Interpretations of Mario M. Cuomo. Want to try your own? (Illustrations: Thomas Fuchs)The New York Times hired the illustrator Thomas Fuchs to offer his own portraits of former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, in the styles (above, left to right) of Piet Mondrian, R. Crumb, Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso. Nearly 14 years after leaving office, Mr. Cuomo has refused to sit for an official portrait, prompting a State Capitol official to threaten to select an image of Mr. Cuomo to display — whether or not it flatters him.
Mario M. Cuomo served as governor from 1983 to 1994. (Photo: Angela Jimenez for The New York Times)City Room invites readers to submit their own portraits of any of the Empire State’s governors, Mr. Cuomo included, using their imaginative powers.
Martin Van Buren as a Dutch master might have painted him? Theodore Roosevelt as an ancient Egyptian pharaoh? Franklin D. Roosevelt as a Diego Rivera mural? Thomas E. Dewey as a pointillist sketch by Seurat? Eliot Spitzer (à la Roy Lichtenstein) from a comic-book cover? The choice is yours.
(Speaking of Mr. Spitzer, who is entitled, like Mr. Cuomo, to submit an official portrait at his own expense, a spokeswoman said a portrait is “not top of mind for him.”)
Creative use of Illustrator, Photoshop and other drawing and image-manipulation software is encouraged. Abstraction is O.K., but the portrait should bear some reasonable likeness to one of the governors. The better selections will be highlighted on this blog, with credit, of course, later this week. For reference, see the official list of New York’s governors, and the Wikipedia list, which includes links and images.
Note to readers: Thanks for all the interesting portraits. We are no longer accepting submissions, and will post a slide show of the best entries on Friday.
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