The Path of Phocion: Disgrace and Disavowal at the Philip Johnson Glass House

Philip Johnson graced his iconic Glass House with a single seicento painting, Landscape with the Burial of Phocion by Nicolas Poussin, an intrinsic signifier of the building that frames it. Analyzed within its physical, cultural, and political context, Burial of Phocion condenses displaced, interlacing representations of disavowed aspects of Johnson's identity, including forbidden strivings for greatness and power, the haunting legacy of the lesser artist, and the humiliation of exile. It is argued that Phocion's path from disgrace to posthumous dignity is a narrative lens through which Johnson attempted to reframe and disavow his political past.