Saddam's Portrait Painters NPR's Eric Weiner reports from Baghdad that Iraq's once-rich regional artistic tradition has survived, in a way, in painting portraits of Saddam Hussein. The portraits, which are part of the Iraqi leader's cult of personality, are everywhere in Baghdad...on billboards, government offices, painted on the sides of buildings. The artists who paint them maintain it isn't monototous to paint the same man because they can always paint him in different attire.

All Things Considered

Saddam's Portrait Painters

March 17, 199812:00 AM ET

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Saddam's Portrait Painters

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NPR's Eric Weiner reports from Baghdad that Iraq's once-rich regional artistic tradition has survived, in a way, in painting portraits of Saddam Hussein. The portraits, which are part of the Iraqi leader's cult of personality, are everywhere in Baghdad...on billboards, government offices, painted on the sides of buildings. The artists who paint them maintain it isn't monototous to paint the same man because they can always paint him in different attire.