Presidential Portraits.

[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.