The Rainbow Swash is the common name for an untitled work by

Corita Kent Corita Kent (November 20, 1918 – September 18, 1986), born Frances Elizabeth Kent and also known as Sister Mary Corita Kent, was an American artist, designer and educator, and former religious sister. Key themes in her work included Christian ...

in the Dorchester neighborhood of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. The rainbow design painted on a tall

LNG storage tank A liquefied natural gas storage tank or LNG storage tank is a specialized type of storage tank used for the storage of Liquefied Natural Gas. LNG storage tanks can be found in ground, above ground or in LNG carriers. The common characteristic of LN ...

is the largest copyrighted work of art in the world."Wartime Visions"

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

(November 3, 2001). Highly visible from daily commuters' drives on

Interstate 93 Interstate 93 (I-93) is an Interstate Highway in the New England states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont in the United States. Spanning approximately along a north–south axis, it is one of three primary Interstate Highways ...

, it is considered one of the major landmarks of Boston, akin to the

Citgo sign The Boston Citgo sign is a large, double-faced sign featuring the logo of the oil company Citgo that overlooks Kenmore Square in Boston. The sign was installed in 1940 and updated with Citgo's present logo in 1965. The sign has become a landmark ...

Description

Originally created in 1971, the Rainbow Swash comprises large streaks of rainbow colors over a natural gas storage tank on Dorchester's waterfront, located about two miles (3 km) south of Downtown Boston. The landmark design is highly visible from the Southeast Expressway and passed by hundreds of thousands of commuters daily. The design was transferred to its present location in 1992 when the original LNG tank was torn down.Corcoran, Michael (October 21, 2007)
"Belatedly, Dot says tanks, Corita"
''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

''.Chesto, John (September 25, 2007)
"Under the rainbow: Logo to change"
, ''The Patriot Ledger''.

History

In 1971, then–Boston Gas Company president Eli Goldston commissioned Corita Kent to paint the Rainbow Swash design on one of two adjacent LNG tanks facing Boston's Southeast Expressway. The original design was painted on an 8-inch (20 cm) scale model, from which 20 painters reproduced the work on the high tank. Since the 1970s, the Rainbow Swash has been controversial. The mural was criticized as purportedly featuring a profile of Vietnamese Leader

Ho Chi Minh (: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as ('Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), (' Old father of the people') and by other aliases, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He served as Prime ...

's face in its blue stripe. Kent was a peace activist, and some believe she was protesting the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, but Kent herself always denied embedding such a profile. In 1992, the original rainbow-painted LNG tank was torn down and the Rainbow Swash was recreated on the adjacent tank despite objections from veterans groups. However, the blue stripe is less pronounced in the 1992 reproduction.Noonan, Kathleen (February 9, 2008)
"Sister Corita's art of a higher order"
''

The Courier-Mail ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, ...

'' Less controversially, the yellow stripe is said to resemble the profile of

Fred Flintstone Fred Flintstone is the main character of the animated sitcom '' The Flintstones'', which aired during prime-time on ABC during the original series' run from 1960 to 1966. Fred is the husband of Wilma Flintstone and father of Pebbles Flintsto ...

looking southward. In 2000, Boston Gas was acquired by Keyspan and the Keyspan logo replaced the Boston Gas logo under the rainbow. Keyspan was acquired and merged into

National Grid plc National Grid plc is a British multinational electricity and gas utility company headquartered in London, England. Its principal activities are in the United Kingdom, where it owns and operates electricity and natural gas transmission networks ...

and the National Grid logo was placed over the Keyspan logo in September 2007.

Controversy

A noted photographer, James Prigoff, ended up in a

United States Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the Federal government of the United States, U.S. United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the I ...

database after photographing the Rainbow Swash. The

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

of California is currently suing the Federal Government calling into question the legality of the Suspicious Activity Reporting program which was used to report the photographer. In February 2019 the Ninth Court of Appeals affirmed an earlier finding for the government.

Notable appearances

The Swash appeared in the opening credits to the 2005 film ''Fever Pitch''.

References

External links

Artist Information: Corita Kent

"WGBH switches on digital mural at new Brighton digs"
by Donna Goodison, ''Boston Herald'' (Sept. 17, 2007)

at Boston Online {{Coord, 42, 18, 5.23, N, 71, 2, 42.6, W, region:US-MA_type:landmark, display=title 1971 paintings Culture of Boston Dorchester, Boston Landmarks in Dorchester, Boston Murals in Massachusetts Art in Massachusetts Rainbows in art