Portrait Artist Forum - Bush Jr.'s portrait to be unveiled at the Smithsonian soon?

S.B.'s link above is of the December 6, 2008 unveiling of President Bush's portrait for the Union League of Philadelphia. I think President Bush opened up with remarks to the effect of "Welcome to my hanging"!

I came by on December 8 to the Union League to varnish two of my club president portraits that happen to hang in the same great ballroom that held the unveiling ceremony for President Bush. The President's portrait was since removed to the club's Library, and I set up my drop cloths over two folding banquet tables and got to work.

No sooner had I started, when a whole steady stream of club members and old friends of the President came strolling into the ballroom, intent on seeing the new official portrait, as if on a holy pilgrimage. Every one was elegantly dressed, and some fathers even pulled their jacketed private-schooled sons from class for this occasion. Naturally they were drawn over to see the two portraits I had out on the tables being varnished. Invariably they each became very flustered and annoyed at discovering that neither the two club president portraits were of the President! "Oh no, these are not right! This isn't right! These aren't important. TELL ME, WHERE IS THE PRESIDENT'S PORTRAIT?" I reassured them one by one, time after time, that it was on temporary view in the Library. As it happened, almost no one took any interest in the pair of portraits I was varnishing! It was an interesting day to be as a fly on the wall.

I too viewed and took some snapshots the portrait of President Bush as I waited for the varnish to dry. It was very commendably and successfully painted by Mark Carder, within a complex and interesting setting. I found several aspects of the portrait interesting to share. For one, it had an incredibly thick and syrupy coating of varnish, revealing important nuances deep in the shadows. Two, I never realized how skewed and uneven the President's blue eyes are in real life; it seems a very honest depiction. And three, there did not seem to be any thought suggested at all on the President's mind, the expression being rather blank and neutral, but dreamily pleasant. Again, I think Mark Carder really caught President Bush, and this also seemed to be the consensus of all who viewed the portrait as far as I could detect their responses and emphatic joyful mumblings.

As I understand it, this new portrait is now hanging officially just adjacent to the Kinstler portrait of Bush, Sr., in the special hall reserved for Republican U.S. President's portraits in the club's collection. Notoriously, there is one Democrat among them, President Andrew Jackson! By the way of 'Change', there is some interest in adding a few more Democrats to the collection, since the club is now open to all Party affiliations. Harry Truman was mentioned as a proposal. I touched upon our current President-Elect, which put a slight noticeable gleam in the collection curator's eye!

If one gets the chance when in Philadelphia, one should dress up and visit The Union League to see this and other notable fine portraits. A somewhat strict dress code is in effect though! When one is properly attired in this club, one will observe how very polite and courteous the members are, in passing. In addition to this well received acquisition by Mark Carder, and a nice pair of noble portraits by Raymond Kinstler, there are also several finely composed works by Nelson Shanks, worth a view among the contemporary portraits.

Two pictures below: Mark Carder's portrait on a temporary trolley cart in the Library, and my varnishing setup in that grandest of ballrooms, Lincoln Hall (where most the club presidents hang).

Garth