Mournful Head, Ready to Topple

New York Time’s critic Jackson’s portrait on the new $20 bill: “The overgrown, right eyebrow has morphed into a giant albino caterpillar crawling to the edge of Jackson’s face. He seems to have acquired a double chin. And his tight-lipped glower has been replaced by a near smile. The glance is ambiguous. One eye seems to be staring almost ahead; the other darts right. The coat has changed, too. You can no longer see where the collar ends, and there’s no longer a finger holding the coat closed. Only a tiny bit of the white shirt remains in the current engraving, and that is the bit under Jackson’s chin; it makes him look priestly....On the new bill the biggest change will be in Jackson’s coat. Because Jackson’s portrait will no longer be framed by an oval, his coat will run almost all the way to the bottom of the bill, like a cape. The coat will have a more complicated moiré pattern. Problem is, someone forgot to give Jackson a right shoulder. He has become a bobble-headed toy, a big head on a small lopsided base. He looks deformed and mournful up there on the pedestal. And maybe a tad worried. You can see why. A pale turquoise eagle is about to attack him from the left. Jackson’s tiny hand (a little white speck brought back from the old bill) appears to be emerging from his coat, as if poised to swat the bird.... Jackson, once safely encased like a patriarch in a locket and now swelled to a friendly super-size, will become a mournful head ready to topple.”