User:Curatorslog/sandbox/The Secretary of State (2005)

The Secretary of State is a 2005 painting by Luc Tuymans.

This is a portrait of Condoleezza Rice, who had, at the time of painting, recently become United States' Secretary of State. As with many of Tuymans's works, the painting is cropped dramatically close-up and a muted palette brings to mind printed images in the news. The source is indeed a media image, albeit from online. Tuymans was inspired to paint Rice after she became the subject of a politician's sexual remarks and found the original image for this painting on a fan website. The origins of the image emphasize the fact that the subject is a public figure.

In the year in which the painting was made, Rice was voted the world's most powerful woman by Forbes magazine. Her influence comes across in this painting, which is both intimate and unknowable. Despite the close view, the subject's eyes are averted and her expression is set determinedly as if to avoid communication with the viewer. (It was this expression that attracted Tuymans to the particular source image he used.)

Interpretations of this painting have varied - from a critique of the Bush administration to a tribute to Rice that has been compared to Warhol's Marilyn Monroe series works. While Tuymans aligns himself with the former viewpoint, he adds that Rice is "a fascinating woman - the first African-American Secretary of State - a strong, intelligent persona." He sees her as an "aberration" within the Bush administration and admires her tenacity to achieve as a black woman in politics.

Having been painted so soon after Rice became Secretary of State, the painting provoked strong reactions by viewers and collectors. Several Republican collectors felt unable to continue collecting Tuymans's work. Again, Tuymans managed to stir a pot of discomfort by merely presenting back to the public an image created originally by its own media machine, without he, himself, affixing any particular meaning.

Oil on canvas - MoMA (Museum of Modern Art)