The silhouettes are instantly recognizable. The posture is reminiscent of the famous painting, American Gothic.
And yet, there is something deeply jarring. The resemblance in posture is superficial.
Though some misinterpreted it as caricature, the couple depicted in the 1930 painting represented the resilience of the puritan American spirit during hard times. The silhouettes here are different. They represent hubris, greed, entitlement. That they appear as silhouettes only adds weight to this picture. One of America’s enduring symbols is in the background, but what dominates are these two dark shadows in the foreground: elegant in their own way, radiating power, but also, almost standing in defiance of, not in respect towards, the institutions they represent.
Or perhaps I am just reading too much into what is simply a fascinatingly unique photograph taken by an AP photographer during King Charles’s recent visit to the United States.