Existing comment:
Reagan with Six-Shooters
1993
Charcoal
Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) was a one-time film actor who became President of the United States (1981-1989), winning 58.8% of the popular vote for his re-election in 1984. He is best remembered for policies embracing conservative supply-side economics and cutbacks in social programs, as well as his reversal of detente with the Soviet Union and escalation of military spending.
In this larger than life-size contour drawing, Oliphant caricatures Reagan as handling US power like a cowboy sheriff in an old western, walking out menacingly, reaching for his guns, ready to save the day. Who could discount the powerful hold of his presidency over the popular imagination, which played out like a Hollywood fiction? Oliphant recalled, "You know, I tried to like a dislike of Reagan. Nobody would have it, and it was hard work for eight years, trying to convince an audience that a lot of these policies had holes in them." |