Tending the Light of Civility in the New Dark Ages

This is a painting by Max Beckmann entitled Double Portrait. The description at the MFA in Boston reads, "This double portrait shows two of Beckmann's close friends: Hanns Swarzenski, a scholar of medieval art (and curator at the Museum of Fine Arts), and Curt Valentin (holding a candle), the New York art dealer who did much to promote Beckmann's reputation in the United States. Both visited Beckmann in Amsterdam during 1946, after the war's long interruption; but they visited at different times and never posed together. Instead, this imagined scene is a testament to the power of friendship and those who tended the light of civilization and civility during the long dark years of the Nazis."

I think this is an apt image for the NDA and for those who support it; for outspoken bloggers; musicians, artists and all of those who are begrudgingly enduring this dark period in American history.