THE LAST WASHINGTON PAINTING
(PREMONITIONS OF THE CORPORATE WARS)
The Last Washington Painting by Alan Sonneman was first show at the Washington Project for the Arts on March 4th, 1980 to great acclaim. It was been reproduced on the front page of the Washington Post’s Style section three times as well as the Washington Star and many other publications including the cover of Common Cause Magazine. After 30 years it re-emerged when J. W. Mahoney asked to include it in a 35 year survey of the history of the WPA. Having lost track of it, a search was undertaken which was chronicled in a cover story in the Washington City Paper in July 2010.
It depicts the infamous image of the atomic bomb test Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll in 1946 imposed upon the skyline of the capitol of the empire, Washington, D. C. in the waning days of the Cold War and MAD (mutually assured destruction.
54 x 102 in. oil on canvas 1980