The Epic Saga of Stephen Colbert's Portrait
Back in early 2008, Stephen Colbert lobbied the Smithsonian to include his portrait as part of their collection. It was a long road, but Brent Glass, director of the National Treasures Exhibit, finally relented. Since then, Stephen's portrait has hung in the Smithsonian in Washington, but yesterday the portrait was sadly taken down…
The portrait hung in the museum’s temporary exhibit space in the National Air and Space museum. After the American History museum reopened in November 2008, it hung the portrait in its current location.
But alas the portrait will come down tomorrow [yesterday September 14. Sorry!]…
Boo! Why take it down? Why not keep the portrait up forever? Where is it going now? Why am I crying as I write this?
After tomorrow, the painting is going back into the Smithsonian's "collection" — we think that actually means "storage" – but we're hoping it'll make it to the Louvre soon.
At first, I thought the placement of Stephen's portrait into storage was an insult. But then I realized, you know what other face-meltingly awesome artifact is currently in storage? The Lost Ark of the Covenant. And God lives in that. Maybe storage is an honor bestowed only to the most sacred of objects.
Whatever the case, I have a feeling Stephen Colbert's portrait will resurface once again (let's hope the Nazi's don't get their hands on it!) In the meantime, we can all relive the joy and magic of the epic saga of Stephen Colbert's portrait.
Click after the jump to watch Colbert Report clips covering the portrait's journey to the Smithsonian.
The Colbert Report airs Monday through Thursday at 11:30pm / 10:30c.
I'd like to point out that Van Jones was the guest on the episode where Brent Glass called in to announce the acceptance of the portrait into the Smithsonian's collection. Is Jones somehow responsible for Colbert's portrait being taken down now? Probably! Let's fire him from whatever he's doing now.
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