Autocrats & Freedoms
D.B. Dowd, back cover illustration detail, A is for Autocrat, 2020.
Times are urgent. I have invested my available energies in promoting the project that animated my summer, A is for Autocrat: A Trumpian Alphabet, Illustrated. I look forward to writing about the project in a more reflective way, after the election is over.
As the leaves have turned and temperatures have dipped, the news from Trumpland has grown ever more troubling. Covid-19 cases are up. Another SCOTUS seat has been stolen by McConnell and his accomplices, this very evening.
Norman Rockwell, Freedom from Want, 1943. Detail. Because nobody can even see the whole painting at this point; the parodies and repetition have rendered the image invisible, even when in plain sight.
I have been thinking a lot about the role of creative work in a democracy. Last week I spoke at an online event, Perspectives on the Four Freedoms at the Norman Rockwell Museum. I wrote a catalogue essay for the traveling show that has finally returned to the museum, which asked (several years ago): What does Rockwell have to offer us in an episode of unexpected ugliness? Not his squeamishness, which is considerable (for a fan of Dickens, he eschews villains) but generosity: he thinks better of us than we deserve. Then, over the weekend I published a piece about World War I posters for Hyperallergic. (It was a busy week.)
Kenyon Cox, cover illustration, McClure’s Magazine, February 1898. Detail of Columbia, in Phyrgian cap crowning an American sailor with a laurel wreath. Corny as they are, something about these images feels current all of a sudden—we’re bucking each other up for battle.
I feel as impassioned as I did when I sat down to pump out Autocrat, in late May.
I have made some new friends in recent months, including Jeremy D. Goodwin, the arts and culture reporter for St. Louis Public Radio. In late August, he interviewed me for his podcast, Cut & Paste, which was a great pleasure. Not all interviewers are equally prepared, and Jeremy did a fantastic job.
Many have ordered copies of Autocrat, and I’ve heard that at least some have been bolstered by it. A few weeks ago we decided to print more copies, to reach more folks. If you haven’t ordered, or if you have been thinking about getting additional copies for your friends, now’s the time! You could be holding a copy on Election Night.
D.B. Dowd, H is for Hubris spread, A is for Autocrat, 2020.
We’ll be launching a final push this week on social media.
Lastly, if you’ve already voted, way to go! If you haven’t, be sure to get to the polls on November 3 (and bring a chair)!