Lady Liberty of 1953 to 1962?

Peter "Charlie" Attie Besharo, Lady Liberty of 1953 to 1962?, ca. 1960, acrylic and metallic paint, varnish, and pencil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.100
Copied Peter "Charlie" Attie Besharo, Lady Liberty of 1953 to 1962?, ca. 1960, acrylic and metallic paint, varnish, and pencil on paperboard, 22 5⁄8 x 28 1⁄2 in. (57.5 x 72.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.100

Artwork Details

Title
Lady Liberty of 1953 to 1962?
Artist
Date
ca. 1960
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
22 5⁄8 x 28 1⁄2 in. (57.5 x 72.5 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson
Mediums
Mediums Description
acrylic and metallic paint, varnish, and pencil on paperboard
Classifications
Keywords
  • Figure female
  • Allegory — civic — liberty
Object Number
1986.65.100
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1986.65.100

Artwork Description

Peter "Charlie" Attie Besharo made paintings that combine his interests in space travel, alien and supernatural life forms, and futuristic intergalactic battles. Besharo immigrated to the United States in 1912 as a teenager from the Mount Lebanon area of Syria, possibly to escape military conscription under the Ottoman Empire. Although he was a devout Catholic, being one of the only Arabs in his adopted hometown of Leechburg, Pennsylvania, made it difficult for Besharo to preserve his native Syrian identity as he assimilated into a new culture. While his paintings are individually hard to decipher, collectively they convey this struggle. His images often contrast traditions from his youth--such as the eye-shaped amulet meant to protect against the curse of the evil eye--with technological advances of the 1950s, like atomic weaponry and jet-fueled travel.
Luce Center Label

This painting shows the Statue of Liberty, chained and dressed in colorful "peasant" clothes, flying through a vivid blue sky. Fire shoots out of her jet-propelled shoes while a "magnet beam" rocket speeds along beside her. The spirit of 1953 may refer to the election of President Dwight Eisenhower, who presided over the jet age and America's cold war with the Soviet Union. The vivid colors and energetic brushstrokes evoke the optimism that accompanied the postwar boom, while the figure's chains probably symbolize the ongoing threat of the cold war.