Presidential Portraits Are Wack
Political art is artwork that deals with politics; It can be positive, negative, commissioned by a government body, created by student protestors, legal or illegal. Campaign posters, protest images, (some) graffiti, propaganda, memorials and monuments are some of the various categories that belong to political art. Focusing on government commissioned political art, America is lost. America’s political art, historically, in my opinion, is not as great as that of Europe and Asia. Sculpted Roman Emperors, Chinese and Japanese official court paintings on hand scrolls as well as Spanish Baroque royal portraiture are all above the American Neoclassical, naturalism and whatever the fuck we have today. Art commissioned by the American government is always a cooker-cutter painting or monument. I think they do it because they believe we are dumb. Even the communist funded art for the Soviet Union is more interesting, and communist don’t even know what good art is.
Presidential portraits are usually boring, usually painted by some random painter you never heard of. There are only a handful of interesting ones- here they are.
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, 1901-1909.
Portrait by John Singer Sargent, 1903.
A nature preservationist, the leader of the most notorious military unit in Cuba during the Spanish-American war, a cowboy, an explorer, a boxer, and the man the teddy bear is named after. Teddy Roosevelt was all those things and more, but his portrait shows none of that, and that is why it’s a great portrait. This is the second portrait; the first was destroyed because President Roosevelt was roasted by his family for not looking manly enough. He commissioned John Singer Sargent to paint the second one. The setting is kinda strange for a president. Teddy seems to be at the end of a staircase, in a slightly dimmed and bare interior. The strongest light source is on his right hand, probably signifying his rule of power? Not sure but it’s a portrait that was probably created with some anxiety since the first one was destroyed.
A very distant relative of Teddy was later president, Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR saved art and artists in America during the Great Depression with the ‘New Deal’ and the WPA. If you have not looked into some of the WPA artists, I recommend doing so. Anyhow, FDR’s original portrait is unfinished.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States, 1993-1945.
Portrait by Elizabeth Shoumatoff, 1945.
Elizabeth Shoumatoff, a Ukrainian portrait painter, has created a handful of portraits of political leaders. She also painted LBJ but it’s not as good as FDR’s. After sitting for the portrait for a while, FDR was complaining about a headache. He later died from cerebral hemorrhage. Elizabeth chose to keep the first portrait unfinished and created a second from memory. Keeping the first one unfinished was genius. It was a bold move and a respectful one. She understood picturing someone in their natural/living state is not the same as a photo or memory. Here she is respecting a president who also respected art, while respecting the unwritten laws of presidential portraiture itself; the sitter must be in front of you.
John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, 1961-1963.
Portrait by Aaron Shikler, 1970.
As most of us know, JFK was assassinated. His portrait was created many years after his death/presidential term. JFK’s wife, Jackie had something to do with the untraditional imagery. Jackie told Shikler she saw no need for a penetrating gaze towards the viewer. The portrait was drawn from photograph. Shikler looked at many photographs of Kennedy, but chose one of JFK at his brothers grave as the inspiration for the portrait. After creating many sketches, Jackie chose this mysterious version. It is the first and only presidential portrait you cannot see the president’s eyes. JFK’s demeanor is pensive, gentle and content. I think this is the best presidential portrait America has and will ever have.
Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States, 2009-2017.
Portrait by Kehinde Wiley, 2018.
Kehinde Wiley is probably one of the most famous and successful painters who created a portrait for a president (the guy has a deal with American Express). This one is just fun. It doesn’t have a sad story, or a masculine power trip attached to it, it’s just nice to look at. There are some allusions toward Kenya dn Hawaii with the flower choice and colors, but it’s a refreshing break from the past 43 portraits we had of our past presidents in this country. I don’t know why it took so long to come up with a colorful, more lightly toned portrait, but I’m glad it happened. Is it me or are his hands are huge?
Whether you lean more towards one side of the American political spectrum is not in my interest or concern. What is concerning is if you are so far left or right you cannot even look at past presidential portraits due to who is in the portrait. The erasure and removal of public sculptures and portraits in American have been in question, debate, and action for some years now. It should be case by case, but for the most part not wanting a portrait on public view is not the answer. Education is always the answer.
Anyway, here is a picture of George W. Bush painting-
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