Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Bill Clinton portrait features shadow of Lewinsky dress, says artist



Pennsylvania artist Nelson Shanks told the Philadelphia Daily News in a Sunday article that the painting features a shadow on its left-hand side, and that the shadow was actually cast by a blue dress that was placed on a mannequin. - LA Times

"The reality is [Clinton's] probably the most famous liar of all time. He and his administration did some very good things, of course, but I could never get this Monica thing completely out of my mind and it is subtly incorporated in the painting," the artist told the newspaper.

Shanks said that the mannequin was present while he was creating the portrait, but not while Clinton was posing.

He added that the dress "represents a shadow on the office [Clinton] held, or on him."

Lewinsky's blue dress was a focal point of the Clinton scandal, which first broke in 1998. In sworn testimony, the president initially denied that he had had sexual relations with the White House intern, who at the time of the encounters was 22.

After Lewinsky submitted a blue dress with a semen stain, Clinton publicly admitted that he had an improper "physical" relationship with the intern. Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives but acquitted in a subsequent Senate trial.