Davenport acquired two new portraits last year that are a jarring juxtaposition against the otherwise bland buffet of powerful old white men that grace our beloved college’s dining halls. This one in particular is a group portrait, designed to show diversity in the residential college community. It measures approximately 3×5 feet and is rendered with painstaking detail and crisp color in oil paint. The diptych is immediately visible on the right side upon entering the dining hall, which is good because it is a warmer welcome than the stern subjects we are used to. The piece was commissioned in honor of Richard Schottenfeld, the college’s head between 2001 and 2017 and created by artist Brenda Zlamany in 2018.
The paint strokes are seamless, which creates a strange inception-esque effect as the painting’s background blends almost seamlessly into the actual dining hall. It is almost as though the artist has created a mirror in the dining hall, hoping to reflect not only the physical space but also the diverse community that inhabits it. The figures depicted are Markus Jackson ’09, Carolyn Haller, operations manager; Joanne Ursine, who works in the Davenport dining hall; and Schottenfeld himself. The posing seems to be trying to be candid (perhaps to up the reliability factor) but ends up feeling awkward with Professor Schottenfeld’s hands frozen mid-gesture and the mismatched eye contact among the subjects – the portrait of “community” feels somewhat disjointed.
On one hand, it is great that we see contemporary figures of differing race and gender who are actual people we can relate to in the community. However it is a little peculiar that the two people of color depicted are not making eye contact with the viewer while the white subjects, who also happen to be in higher positions of power, do. The composition draws my focus to Professor Schottenfeld — the man in power. In a less dramatic way than the usual pieces in the dining halls, I feel like this portrait still echoes the systems of privilege that Yale is founded upon and that perhaps these new portraits aimed to overcome. Still, it is a step in the right direction.