{"data":{"id":"318","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":318,"topgoose_id":2319,"tms_id":318,"display_name":"Allan D'Arcangelo","sort_name":"D'Arcangelo Allan","display_date":"1930–1998","begin_date":"1930","end_date":"1998","biography":"\u003cp\u003eAlthough Allan D’Arcangelo would become known primarily for his images of US highways, complete with road signs and billboards, he made a number of significant paintings of celebrities, including Marilyn Monroe and Jacqueline Kennedy, the latter pictured in \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/41559\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eMadonna and Child\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e with her toddler daughter. D’Arcangelo worked from a contemporary portrait photograph of the First Lady and Caroline Kennedy to make this graphic take on an age-old religious art-historical subject. Mother and daughter are rendered in bold blocks of unmodulated color, their featureless faces ringed in bright yellow halos that elevate them to the status of contemporary icons and saviors of America. D’Arcangelo highlights the Kennedys’ brand status in his use of the bold style and limited color palette of commercial design and advertising, epitomized in the subjects’ two-tone hair. The image trades on visual legibility: its sitters are recognizable merely by virtue of their signature hair and clothing, and Jackie’s string of pearls. With its graphic style and celebrity subjects, \u003cem\u003eMadonna and Child\u003c/em\u003e relates to works by other Pop artists such as \u003ca href=\"/artists/1384\"\u003eAndy Warhol\u003c/a\u003e. Like Warhol’s works, this painting points to the more sinister side of celebrity and consumer culture: despite their apparently heavenly status, Jackie and Caroline have been reduced to images to be consumed, devoid of depth, individuality, and voice. The tragic aura of the painting seems particularly poignant given the assassination of President Kennedy just a few months after D'Arcangelo completed this work.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500013648","wikidata_id":"Q4730556","created_at":"2017-08-30T17:18:35.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-04-13T07:01:11.478-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/318/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/318/exhibitions"}}}}