too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.

"When power leads men towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses. For art establishes the basic human truth which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment. The artist, however faithful to his personal vision of reality, becomes the last champion of the individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society and an officious state. The great artist is thus a solitary figure. He has, as Frost said, 'a lover's quarrel with the world.' In pursuing his perceptions of reality, he must often sail against the currents of his time. This is not a popular role. If Robert Frost was much honored in his lifetime, it was because a good many preferred to ignore his darker truths." /john f. kennedy









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Jackie was seated next to her husband in the limousine when he was shot and mortally wounded in Dealey Plaza. Vice President Johnson and his wife followed in another car in the motorcade. After the President was hit, Jacqueline climbed out of the back seat and crawled toward the the rear to retrieve part of the President's skull that had landed there. After his death she refused to remove her blood-stained clothing, and regretted having washed the blood off her face and hands. She continued to wear the infamous blood stained pink Chanel suit as she stood next to Johnson on board the plane when he took the oath of office as President. She told Lady Bird Johnson, "I want them to see what they have done to Jack."



"For a moment, Mrs. Kennedy refused to release the President, whom she held in her lap, but then Kellerman, Greer, and Lawson [Secret Service agents] lifted the President onto a stretcher and pushed it into trauma room 1.” This chillingly objective text is from the Warren Commission Report [page 53]. This private moment on the world’s public stage becomes the focus of the painting.

Mark Balma’s "Pieta” begins to reconnect us with our memories of November 22, 1963. You might ask the rhetorical question: "why not just allow all of this to remain buried and fade gracefully into our memory?” President Kennedy once stated: "History is the memory of a nation.” Through art and history we honor and transmit our cultural values.