Detail of LBJ by Marisol in the Museum of Modern Art, March 2010

Marisol (Marisol Escobar)
LBJ
1967

Medium: Acrylic and pencil on wood

Dimensions: 6' 8" x 27 7/8" x 24 5/8" (203.1 x 70.9 x 62.4 cm)

Credit: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Lester Avnet

Object number: 776.1968.a-c

Copyright: © Marisol

Department: Painting and Sculpture


Marisol's wood construction portrays United States president Lyndon B. Johnson holding small portraits of his wife and two daughters in the palm of his hand. The artist rendered their smiling faces on forms shaped after gray house wrens—a reference to Johnson's wife, known as Lady Bird. In contrast, Marisol’s portrayal of LBJ is biting: he is shown as a blockhead, replete with a grimacing face and protruding ears, nose, and chin. His towering, coffinlike figure seems to evoke the circumstance under which he became president—the assassination of John F. Kennedy—and his controversial role directing the Vietnam War. LBJ was made at the height of Johnson’s unpopularity, about which the president said, "I am a dominating personality, and when I get things done I don’t always please all the people."-- Gallery label from 2008.


Text from: www.moma.org/collection/works/81851