Presidential Portraits.

[false_aesthetic]

I'm really stoked on this:

Michelle Obama chose Amy Sherald to paint her official portrait.
Barack chose Kehinde Wiley.

A wonderful move away from Everett Kinstler.

Not that I think he sucks or lacks talent -- he obviously doesn't -- I'm just far more interested in contemporary painters painting contemporarily. Additionally, when I was in school, access to art by non-white artists was extremely limited. It's a lot better now (though textbooks still mostly cover dead rich white dudes + their patrons) but I think the Obama's championing these two is a major push in the right direction.

[robin3mj]

Agreed- modern styles for modern people.
They'll be beautiful portraits.

[ElvisMerckx]

Kehinde Wiley is a brilliant choice. I've seen some of his works that are in the VMFA collection and was stunned by the beauty, skill, and intellect in them. I'm eager to see how he paints a president.

[lumpy]

Thanks for posting this.

[Matthew Strongin]

Thanks for posting this.

+1. This is very cool. I look forward to seeing the finished portraits.

[davids]

I saw a bunch of Kehinde Wiley's paintings at the Detroit Institute of Arts a while back. Loved them.
I'm not familiar with Amy Sherald.

The Obamas once again make me miss them...

[guido]

Making Barack look like an old white guy was a non-starter anyway... It will be cool to see the result.

Bring back his dignity to the office!

[dgaddis]

A while back we visited the LBJ presidential library while in Austin. Obama was still in office, but Trump had just won the Republican nomination, and looking at all the portraits of the past presidents, my wife said "I can't believe there's a chance that Trump's picture might be here one day too."

[Ras72]

A while back we visited the LBJ presidential library while in Austin. Obama was still in office, but Trump had just won the Republican nomination, and looking at all the portraits of the past presidents, my wife said "I can't believe there's a chance that Trump's picture might be here one day too."

I'm assuming one needs to finish the term in order to have a portrait. So, I'm holding onto the chance there's still time for him not to make it to that wall.

[dgaddis]

I'm assuming one needs to finish the term in order to have a portrait. So, I'm holding onto the chance there's still time for him not to make it to that wall.

'Past President' means you were at one point President. So, he's made the wall. SAD!

[jerk]

fuck yes. i love kehinde Wiley

[caleb]

Agreed- modern styles for modern people.
They'll be beautiful portraits.

I went through the portrait gallery last summer with an historian of presidential art, and one of the things I learned about the portrait process is that once a president picks an artist, he gives up veto power over the final product. If the president hates it, it's still going in the gallery. There have apparently been a couple examples of this dynamic, although I'm forgetting which presidents. I think one was Nixon, who hated how small Rockwell painted him.

I suppose it would be nice if the Obamas like the paintings and the paintings themselves are beautiful, but more than anything I just hope they're interesting.

[Mabouya]

Congratulations to the selected artists, I look forward to seeing the results.

Moving forward a bit, I have some ideas for the incumbent, based on images I've seen around the web, but I won't pollute this thread with them.

[doomridesout]

I think Trump's tiny penis portrait has already been done, if you Google it.

[davids]

And speaking of presidential portraits: I highly recommend the National Portrait Gallery, one of the least visited of the Smithsonian musuems in DC.

Yeah, they've got the presidential portraits. But there's a ton of other great art there.

[Saab2000]

^^ Agreed

The Smithsonian museums in general are a national treasure and should be visited as often as possible.

[dgaddis]

^^ Agreed

The Smithsonian museums in general are a national treasure and should be visited as often as possible.

We took a trip to DC a few summers ago. We had two 'museum' days, with the plan to see two museums each day.

We didn't know any better.

Museum Day 1 - we went to the American History Museum, we were there when they unlocked the doors in the morning. We were the last ones out that night, a security guard found us in the back looking at the very last thing and he walked us out and locked the door behind us.

In other words, we were there from open to close. We saw it all, but just barely.

[Matthew Strongin]

I lived in the DC Metro area for 7 years and spent as much time as possible visiting the Smithsonian museums and still feel like there's more to see.

[monadnocky]

And speaking of presidential portraits: I highly recommend the National Portrait Gallery, one of the least visited of the Smithsonian musuems in DC.

I prefer the landscape gallery...

NATIONAL-PORTRAIT-GALLERYNATIONAL-LANDSCAPE-GALLERY-1-C05383.jpg

[guido]

Bo, Sunny Obama Announce Selection Of Artist For Their Official Portraits