The first thing one notices are the eyes. They peer at the viewer with an audacity bordering on insolence. They say plainly that the soul behind those eyes is the equal of any viewer. In fact, in their somewhat intolerant way, they suggest that he may be the viewer’s superior.
Only when the viewer backs up and sees the portrait in whole, does he notice that Sebastián de Morra, the artist’s subject, is a dwarf.
Dwarfs, or “little persons” as some prefer to be called, were in the news last year, thanks to the controversy over Disney’s Snow White. Actor Peter Dinklage, who has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia, denounced Disney for its plans to make “that fucking backward story of seven dwarves living in the cave.” Immediately following his criticism, a number of high profile writers and activists piled on, supporting his outrage.
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