Bad art from the 1950's. Too good to be good...not bad enough to be bad. A cut and welded Napoleon with tiny head, giant hat and rusty epaulets. It's a horrible mid-century bad painting come to life! From a bicycle repair shop in Michigan, and obviously one which didn't get enough business.
The hat is callled a bicorn (which means twice as corny) and rivals only the beret in Frenchiness. Why the bicorn didn't catch on with the beats is a mystery.
I am inclined to say the worst art is that made by trained yet amateur artists who are trying to be funny, at least during the "beatnik" modern art years, when things French were almost cool. I really don't know why he was satirized in art so often, except that he was a relatively short man who sent taller men into war. Apparently, he died a natural death of arsenic poisoning.
Strange Handmade "Folk Art" Napoleon Circa 1950? Collection Jim Linderman
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