Paintings Depict Celebrities in a Classical Way

Ann Stewart Anderson's Hecuba & Rosejuxtaposes the lives of Hecuba, left, wife of
King of Troy Priam, and Rose Kennedy, wife of U.S. businessman Joseph Kennedy Sr.,
who founded the Kennedy political dynasty.

COLUMBIA, Ky. -- When painter Ann Stewart Anderson sees Oprah Winfrey, she sees more than a famed media personality. 

Anderson, whose works will be on display in "Mythic Women Juxtaposed" in the Lindsey Wilson College Lucretia C. Begley Art Gallery through April 30, sees famous women such as Oprah and Hillary Clinton as all manner of Greek goddesses and mythological figures.

"In the 'Mythic Women Juxtaposed' diptychs I use symbolism and image to demonstrate the similarities between ancient mythic women and their well-know contemporary counterparts," she said. "Thus Hestia, goddess of the hearth reflects Julia Child, and Rosa Parks defies an unfair system of law, as did Antigone."

Anderson's paintings depict modern women doing ordinary things -- applying makeup, shopping for clothes, mourning for a dead friend or enjoying a ladies' lunch -- but in ways that reflect eternal truths of women.

To Anderson, "the sagas of Medea and Penelope," for example, two characters from Greek mythology, take on "mythic is stature."

"These figures embody the essential attributes of all women; knowing their histories explains our own," Anderson said of her work.

Anderson depicts many different characters in her paintings, including such famous women as Hillary Clinton, globetrotting Secretary of State, as a kind of Hera, the sometimes wronged wife of Zeus. 

Ann Stewart Anderson "Mythic Women Juxtaposed" will be on display through April 30 in the Lindsey Wilson College Lucretia C. Begley Art Gallery. Hours are 8 a.m.-4 p.m. CT Monday-Friday. For more information, contact LWC Professor of Art Tim Smith at smitht@lindsey.edu or (270) 384-8079.