"Zapruder Frame #313" oil painting by Tansill Stough-Anthony

Object number2018.063.0005

Datecirca 2010

ClassificationsArt

Artist Tansill Stough-Anthony

ObjectArtwork

Credit LineThe "Fading Memories: In Honor of JFK" Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 14 × 14 × 1 1/2 in. (35.6 × 35.6 × 3.8 cm)

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Description"Zapruder Frame #313" is an oil painting by Tansill Stough-Anthony in a series titled “Fading Memories: In Honor of JFK”. The painting depicts a black background with brown edges that represent the edges of a film strip with sprocket holes visible. Streaks and splatters of red and white paint cover the middle of the black background and extend onto the film edges. This represents frame 313 of the Abraham Zapruder film from November 22, 1963 which shows the fatal shot to President Kennedy. A short pink cylinder sitting atop the streaks of red and white represents Jackie Kennedy's pink pillbox hat. No actual figures are visible, however. The artist signed the painting in the lower right corner.

Curatorial Commentary

After finishing each new painting, artist Tansill Stough-Anthony thought that the "Fading Memories" series might be complete--until she was struck by further inspiration, that is. Approaching this painting based on the Zapruder film, she thought that "there was a certain point that was missing" from the series. As she researched the assassination, she learned more about Abraham Zapruder and was particularly surprised to discover that the graphic frame 313 from his famous home movie had been withheld from the pages of Life Magazine for a period following the assassination. Depicting the Zapruder film in an oil painting, however, proved challenging. As she recalled in her 2015 oral history, "I really couldn't paint much of an image because there was just too much going on at the time." She reduced the image to the most significant basic elements. "This is Jackie's pill[box] hat and these are her gloved hands, reaching back, trying to get pieces of her husband's skull." -- Stephen Fagin, Curator