however. What is particularly interesting is that there is no relationship whatsoever between the content of the picture and the story. The paper is taking the opportunity to do two things at once: report on the ceremony and also on the backstage antagonisms that make Washington what it is. Or are there three things: is this a photo of the real Bush? The photo clearly is all about him: Pelosi is blurred while the camera has zeroed in on him with the intensity of his reaction mirrored by the sharp precision of that part of the photo. It certainly shows us a different Bush from either the empty suit or the Casual Friday executive that we usually see.

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The revelation that another Family Values legislator has been a serial adulterer is sure to bring out the best in all of us: gleeful smugness about the hypocrisy of the Right and hypocritical replies that the media are trafficking in human pain. Well, the media are trafficking in human pain, but whose? Not Senator David Vitter’s (R-La.) pain–or, if they are, he had it coming. But what about his wife? Well, she may have asked for public humiliation as well, given past comments reported at Wikipedia, but as a politician’s spouse she is easily set up, then and now. My question is, what are the images of the Senator and his wife showing us about her role as a political wife? I saw three images in succession: one in the NYT, another in the Chicago Tribune, and the first AP image that surfaced with a Google search. Together they neatly set out three distinct roles:

First, the one we know so well, the cipher:

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Loyal, but not happy about it, but trying not to show it, and succeeding well enough but also indicating inadvertently that there really is a person in there, someone who can be bored (much of the time) or even hurt (although that is under wraps today). Diana had made this role into an art form.

Then, the 90’s figure, the victim:

(AP Photo/Bill Haber)

This image from the Trib shows the pain, the humiliation, the terrible cost she has had to pay for signing on with this guy. This is the image I first saw, and it had me feeling for her.

But then I read the Times story, which reported that both the Senator and Wendy lashed out at the media. And sure enough, there’s another photo that fits with that attitude:

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

So we have a third role, the ally. And my sympathy went south.

A spouse can be all three at once, of course, but the different images lead us down different paths, emotionally and politically.

Update: For another posting on the first image, go to David Vitter trots out wife to cover for him at Pandagon; on the second image, go to The Pained Political Wife at Cheat-Seeking Missiles.

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Nick Anderson, editorial cartoonist at the Houston Chronicle, has created a remarkable example of next generation political cartooning. The cartoon, entitled Feel Good, Inc. combines animated figures for Bush, Rove, and Cheney, who rap and sing in front of a dense montage of news photographs and the occasional smiley button. The animation is deft and the songs are clever, but it’s the photos that provide the critical edge and disturbing emotional tone, while the pop culture icon of the smiley button really drives the point home: These people are playing with our lives and don’t give a damn about the harm they cause. Comments at the paper’s online site, Chron.com, are here.

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