And So It Goes

January 20, 2021 …. Joe Biden’s Inaugural Poet, Amanda Gorman speaks

Bienvenue and welcome back to Musée Musings, your idiosyncratic guide to Paris and art. I’m back in Paris and almost ready to get back to art. Next week, sure. By now, I should be good at transitioning from San Francisco to Paris, but I’m not. Leaving the people I love best is always unsettling. Knowing that Nicolas won’t be in San Francisco next November when I return, makes it even harder. Nothing stays the same, I guess, except Donald Trump’s sense of humor and Melania’s sense of style. As a discreet (and fun!) way to ward off unwanted kisses, her Inauguration hat has no rival. (Fig 1) Late night talk show hosts and people who post on instagram just couldn’t get enough of it. (Figs 2-4) But when I get to the marché next Thursday, I’m going to look for one of those hats. I’ll call it my ‘avoiding unwanted bises’ chapeau.

Figure 1. Melania’s Sorting Hat (a reference to the hat in Harry Potter)

Figure 2. Spoof on Melania’s Hat by @calltoactivism

Figure 3. Another soon, @PieterJKetelaar

Figure 4. A round-up of first couples kissing or trying to ...

I should have left for France before January 20th, to get the French take on the Inauguration. But then, a French angle was front and center, well almost. Seated amidst the American and South African born oligarchs was a French one. According to Yahoo News, “Bernard Arnault joined the slew of business titans at the swearing-in of Donald Trump.… The founder, chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH Moët Hennessey Louis Vuitton was with his wife, daughter and son, who had all traveled to the historic event — just a day before Pharrell Williams’ next Louis Vuitton menswear runway show.” Sacrebleu, what timing! Thank goodness for private jets, non?

According to Yahoo, the Arnaults had prime seating just a row or two behind former Presidents Bill Clinton, George Bush and Barack Obama. (Fig 5) According to Forbes, the Arnault family’s seating wasn’t all that prime. They were seated “farther from the president than some of their fellow billionaires,” among them the world’s three wealthiest—Tesla chief, Elon Musk ($433.9 billion), Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg ($211 billion) and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ($239.4 billion) whose companion received considerable attention for her outfit. (Fig 6) Obviously, Trump values media moguls over purveyors of luxury goods - I mean, just look at his ties. So long, so red. (Fig 7)

Figure 5. Members of the Arnault family behind the previous presidents (WatchProUSA), Trump’s Inauguration

Figure 6. Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos & companion, Elon Musk just behind family at Trump Inauguration

Figure 7. Trump's silk ‘Signature Tie’ available for purchase for $125, currently out of stock according to Trump Store website

So, back to the Arnaults, at Tuesday night’s Paris fashion week show the Arnaults weren’t behind anybody. In fact, as the Guardian reported, the fashion show was delayed by more than 90 minutes to allow the Arnault family time to return to Paris from Washington. They sat in the front row with actors Adrien Brody and Bradley Cooper, (had they been invited to the inauguration but declined?) the basketball player Victor Wembanyama and members of the K-pop band Got7. (Fig 8)

Figure 8. Bernard & Helene Arnault with Zendaya, Beyonce, Jay-Z at Louis Vuitton Men’s Fashion Week, Paris (Pharrell Williams creative director)

Bernard Arnault, whose family’s estimated net worth is $179.6 billion, is also besties with Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte Macron, who he often dresses for court, I mean state, functions. (Fig 9) My French friend fumes whenever he sees Macron greet Bernard and Helene Arnault like old friends. (Fig 10) But whose money do you think rebuilt Notre Dame? And bought the Caillebotte painting ‘The Boating Party,’ for the Musée d’Orsay? That is the big difference I see between billionaires in France and those in the U.S. In France, they contribute financially to the cultural enrichment of the country, in the U.S. they buy access to power to get richer. Enhancing the cultural life of the U.S.A. is not part of the deal.

Figure 9. Brigitte Macron at French State event, in Louis Vuitton gown

Figure 10. Bernard Arnault and Emmanuel Macron

Naturally, the former Fox News Chairman and Australian born Rupert Murdoch ($22.2 billion) was at Trump’s inauguration. So too was the current CEO of Tiktok, Shou Zi Chew, a 42 year old Harvard educated guy from Singapore. The idea of banning Tiktok from the U.S. was initiated by Trump. His executive order was blocked by the courts and reversed by the Biden administration in 2021. The ban was re-imposed by Congress and upheld by the Supreme Court just a few weeks ago, despite Trump’s request that it not be considere until he got back to the White House. Who knows what happened. But I’m guessing that money had something to do with it.

The inauguration was supposed to be held on the west portico of the US Capitol overlooking the National Mall. The idea of holding the swearing in ceremony outdoors belongs to the 8th president of the United States, the populist Andrew Jackson. The year was 1829. His swearing in ceremony took place on the Capitol’s east portico. So did J.F. K.’s. Robert Frost, the first poet to speak at an inauguration of a president was there. He recited a poem from memory because the glare of the sun prevented him from reading the poem he had written for the occasion. (Fig 11)

Figure 11. Robert Frost reciting poem at JFK’s Inauguration Ceremony

In 1981, Ronald Reagan, wanting to make more room for more people to attend the ceremony, moved it to the west portico of the building, where it has mostly remained. I remember the sea of people who attended Obama’s swearing in ceremony. (Fig 12) And the poem that Maya Angelou wrote and read for Clinton’s inauguration. (Fig 13) And, of course, the poem that Amanda Gorman wrote and recited at Joe Biden’s inauguration, just four years ago. (Fig 14)

Figure 12. A few of the people who attended Obama’s first Inauguration, 2009

Figure 13. Maya Angelou reciting poem at Bill Clinton’s Inauguration Ceremony

Figure 14. Amanda Gorman reciting poem at Joe Biden’s Inauguration Ceremony

Trump took his swearing in ceremony indoors this year, citing the weather. It’s always cold in Washington, D.C. in January. One president, William Henry Harrison, actually caught a cold which turned into pneumonia which killed him a month after his swearing in ceremony. But that was about a silly man walking around without a coat on for hours in the frigid cold and freezing rain. Late night pundits suggested that Trump wanted his swearing in ceremony inside because one thing he can’t control is his hair in the wind. (Fig 15) But I doubt that was the reason. Trump knows as well as anyone that a small crowded space is a lot more impressive than a large empty one. On television. Like his first swearing in ceremony which was attended by the largest crowd ever, according to Trump but no one else. (Fig 16) It made sense, that Trump preferred a very crowded indoor ceremony where nobody who wasn’t invited could attend to an outdoor ceremony that was either going to be empty of spectators or filled with protesters. As with the last time he was inaugurated, there was no poet laureate.

Figure 15. Trump’s hair from the Guardian

Figure 16. Comparison of crowds at Obama’s Inauguration (2009) & Trump’s Inauguration (2017)

Right Rev. Mariann Budde, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, spoke at the customary prayer service the first full day of Trump’s presidency. (Fig 17) You may remember her as having expressed outrage when Trump used the church where she is Bishop, the National Cathedral, for a political rally (holding a bible upside down) on January 6, 2021. In her sermon, she said, “In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country. We’re scared now. The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals. They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes, and are good neighbors…I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here.”

Figure 17. Bishop Budde Sermon, Democracy Now

The reaction to Bishop Budde’s sermon was mixed. The executive director of the immigration advocacy group America’s Voice, thought the Reverend did a great job in speaking truth to power. Austen Ivereigh, a biographer of Pope Francis, wrote this about Trump and Vance, “Their expressions of fury and discomfort suggest she nailed it.” On the other hand, Robert Jeffress, the pastor of Dallas’ First Baptist Church, who was at the church service but not one of the speakers, posted on X that Budde “insulted rather than encouraged our great president” and that “there was palpable disgust in the audience with her words.”

It reminded me of when vice president-elect Mike Pence attended a performance of the play ‘Hamilton.’ One line spoken by Alexander Hamilton in the play consistently gets applause, “We’re immigrants. We get the job done.” When the performance ended, the actor who played Vice President Aaron Burr, thanked Pence for attending and said words (Fig 18) composed by the show’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, “We, sir - we - are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights,…We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us.”

Figure 18. Aaron Burr actor in Hamilton cast who confronted vice president elect Mike Pence

The next morning Trump wrote on Twitter (this was before Musk bought it and changed the name to X) that the “Hamilton” cast had “harassed” Mr. Pence and had been “very rude.” He demanded an apology. Trump’s response was nearly identical for Bishop Budde. He said, “Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job! …She and her church owe the public an apology!”

The flurry of executive orders that were signed on Monday and the 22 states that took Trump to court on Tuesday, suggest that the United States is going to be mired in executive orders and legal challenges for the next four years. Simultaneously wasting tax payers’ money and getting nothing done. Except that for some reason there are no checks and balances when it comes to presidential pardons. Trump exonerated, along with himself, 1500 people who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Some policemen and women died during the attack, others were permanently wounded. Their attackers are now free to do it again, and with impunity, at least for the next four years.

And so it goes, as Kurt Vonnegut wrote in Slaughterhouse-Five, 55 years ago.

Next week, the exhibitions on Tamara de Lempicka and Gustave Caillebotte for sure. In the meantime, may I suggest two articles from the archives, one in which Tamara plays a role and the other in which Caillebotte’s work is celebrated. Gros bisous, Dr. B.

Thanks for your comments from last week’s post, they are always appreciated.

Mary Cassatt’s work has been discounted because of her subject matter. This exhibition goes a long way to refuting the stereotypes that have plagued her and demeaned her work for so long.

New comment on Nursing Mothers, Girls in Cars and Men Bathing:

LOVE YOUR HOUSE! What do the neighbor's think?
This exhibit is the same one I saw in Philadelphia last year! I wish I had you there to talk about your thoughts and impressions
(no pun intended). Maybe you can should wait a week to go back to Paris. It is so cold there!! Safe travels. Deedee, Baltimore & Florida

Thanks for tour of Mary Cassatt. Extremely insightful.
Loved the house with hints of Gaudi. Ben, Baltimore, & Florida

New comment on Reflections on Walking the Walk …..:

I am just catching up on your missives and like you, have long entertained the idea of walking at least part of the French Way. And last year when I was still teaching, I read and assigned an interesting article about Franco's efforts to revive the Camino as part of a program of Catholic nationalism, an idea that evoked interesting responses from students. Maribeth