Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Part 3: National Portrait Gallery: JFK and John Adams

Jeff at the JFK portrait
This is part 3 of our visit to the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery to see some amazing paintings on display there. Jeff accompanied us and we all enjoyed seeing the presidential portraits. In this blog you'll see 2 presidents that hailed from my (Rob) home state of Massachusetts: JFK and John Adams portraits. And you'll learn about them!

ABOUT THE JFK PORTRAIT -  Artist Elaine de Kooning, known for her contemporary, gestural portraits, was chosen in 1962 to create a portrait of President Kennedy for the Truman Library because she worked quickly. She had seven informal sessions in Palm Beach, Florida, with Kennedy at the end of December 1962 and early January 1963. De Kooning was so moved by Kennedy that over the next ten months she created hundreds of drawings and twenty-three paintings of him. This full-length image captures Kennedy’s restless energy, and its colors evoke a coolness and detachment not always obvious to his admirers. After Kennedy’s assassination on November 22, 1963,
John Adams, 2nd President
the artist stopped painting for a year.


JOHN ADAMS PORTRAIT MYSTERY SOLVED  - It seems this portrait of the 2nd U.S. President was mistakenly attributed to artist Gilbert Stuart. It was later discovered that the painting was the work of John Turnbull (See the museum website) 
  
Exhibition Label
Second president, 1797–1801
Of all the Founding Fathers, John Adams was perhaps the most intellectual and accomplished. He helped craft the argument supporting the independence of the Continental Congress and later served on the diplomatic mission that ended the Revolutionary War. When George Washington chose him as his vice president, Adams complained that his lack of official duties meant that he occupied “the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived.” Nevertheless, he used the position as his ticket to the presidency and was elected in 1796 after a bitter campaign against Thomas Jefferson. During Adams’s single term as president, political posturing and bickering inhibited him at home, and France’s interference with American commerce created a challenge for him abroad. Adams managed to keep the nation at peace, but he left the White House largely discredited on all sides.
     When Adams was vice president, he had portraits done by the artist John Trumbull, who based this painting on one of those original portraits. Trumbull incorporated the likeness into his depiction of the signing of the Declaration of Independence that is on display in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.
 NEXT: Part 4: Bill Clinton, FDR, Eleanor Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington

Who I am

I'm a simple guy who enjoys the simple things in life, especially our dogs. I volunteer for dog rescues, enjoy exercising, blogging, politics, helping friends and neighbors, participating in ghost investigations, coffee, weather, superheroes, comic books, mystery novels, traveling, 70s and 80s music, classic country music,writing books on ghosts and spirits, cooking simply and keeping in shape. You'll find tidbits of all of these things on this blog and more. EMAIL me at Rgutro@gmail.com - Rob

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