Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) 1769 - 1780

Curator: Hmm, almost funereal, wouldn’t you say? That stark black profile… rather severe for poor old Ben. Editor: Indeed, quite the contrast to the popular image of the jovial, kite-flying Franklin. What we have here is a portrait medallion of Benjamin Franklin, crafted sometime between 1769 and 1780. It's attributed to Wedgwood and Bentley, renowned for their ceramics. Curator: Ceramic! That explains the… I don’t know… hardness of the expression. Like it’s set in stone, or, well, baked earth. Makes you wonder about the politics, doesn’t it? Not just WHAT they made but HOW they chose to represent him. This feels less like a celebration and more like a… memorial. Editor: That's a keen observation. Consider the neoclassical style—it evokes republican virtue and Roman gravitas. And black basaltware itself was a deliberate choice, aligning Franklin with intellectual seriousness during a period when the colonies were pushing for revolution. There is such symbolism attached. This wasn’t simply about likeness; it was about projecting an image of revolutionary leadership, particularly abroad, so very carefully rendered! Curator: Right, and here in the States, we often sanitize history, especially with founding fathers. Think of Hamilton, how ahistorical that’s become. Anyway, something feels off. Editor: Absolutely. Whose revolution gets remembered, and how? Are we engaging with complexity, or flattening it for easy consumption? The black basalt becomes less a symbol of solemnity, and more a statement of who gets to be monumentalized. It becomes more complicated. Curator: See, now you've made me reconsider that almost morose air of the portrait, of what stories ceramic and politics tell... Perhaps I was a little hasty, I suppose! Editor: Precisely, which is why art demands continuous engagement, disrupting passive modes of looking, pushing for change in and through beauty! Curator: Fair enough. It’s more than just a stern-faced bust, that’s for sure.