Existing comment:
Edward M. Kennedy, 1932-2009
Elected to the United States Senate in 1962, Edward Kennedy owed his early success to his close identification with his elder brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. But ultimately, despite personal travails and controversy, Kennedy became a power in his own right and established himself as one of the Senate's major voices of liberalism. He also evolved into an adroit political strategist, capable of exerting influence even when his own Democratic Party was not in the majority. Kennedy became best known in recent years for his role in the effort to achieve reforms and improvements in the nation's health care system. His death leaves vacant a Senate seat that the Kennedys have held for nearly sixty years.
Andy Warhol's silkscreened portrait was created as a campaign fund-raiser for Kennedy's unsuccessful bid for presidency in 1980. It suggests the intensity and glamour of politics by enhancing Kennedy's features with thin red and blue lines and diamond rust.
Andy Warhol, 1980
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Original text:
Elected to the United States Senate in 1962, Edward Kennedy owed his early success to his close identification with his elder brothers, President John F. Kennedy, whose Senate term he completed, and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. Praising their commitment to public service, he acknowledged, "I'm very proud of that association." Kennedy built on this legacy when he sought the presidency in 1980. Andy Warhol's silkscreened portrait, created as a campaign fund-raiser, plays off the colors of the American flag and suggests the glamour of politics by enhancing the candidate's features with thin red and blue lines and diamond dust. Although Kennedy lost the Democratic nomination to Jimmy Carter, whom Warhol had portrayed four years earlier, the long-serving senator has become an influential leader in his party, addressing such issues as health care, education, and immigration reform. |