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Last Friday, a 20-foot-tall monument was unveiled in Boston Commons that honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, to whom he was fortunately married. Called The Embrace, the sculpture by artist Hank Willis Thomas symbolizes the hug the couple shared when Dr. King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
Thomas depicts the Kings’ arms and shoulders but not their actual bodies. That’s how you know it’s not a photograph. The Embrace is very much a modernist sculpture, and that can prove tricky when the subject is a historical figure, especially a political leader. Americans in particular tend to prefer Hellenistic sculptures that are “idealized but naturalistic representations” of the “great men and women” of our history. We’re also really into equestrian sculptures (i.e. dudes on horses), especially for Confederate traitors.
Modernist art isn’t easily accessible. It often demands that you take time with a work and reflect upon its impact. Something that might seem downright bizarre at first can slowly grow on you. However, few Americans are interested in quiet contemplation. This ain’t Walden. They must form an opinion NOW.
Of course, people actually related to the Kings certainly have the right to a reflexive opinion. Seneca Scott, Coretta’s cousin, did not receive The Embrace with open arms. He told CNN, “If you can look at it from all angles, and it’s probably two people hugging each other, it’s four hands. It’s not the missing heads that’s the atrocity that other people clamp onto that; it’s a stump that looked like a penis. That’s a joke.”
Writing for Compact magazine, Scott described The Embrace as a “masturbatory ‘homage’ to my family” that looks “like a pair of hands hugging a beefy penis” — so in other words a “hand job” or the artistic representation of third base.
Meanwhile, King scholar, art historian, and Blackface expert Megyn Kelly also gave her unsolicited opinion. She presumably had a spare moment between ragging on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. During her SiriusXM broadcast Monday — you know, Martin Luther King Jr. Day — Kelly told her guests, fellow civil rights leaders Rich Lowry and Charles C.W. Cooke from the National Review, “What it looks like, I’m just going to say it, a giant penis … I’m sorry, it does!”
I won’t speculate on how many shiny, bronze giant penises Megyn Kelly might’ve seen in her life, but there’s nothing overtly phallic about the sculpture. Sure, multiple appendages on a penis might prove advantageous but that sort of deformity is rare in reality. If Kelly wants to see a massive sculpted penis in action, she should fly to Florence and check out Michelangelo’s David.
“This is why you need to run stuff by people close to you,” Lowry said. “‘What do you think of this design, honey?’ ‘It looks like a schlong.’” No, it doesn’t. Please consult a urologist.
Lowry went on to whine, “The deeper story here is we’ve lost the capacity to create public beauty, there is no piece of public art in the last 50 years that has been beautiful or uplifting …” No matter the time period, rightwingers are guaranteed to loathe most currently produced artwork. That’s their thing.
Penis was still on his brain so Lowry started swooning over Italian stallion David. Of course, rightwing prudes freaked out when it was originally unveiled so authorities covered his marble majesty with a bronze fig leaf.
Martin Luther King III had a more positive response.
“I think that’s a huge representation of bringing people together,” King said. “I think the artist did a great job. I’m satisfied. Yeah, it didn’t have my mom and dad’s images, but it represents something that brings people together.”
He added, “And in this time, day and age, when there’s so much division, we need symbols that talk about bringing us together.”
You don’t have to like this sculpture, but it’s hardly wokeness gone wild. It’s also not a penis.
[New York Times / CNN]
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