Condoleezza Rice graduated college and earned her master’s before age 21. By age 26, she’d interned with the Carter Administration and earned her Ph.D. and was soon made an assistant professor of political science at Stanford University. As early as 15, Rice has been performing classical music with the likes of the Denver Symphony and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, but she maintains her favorite band is Led Zeppelin.
It’s only fitting that a piece of art should enshrine all this hard work and accomplishment of a woman under 60-years-old.
As part of his exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgian painter Luc Tuymans immortalized Rice in “The Secretary of State.” It’s a close view of the politician, and had it been a camera her face may have been pressed against the lens. In the painting as a whole, Rice, in mid-sentence of a debate or a speech, seems disgusted and frustrated with her surroundings. But, in breaking the face into separate factions, her features show different stories. Thought Rice was in her early 50s when she was tapped for President Bush’s cabinet, Tuymans painted her without wrinkles that may reveal age. But, he added worry lines between her furrowed eyebrows, and laugh lines that surround her mouth. One eye is squinting, almost in tears, while the other is more relaxed yet revealing a feeling of annoyance. Her lips, painted deep red, is shaped downward into a frown and a tooth sticks out of the top lip, as if Rice is about to say something in retaliation. Though it’s difficult to make out her head above her hairline, dark hair surrounding Rice’s face are neatly in place but one lock, to her left, that is tapering from the rest of her coiffed style.
Rice, though many saw her as an intelligent taskmaster during her stint as secretary of state, isn’t perfect. Indeed, she’s another American working hard to keep certain freedoms intact, and Tuymans suggests Rice got the wrinkles and imperfections while keeping the country in mind.
Yet, Tuymans’ depiction of Rice makes her seem as if she’s bitten off more than she can chew, as suggested by the tooth exposed. Rice, when shown close-up and in the context of only herself and no influence surrounded her (hence, the white, empty background), is seen someone who’s taken on and strived for more in a lifetime than most, and it’s when she’s part of a president’s cabinet she pauses and realizes she may not be up for the task. As a young girl who aspired to be a concert pianist, Rice finds herself in the midst of political rigmarole and may be questioning her decisions. Tuymans wants us to see not the Condoleezza Rice clad in a conservative suit donning an American flag pin, but the face someone who isn’t a politician, but another one of us.
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