The Inauguration. At Last.

HALLELUJAH. The angels are singing on this glorious day. - By Maira Kalman - The Inauguration. At Last.
And we mortals, driving down to Washington, passing white mountains and black mountains of unidentified industrial stuff, listen to Lorraine Hunt Lieberson sing words from a Bach cantata. “Now is the time of Grace.” The heart is racing. And all I can say is Hallelujah.
Hallelujah for the Walt Whitman rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike where the plastic flowers in the women’s restroom looked quite noble.

For arriving in Washington and feeling the excitement and happiness in the air. For the hats in the Baptist church
at the Martin Luther King Day service
and the choir singing “We Shall Overcome.”
For the Small French Paintings show at the National Gallery and the Antoine Vollon painting of a mound of butter with not one, but two eggs.
For the guard with the perfect red eyebrows guarding the paintings.
For Jefferson, in the Declaration of Independence changing the words life, liberty and the pursuit of property to the pursuit of happiness. Happiness! And for the shoes of the man portraying Jefferson at the Museum of American History, who spoke so confidently. Confidence.
And while we are at it, Hallelujah for the Fortuny tea gown also on display in the museum which is a total knockout.
Hallelujah for knowledge and for the honor of language and ideas. And books. For Jefferson’s glorious library full of Cicero and Spinoza and Aeschylus and Thomas More and books on bees and trees and harpsichords all intact in the Library of Congress.
For the stately Rare Books Reading Room in the library. And for the stately, plump tassel hanging on the rich crimson curtain near the people who work and study there.
And for the small worn velvet Bible housed in the Rare Books Reading Room that Lincoln used for his inauguration and Obama used for his inauguration. Hallelujah for being allowed to hold that Bible in my hands. Abraham Lincoln. Maira. Barack Hussein Obama. Nice.
And a woman named Renata asked “Why on the Bible? Why not on the Constitution?” And I think that is a very good question. But now we are taking a short break from questioning. Right now, we are opting for naïveté.

Hallelujah for the vast sea of nearly two million people holding madly fluttering flags in the bright noonday sun. For being smart again. And sexy again. And optimistic again.

For the helicopter roaring up from behind the Capitol next to the Japanese pagoda tree. A dot in the sky. Hallelujah for the hope of a new world.
And the Japanese pagoda tree, oblivious to all the fuss, vaguely remembers that it is also known as the Chinese scholar tree, which flowers profusely in late summer, offering to the lucky person standing under it a fragrant dappled refuge from the noonday sun.

Comments are no longer being accepted.

Soose January 29, 2009 · 9:06 pm

I liked the butter and the pink chair the best. This should
lower your expectations, I think. (I wished she had done more sketches of the National Mall)

Nina January 29, 2009 · 9:31 pm

Thank goodness you’re back!

esther mezey January 29, 2009 · 9:56 pm

So glad M.Kalman is back. Her colors and drawings are a treat for the eyes. Her comments are insightful and right on target. I get a warm feeling after seeing and reading her. She lifts my spirits.
HALLELJUAH!

Anna January 29, 2009 · 10:21 pm

Maira Kalman, back at last! How elated I was to find a new post from this sharp, beautiful mind. Kalman’s drawings, thoughtful words, and insightful observations warm my heart through and through.

Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.

– Anna

Margaret Wallace January 29, 2009 · 10:25 pm

You are so beautifully right about this–it was a day for angel song. In fact we had all become beautiful like angels, and had grown angel wings and could not, could not keep our feet from floating above the ground. Margaret

mary ann January 29, 2009 · 11:47 pm

Thank you, Maira.

Kathryn Sievers January 30, 2009 · 12:11 am

Oh, I loved this. Thank you.

Trinity Tibe January 30, 2009 · 12:14 am

i love maira’s art! i’ve been eating up photographs of the inauguration. it’s special to experience the moment through these great illustrations. i can feel creativity and energy fizzing in the air lately.

BR January 30, 2009 · 12:15 am

I love her art and comments

Mimi Williams January 30, 2009 · 12:16 am

Maira~ Hallelujah for a joyous painterly perspective!
Mimi
Olympia,WA

Jeanne January 30, 2009 · 12:16 am

This is fantastic.

red navy January 30, 2009 · 12:17 am

How lovely.

So whimsical and down to earth.

I Hade fun traveling with you in your wonderful
pictures of real people in an extraordinary event.

So cool. Thank you.

; )

Barbara January 30, 2009 · 12:18 am

I was there, I live in D.C. Still, I must shout: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Judy Bertelsen January 30, 2009 · 12:18 am

Thanks, Maira Kalman. Your words are wonderful and each of your pictures worth a thousand words (as the saying goes). Good job.

Rae January 30, 2009 · 12:18 am

This is lovely. Thank you.

Kate Schroeder January 30, 2009 · 12:20 am

A wonderful journey…thank you. The bathroom flower struck me for it is these simple items in environments of necessity that transform the moment .

bls January 30, 2009 · 12:21 am

This is just lovely, thank you for posting!!!

Lulu January 30, 2009 · 12:22 am

Oh how positively DELIGHTFUL to have Ms. Kalman’s work back on NYTimes.com! How appropriate and moreover how creative for the editors to assign her to “cover” the inauguration. Her illustrations of her astute, poetic observations captured the momentous event marvelously. Well done.

Pdnell January 30, 2009 · 12:22 am

will you ever publish these — and the wonderful series from last year — in a book? I love them and want to be able to look at them again and again. Thank you.

Judy Bertelsen January 30, 2009 · 12:24 am

Thanks, Maira Kalman. Your words are wonderful and each of your pictures worth a thousand words (as the saying goes). Good job.

Watching on television, I felt a palpable lifting of a weight (yes, that’s a cliche, but I really felt it all day) that we now had an elected President. In your word: Hallelujah!

Chee January 30, 2009 · 12:25 am

HALLELUJA!!
maira is back.
a happy happy day.

Bluemarbles January 30, 2009 · 12:28 am

Thank you for this beautiful work. The artistic inspiration I’ve witnessed as part of Barack Obama’s campaign and inauguration has been so very moving for me.

What a blessing to witness such positive, vibrant energy coming together .

Viv January 30, 2009 · 12:36 am

Hallelujah! You are back! Thank you for this beautiful gift! I’m celebrating, and tearing up, all over again. :) xoxo

Michele Blumberg January 30, 2009 · 12:38 am

Hallelulia for this marvelous piece of art!

Vicki Arbitrio January 30, 2009 · 12:39 am

Thank You.

Thank you for your down-to-earth illustrations which captured all the detail that I wish I saw in person…..maybe when the Japanese Pagoda Trees bloom, or maybe the Chinese Scholar Trees bloom, I too will go to see the hats, and the paintings, the dress and best of all the books in the Library of Congress…..