leon trotsky at cranbrook

[edgar_rhode]

i was wandering the grounds at cranbrook house other day when i came across this odd trompe-l'oeil. anyone have any clue about it?

[Ray1936]

" trompe-l'oeil"

Danged if I don't learn something new every day. From Wikipedia:

Trompe-l'œil, which can also be spelled without the hyphen in English as trompe l'oeil,[1] [[French for 'deceive the eye', pronounced [tʁɔ̃p lœj]) is an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects appear in three dimensions.

[gazhekwe]

Democracy and Freedom cleans up Trotsky communism? Could it also be a hint at Trotsky's great friendship with Diego Rivera?

[polaar]

That's not Trotsky, it is George Booth, who along with his wife Ellen [[Scripps) Booth founded and funded the building of Cranbrook over many decades in the 20th century. I have no ideas about the odd details like the fly, though.

[jcole]

It looks like the colonial figure is what Booth is dreaming about. And weren't the Scripps/Booth family newspaper people?

[polaar]

weren't the Scripps/Booth family newspaper people?

Yes, Booth's Father in Law was James Scripps who founded what would become the Detroit News. Booth himself founded the Booth Newspapers chain.

[Lowell]

My guess would be that some prankster student painted the fly.

[edgar_rhode]

lowell - except that wouldn't explain the flyswatter in washingtons hand...

i'm willing to consider the newspaper angle - from wikipedia ::

Cranbrook House and Gardens are the centerpiece of the Cranbrook Educational Community campus. The 1908 English Arts and Crafts-style house was designed by Albert Kahn for Cranbrook founders George Gough BoothEllen Scripps Booth. Ten first-floor rooms can be seen on guided tours, and contain tapestries, hand-carved woodworking and English Arts and Crafts-style antiques. The upper floors of the house are used for the executive offices of the Cranbrook Educational Community.

The 40-acre [[160,000 m2) gardens were originally designed by George Gough Booth, and include a sunken garden, formal gardens, bog garden, herb garden, wildflower garden, Oriental garden, sculpture, fountains, specimen trees and a lake.

The composer Leonard Bernstein resided at Cranbrook House in April 1946, composing scores on the Cranbrook House Steinway concert grand piano.

The house and gardens are open to the public from May through October.

--

but it still looks like trotsky to me. [[ hell - it could be lenin )

all this might be a "red" herring [[ sic ) but trotsky was the founder and commander of the red army / commissar of war and member of the politburo. which would have some connection to washington as a matter of "firsts".

i'm certainly no historian but i think i'll call cranbrook tomorrow and see if i can get more info.

curious things we find hidden in plain sight.

[eno]

Why do you consider the fly swatter to be modern? Because of it's design? It's design would be determined by it's function, to keep flies away. That would be the same no matter what era it was used in. It appears to be a thick mesh at the end of a slotted stick. The mesh could be made out of reed.

The subject in the photo has more of a resemblance to George Booth than it does to Trotsky. The copy of the Declaration of Independence would refer to the birthdate of a new nation that allowed freedom of speech and the press. Values that George Booth would cherish, support and defend as one of the leading newspaper men of the country.

The date of the Philadelphia Gazette might be from a special edition that was printed as soon as the Declaration was made available to the printer. Don't you think the Declaration would warrant a special edition rather than wait to publish the next day.

The fly could represent those forces that might seek to limit the freedom of the press to exercise it's role as the Fourth Estate. Washington and the founding Fathers would be the ones who created the documents that defined these rights and stand vigilant against their suppression.

Trotsky-like glasses? The portrait of George Booth clearly shows he wore the same glasses as those in the painting.

[Detroitej72]

Not Sure if I'm the only one who sees it, but "Trotsky" looks a lot more like Lenin to me.

[jcole]

Not Sure if I'm the only one who sees it, but "Trotsky" looks a lot more like Lenin to me.

Yes, he does. Trotsky had curly dark hair; Lenin was like the guy in the painting but didn't wear glasses, at least that I could find.

[narnarnar]

lbut it still looks like trotsky to me. [[ hell - it could be lenin )all this might be a "red" herring [[ sic ) but trotsky was the founder and commander of the red army / commissar of war and member of the politburo. which would have some connection to washington as a matter of "firsts".

Did you see the pic of George Booth Above? It's not Trotsky or Lenin, it's Booth!

[kenp]

He got an ice pick, that made his ears burn

[Sailor Rick]

...no more heroes anymore.

[docmo]

That's not Leon Trotsky in the painting, but I do see that Leon is running for Governor against Rick Snyder.

"Workers of the world unite. Kill the Capitalist pigs."

Was that Trotsky or Bernero's quote?

[MCP-001]

That's not Leon Trotsky in the painting, but I do see that Leon is running for Governor against Rick Snyder.

"Workers of the world unite. Kill the Capitalist pigs."

Was that Trotsky or Bernero's quote?

I hear that's the latest pro-Bernero spot paid for by the SEIU, AFL-CIO, AFSCME, UAW & Teamsters.

[kenp]

...no more heroes anymore.

Yes sailor rick, excellant memory

[FlyingJ]

" trompe-l'oeil"
Danged if I don't learn something new every day.

Ray go to DIA, they've got paintings from the 2 Troempe L'oeil masters, Hartnett & Peto;
http://www.jstor.org/pss/1594371
http://www.dia.org/object-info/66e36...spx?position=1
http://www.dia.org/object-info/0911c...spx?position=1

[Patrick]

Could it be some sort of Masonic symbolism placed into the work?

[Melocoton]

"Workers of the world unite. Kill the Capitalist pigs."

Was that Trotsky or Bernero's quote?

Umm, neither one.

And that looks nothing like Trotsky.

[MCP-001]

That's not Leon Trotsky in the painting, but I do see that Leon is running for Governor against Rick Snyder.

"Workers of the world unite. Kill the Capitalist pigs."

Was that Trotsky or Bernero's quote?

Actually it's from two different sources [[sort of).

"Workers of the world, unite." is actually a variation of a quote from Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles from the Communist Party Manifesto [[Chapter 4): "Working Men of All Countries, Unite!"

"Kill the Capitalist Pigs", isn't a direct quote, but the gist is taken from the writings of Pres. B.O.'s close personal friend, Billy Ayers.

Specifically, "You Don't Need A Weatherman To Know Which Way The Wind Blows."

Yes, this 1960's caricature is actually a close friend of Barack Obama.

[eno]

Actually it's from two different sources [[sort of).

"Workers of the world, unite." is actually a variation of a quote from Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles from the Communist Party Manifesto [[Chapter 4): "Working Men of All Countries, Unite!"

"Kill the Capitalist Pigs", isn't a direct quote, but the gist is taken from the writings of Pres. B.O.'s close personal friend, Billy Ayers.

Specifically, "You Don't Need A Weatherman To Know Which Way The Wind Blows."

Yes, this 1960's caricature is actually a close friend of Barack Obama.

"You Don't Need A Weatherman To Know Which Way the Wind Blows" is a lyric from a Bob Dylan song, Subterranean Homesick Blues.
http://www.bobdylan.com/#/songs/subt...homesick-blues

I can't make heads or tails out of what you're trying to say tho'.

[FlyingJ]

"You Don't Need A Weatherman To Know Which Way the Wind Blows" is a lyric from a Bob Dylan song, Subterranean Homesick Blues.
http://www.bobdylan.com/#/songs/subt...homesick-blues

I can't make heads or tails out of what you're trying to say tho'.

He's trying to say that with all the bitchin' about Detroit politics here our leader happend to launch his political career in the home of some pretty strange-and rich-bedfellows; People who kill cops & blow up enlisted guys & working class people
"Guilty as Hell, free as a bird. America is a great country"

[kahnman]

Yes, but has anyone ever seen both Trotsky, Lenin AND Booth in the same photo together?
Bet not!