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Rainbow Swash

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The Rainbow Swash is the common name for an untitled[1] work by Corita Kent in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The rainbow design painted on a 140-foot (43 m) tall LNG storage tank was copyrighted in 1972,[2] and was claimed to be the largest copyrighted work of art at the time.[3] Highly visible from daily commuters' drives on Interstate 93, it is considered one of the major landmarks of Boston, akin to the Citgo sign.[4][5]

Boston gas tank

Description

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Originally created in 1971, the Rainbow Swash comprises large streaks of rainbow colors over a natural gas storage tank on Dorchester's waterfront, about two miles (3 km) south of Downtown Boston. The landmark 140-foot (43 m) design is highly visible from the Southeast Expressway and passed by hundreds of thousands of commuters daily.[6][7]

History

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In 1971, the president of Boston Gas, Eli Goldston, commissioned Kent to paint the Rainbow Swash design on one of two adjacent LNG tanks facing the Southeast Expressway.[6] She painted the original design on an 8-inch (20 cm) scale model,[8] and 20 painters reproduced the work on the tank.[9]

Since the 1970s, the Rainbow Swash has been criticized as purportedly featuring a profile of the North Vietnamese Communist leader Ho Chi Minh's face in its blue stripe.[10] Kent was a peace activist, and some believe she was protesting the Vietnam War, but Kent herself always denied embedding such a profile.[11][12][13]

The original tank was demolished in 1992, and the design transferred to the other, about 250 feet to the east,[14] despite objections from veterans groups.[6] However, the blue stripe is less pronounced in the 1992 version.[15][13]

The branding beneath the rainbow has changed with the tank's owner: first Boston Gas, then KeySpan in 2000, and National Grid in 2007.[7][16][17]

Incidents

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A noted photographer, James Prigoff, was added to a Department of Homeland Security database after photographing the Rainbow Swash. The ACLU of California sued the Federal Government in 2014, calling into question the legality of the Suspicious Activity Reporting program which was used to report the photographer.[18] In February 2019 the Ninth Court of Appeals affirmed an earlier finding for the government.[19]

References

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  1. ↑ "Boston Arts Czar On Her Favorite Work Of Public Art — And What She Thinks Our Ranking Missed". Wbur.org. September 2016. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
  2. ↑ Wysocki, Ron (September 5, 1972). "Boston P.M.". The Boston Globe. p. 3.
  3. ↑ Ailworth, Erin (July 12, 2014). "Landmark becomes a time capsule - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Boston Globe Media Partners. Retrieved May 1, 2023.
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ "WGBH switches on digital mural at new Brighton digs - BostonHerald.com". Archived from the original on June 13, 2011. Retrieved August 28, 2008.
  6. 1 2 3 Corcoran, Michael (October 21, 2007). "Belatedly, Dot says tanks, Corita", The Boston Globe.
  7. 1 2 Chesto, John (September 25, 2007). "Under the rainbow: Logo to change" Archived 2009-09-02 at the Wayback Machine, The Patriot Ledger.
  8. ↑ "Dorchester Illustration 2178 Gas Tank". Dorchester Historical Society. Retrieved April 3, 2026., showing Kent in front of the tank with the model
  9. ↑ "GasLines: The Rainbow Tank is Sweet Sixteen" (PDF), Boston Gas History, Boston Gas via Simpson.net (November 1987).
  10. ↑ "Wartime Visions", National Public Radio (November 3, 2001).
  11. ↑ Rogers, Barbara; Stillman Rogers; Patricia Mandell; Juliette Rogers (2007). Massachusetts: A Guide to Unique Places. Globe Pequot. pp. 30. ISBN 978-0-7627-4419-0.
  12. ↑ Rainbow Swash. Celebrateboston.com
  13. 1 2 Stevens, Peter F. (August 19, 2004). "Did She Or Didn't She?". Dorchester Reporter. Archived from the original on January 30, 2010. Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  14. ↑ Alston, Paris; Siegel, Jeremy (October 12, 2022). "As workers restore Dorchester's iconic rainbow gas tank, a history lesson about the artwork". GBH (updated 2023-08-07 ed.). Retrieved April 3, 2026.
  15. ↑ Noonan, Kathleen (February 9, 2008). "Sister Corita's art of a higher order", The Courier-Mail
  16. ↑ Howe, Peter J. (August 25, 2007). "National Grid, Keyspan deal done", The Boston Globe.
  17. ↑ "Boston's Landmark Gas Tank on Southeast Expressway to Get Name Change as KeySpan Transitions to National Grid" (Press release). National Grid plc. September 2007.
  18. ↑ "Lawsuit Challenges Government's 'Suspicious Activity Report' Program". Aclu.org. July 10, 2014. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Willey Gill vs DOJ". court listener.com. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
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42°18′5.23″N 71°2′42.6″W / 42.3014528°N 71.045167°W / 42.3014528; -71.045167

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