“Working on the Statue of Liberty” by Norman Rockwell on the cover of “The Saturday Evening Post,” July 6, 1946.
Workmen clean the torch held aloft by the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. Five workmen are attached to the statue by ropes, including one who is a caricature of Rockwell himself, and one African-American in a red shirt. The inclusion of a non-white figure working with whites, apparently only noticed in 2011, contravened a Post policy of only showing people of ethnicity in subservient roles.
The painting came into the possession of Steven Spielberg, who donated it to the permanent art collection of the White House in 1994. It was displayed in the Oval Office during the administrations of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. In January 2017, shortly after the inauguration of Donald Trump, the painting was still in the Oval Office. It was reportedly removed later in 2017, in favor of a portrait of Andrew Jackson. [Source: Wikipedia]
“Working on the Statue of Liberty” by Norman Rockwell on the cover of “The Saturday Evening Post,” July 6, 1946.
Workmen clean the torch held aloft by the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. Five workmen are attached to the statue by ropes, including one who is a caricature of Rockwell himself, and one African-American in a red shirt. The inclusion of a non-white figure working with whites, apparently only noticed in 2011, contravened a Post policy of only showing people of ethnicity in subservient roles.
The painting came into the possession of Steven Spielberg, who donated it to the permanent art collection of the White House in 1994. It was displayed in the Oval Office during the administrations of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. In January 2017, shortly after the inauguration of Donald Trump, the painting was still in the Oval Office. It was reportedly removed later in 2017, in favor of a portrait of Andrew Jackson. [Source: Wikipedia]