BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (NPG) -- Exhibit: America's Presidents

DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center (NPG) -- Exhibit: America's Presidents:

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Description of Pictures: Including the new W Bush portrait.

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[1] SIPGPR_080127_12.JPG	[2] SIPGPR_080830_02.JPG	[3] SIPGPR_081129_03.JPG
[4] SIPGPR_081129_05.JPG	[5] SIPGPR_081129_13.JPG	[6] SIPGPR_081221_011.JPG
[7] SIPGPR_081221_025.JPG	[8] SIPGPR_081221_040.JPG	[9] SIPGPR_081221_048.JPG
[10] SIPGPR_081221_133.JPG	[11] SIPGPR_081221_138.JPG	[12] SIPGPR_081221_177.JPG
[13] SIPGPR_081221_181.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SIPGPR_081129_05.JPG: John Adams Gilbert Stuart, 1826
2. SIPGPR_081221_011.JPG: Laura Bush, born 1946 In 1968, Laura Welch graduated from Southern Methodist University and became an elementary school teacher in Dallas. She then obtained a master of science degree from the University of Texas at Austin, and was employed as a librarian. In 1977, she married George W. Bush, and in 1981 gave birth to twin daughters. During the years her husband was governor of Texas, she worked for children's causes and on issues dealing with women's health, literacy, and libraries. As first lady of the United States, Laura Bush has continued to focus on those issues. In November 2001, she delivered the weekly presidential radio address on the hardships suffered by women in Afghanistan. She was the first first lady -- and the only person other than the president -- to use this format to speak to the national and international community on an important social issue. Laura Bush chose Aleksander Titovets, a Russian-trained painted who now lives in Texas, to paint her portrait for the National Portrait Gallery. Aleksander Titovets, 2008
3. SIPGPR_081221_025.JPG: National Portrait Gallery Presents President and Mrs. Bush's Portraits During the winter holidays, visitors will have the first chance to view the portraits of President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush commissioned for the National Portrait Gallery. The president and first lady will unveil the portraits in a private ceremony at the museum Friday, Dec. 19. The paintings will be on public view beginning Dec. 20. This is the first time that the Portrait Gallery will present the official likenesses of a sitting president and first lady. "It is always a great moment for the National Portrait Gallery to unveil the portraits of presidents and first ladies," said Martin E. Sullivan, director of the museum. "I am thrilled that the museum is able to install these two works while President Bush is in the White House." Robert Anderson was selected by the White House to paint the president's portrait. Anderson was a classmate of Bush's at Yale University and received his training in fine arts at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. A professional portraitist based in Darien, Conn., Anderson has also painted a portrait of Bush for the Yale Club in New York. Bush's portrait will be installed in the exhibition "America's Presidents," among those of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and George H.W. Bush. Laura BushAleksander Titovets was selected by the White House to paint Laura Bush's portrait. Titovets is a native Russian painter who now lives in El Paso, Texas. Trained at the St. Petersburg State University College of Fine Arts, he specializes in figurative and landscape painting inspired by his native Russia as well as the landscape of the Southwest. Initially, the portrait of Laura Bush will be hung on the first floor in the north hall of the National Portrait Gallery. Bush's portrait was funded by a generous group of supporters: American Fidelity Foundation, William S. and Ann Atherton, J. Thomas and Stefanie Atherton, Dr. Jon C. and Jane G. Axton, Thomas A. Cellucci, A. James Clark, Richard H. Collins, Edward and Kaye Cook, Don and Alice Dahlgren, Mr. and Mrs. James L. Easton, Robert Edmund, Robert and Nancy Payne Ellis, Dr. Tom and Cheryl Hewett, Dr. Dodge and Lori Hill, Pete and Shelley Kourtis, Dr. Lee and Sherry Beasley, Tom and Judy Love, David L. McCombs, Tom and Brenda McDaniel, Herman and LaDonna Meinders, The Norick Family, Kenneth and Gail Ochs, Robert and Sylvia Slater, Richard L. Thurston, Lew and Myra Ward, Dr. James and Susan Wendelken and Jim and Jill Williams. Laura Bush's portrait was funded by Mr. and Mrs. J. O. Stewart of El Paso, TX.
4. SIPGPR_081221_040.JPG: William Jefferson Clinton: They had made a big issue of the fact that the Bill Clinton portrait had shown him without a wedding ring. No wedding ring, unfaithful... Afterward, I checked and, sure enough, none of the other presidential portraits had wedding rings. They don't show those for formal portraits. Well, of course W had to be posed with a wedding ring. Also note the watch. Note the American flag. I guess the Mickey Mouse one was broken...
5. SIPGPR_081221_048.JPG: George W. Bush, born 1946 Forty-third president, 2001– "The biggest advantage and the biggest handicap I have," George W. Bush frankly admitted, "is my name." The grandson of a United States senator and the eldest son of a president, Bush was a popular governor of Texas who worked successfully with both Republicans and Democrats. In 2000, in an election so close that it required the intervention of the Supreme Court, Bush defeated Al Gore, the vice president during the previous administration. Expecting that the success of his presidency would hinge, as it had when he was governor, on his negotiating skills and ability to solve problems, Bush found his two terms in office instead marked by a series of cataclysmic events: the attacks on September 11, 2001; the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina; and a financial crisis during his last months in office. The White House selected Robert Anderson, a Connecticut portraitist and a Yale classmate of the president, to create this painting for the National Portrait Gallery. Robert Anderson (born 1946) Oil on canvas, 2008 Gift of: American Fidelity Foundation J. Thomas and Stefanie Atherton William S. and Ann Atherton Dr. Jon C. and Jane G. Axton Dr. Lee and Sherry Beasley Thomas A. Cellucci A. James Clark Richard H. Collins Edward and Kaye Cook Don and Alice Dahlgren Mr. and Mrs. James L. Easton Robert Edmund Robert and Nancy Payne Ellis Dr. Tom and Cheryl Hewett Dr. Dodge and Lori Hill Pete and Shelley Kourtis Tom and Judy Love David L. McCombs Tom and Brenda McDaniel Herman and LaDonna Meinders The Norick Family Kenneth and Gail Ochs Robert and Sylvia Slater Richard L. Thurston Lew and Myra Ward Dr. James and Susan Wendelken Jim and Jill Williams -- Note: The text description of the portrait (above) is the second version of the text. It was modified after installion. According to the Washington Post on http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/13/AR2009011303299.html At Gallery, History Is Rewritten Bush Portrait Caption Had Linked Iraq to 9/11 By Jacqueline Trescott Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, January 14, 2009; Page C01 The National Portrait Gallery has taken the unusual step of amending a caption for a portrait of President George W. Bush at the request of a U.S. senator. The caption describes the Bush administration and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In a letter to the gallery, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) objected to the language that said "the attacks on September 11, 2001, that led to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq . . ." Sanders wrote: "When President Bush and Vice President Cheney misled our nation into the war in Iraq, they certainly cited the attacks on September 11, along with the equally specious claim that Iraq possessed vast arsenals of weapons of mass destruction. The notion, however, that 9/11 and Iraq were linked, or that one 'led to' the other, has been widely and authoritatively debunked." Soon after Sept. 11, the Bush administration did suggest there was a link between Iraq and the attacks. Later, the 9/11 commission reported that there was no evidence of a collaborative relationship between al-Qaeda and Iraq. That view was supported by the FBI and Bush later concurred. Martin E. Sullivan, the gallery's director, thought the request was reasonable and ordered that the caption be amended. The new text will be installed today. The new wording eliminates the "led to" phrase and instead provides a list of events that mark the Bush terms. It now reads ". . . Bush found his two terms in office instead marked by a series of cataclysmic events: the attacks on September 11, 2001; the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina; and a financial crisis during his last months in office." The president's portrait and one of Laura Bush were unveiled last month. Sanders, who was told about the caption by a staff member, said yesterday he was satisfied that the museum acted quickly. "On one hand, one could say this is a small issue; on the other hand, it is not," Sanders said. "People can like George Bush or not. People can support the war in Iraq or not. But we have got to get our history right. George Bush has acknowledged 9/11 did not cause the war in Iraq. That is simply the case. I don't like the rewriting of history." Sullivan, who has been director of the museum since April, explained: "The core issue here is not about a political point of view but a clarity of the sentence. In this instance, Senator Sanders called attention to the original label, saying it implied there was a direct causal relationship. We didn't intend to do that, but wanted to list the defining events of the Bush administration." All the captions at the Portrait Gallery are limited to 140 words, whether they describe a president or an opera singer. Occasionally they are changed when sharp-eyed visitors notice a factual or grammatical mistake. The gallery changed the word "lynching" to "murder" in the case of one historic portrait. Over the years, exhibitions at the Smithsonian, of which the Portrait Gallery is a part, have drawn criticism from members of Congress. In 2003, a Senate hearing included a testy discussion of the captions in a photography exhibit on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge at the National Museum of Natural History. Smithsonian officials said they had not used the text in the photography book, the basis of the show, because they decided the language -- about the pros and cons of oil drilling -- was political, and stated that they had not caved into political interests.
6. SIPGPR_081221_133.JPG: George Washington, 1732-1799 (Lansdowne portrait) (detail)
7. SIPGPR_081221_138.JPG: George Washington, 1732-1799 (Lansdowne portrait) (detail)
8. SIPGPR_081221_181.JPG: George Washington, 1732-1799 (Charles Wilson Peale portrait): George Washington after the Battle of Princeton: Appointed commander of the American troops in 1775, George Washington faced the daunting task of simultaneously organizing an army and fighting the British. At first, Washington ceded ground, retreating southward from Boston through New York and New Jersey until he reached Pennsylvania. With morale at a low ebb, Washington changed the tide of the war by turning back to defeat the British at the battles of Trenton and Princeton in 1776-77. He had laid the platform for an American military victory and colonial independence. Artist Charles Willson Peale fought at both battles. This painting, commissioned by Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council, shows Washington triumphant amid the trophies of victory. Peale created several replicas as Washington became a subject of international hero worship. This painting, the first of Washington to enter a European collection, was acquired about 1782 by a Spanish nobleman. It remained in Spain until about 1918, when it was sold to an American dealer. Charles Willson Peale, 1779
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Description of Subject Matter: The nation’s only complete collection of presidential portraits outside the White House, this exhibition lies at the heart of the Portrait Gallery’s mission to tell the American story through the individuals who have shaped it. Visitors will see an enhanced and extended display of multiple images of 42 presidents of the United States, including Gilbert Stuart’s “Lansdowne” portrait of George Washington, the famous “cracked plate” photograph of Abraham Lincoln and whimsical sculptures of Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon and George H. W. Bush by noted caricaturist Pat Oliphant. Presidents Washington, Andrew Jackson, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt will be given expanded attention because of their significant impact on the office. Presidents from FDR to Bill Clinton are featured in a video component of the exhibit.
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