Did anyone catch the recent Newsweek cover? The magazine features Italian artist, Lorenzo Petrantoni, and his trademark collage technique that integrates typefaces and illustrations in the style of early 19th-century signage and advertising combined with modern symbols, icons and what appears to be that decorative scrolly stuff straight out of Microsoft's Wingdings.

President-elect Barack Obama is front and center, arms crossed, exuding confidence, with the words, "The New Global Elite" headlining in gold above him. Two old maps (dates unknown, but deemed old by me as nine Middle Eastern countries are lumped into one word: Arabia) Western and Eastern hemispheres rest just above his shoulders, with names of some of today's biggest world players radiating out of his figure: Oprah Winfrey, Ben Bernanke, Nuri al-Maliki, Nicolas Sarkozy, Dalai Lama and Steve Jobs just to name a few.

Once I had time to think about it, I couldn't help but notice how similiar the composition looks to the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Both the Petrantoni illustration and image of the Virgin have golden directionals emulating from them, a graphic most commonly applied to images of saints to represent rays of heavenly light. The Virgin of Guadalupe is one of the most important formative religious and national symbols in the history of Mexico, and has become a national icon. She has become "a symbol of the Mexican people. Her image has the dark skin of the original Guadalupe statue, but otherwise she displays unique local traits. Her face is said to be the face of a Nahuatl Indian." For the first time, indigenous Catholics saw themselves, literally, in the Virgin Mary. She looked like them.

Why do I love this cover so much? First, because of the design: black and white is bold and refreshing. Second, Lorenzo Petrantoni. But probably the biggest reason comes from the message I seem to get from the imagery. As the first African-American president, many Americans will be seeing themselves in Barack Obama, just as the Indians of 16th-century Mexico did in the Virgin of Guadalupe. Additionally, Obama supporters have been accused of deifying their candidate with saint-like qualities—some calling him a "savior"—which has placed enormous and possibly impossible expectations on a single human being. I also love it because I can't remember the last time I had an "art history moment" at a news stand.

What do you think? Take a look at the two images below and leave a comment!

Image and quote source: www.swco.ttu.edu