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Cool Obama portraits

41Forever Feb 12 2018 06:17 PM

Today was the unveiling of the Obamas' portraits for the National Gallery. I like them! Different. I suspect the portraits that will hang in the White House will be a little more traditional. If you ever get the chance, definitely explore the presidential portraits in the National Gallery. My daughter and I went to DC a couple years ago, and checked off everything on our list of things to see -- except for the Newseum, which was closed because of power outage -- and discovered the gallery was open late that night. I could have spent an entire day just in the presidential section. You'll recognize many, of not most, of them -- Lincoln in a chair, Franklin Roosevelt with the close-ups of his hands at the bottom. [url]https://americaspresidents.si.edu/ Norman Rockwell's Nixon is my favorite. I don't like Clinton's. A little too abstract.

Vic Sage Feb 12 2018 06:26 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

I like those Obamas...and i like the paintings, too. They remind me of Rousseau's work.

Nymr83 Feb 12 2018 06:34 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

Clinton's is terrible.

41Forever Feb 12 2018 06:39 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

The early ones are pretty similar, but I like how the styles started to shift a little in the early 20th Century, starting with Taft. Kennedy’s is pretty impressionistic, but the eyes are perfect. Both of the Bush portraits are pretty neat, for very different reasons.

Edgy MD Feb 12 2018 07:32 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

President Obama, I thought we were now frowning on manspreading?

Benjamin Grimm Feb 12 2018 07:43 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

I guess it's okay if you're sitting in dense vegetation. I don't like the Clinton picture either. It's weird, and it also seems to overly highlight his bulbous nose.

d'Kong76 Feb 12 2018 07:44 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

I'm sorry, but all three of these are horrific.

Lefty Specialist Feb 12 2018 07:56 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

Those portraits are kinda weird. If you're in DC, you MUST see the Newseum. It's amazing- the first time we went there we spent an entire day and they were kicking us out the door when it closed. It's also losing lots of money and may have to close for good, which would be a tragedy.

41Forever Feb 12 2018 08:10 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

Here's the Rockwell Nixon. Very different than the others, definitely a Rockwell. He said it's a little flattering to Nixon -- more hair, fewer jowls. I like it. I like how the George H.W. Bush portrait focuses on his face, and the rest gets softer. And FDR's with the hand studies.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Feb 13 2018 09:04 AM Re: Cool Obama portraits

Clinton's HAS to be a Chuck Close. I think I prefer Michelle's, which makes her look leonine and contemplative and strong. His portrait makes him look swallowed by circumstance. Which... maybe it IS the better portrait.

Lefty Specialist Feb 13 2018 03:56 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

Nixon's portrait seems to be saying, "Well, I don't look that bad NOW, do I?"

Edgy MD Feb 13 2018 04:10 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: I think I prefer Michelle's, which makes her look leonine and contemplative and strong. The hairstyle they chose to immortalize, I fear, will look distressingly dated through the years. But I'm more concerned with the colors of the dress having more life and richness to them than her flesh, which looks defeated, gray, ashen, for which the painter has a reason no doubt, but it doesn't honor or represent the woman I think I've seen or the one I think she has tried to project. I mean ... you're finished? LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: His portrait makes him look swallowed by circumstance. Which... maybe it IS the better portrait. You'd kind of like to leave behind a statement that projects some sort of authority, rather than presenting yourself as under duress, subject to outside forces. I don't know. I'm all for a non-traditional approach, in theory. But it seems that you risk, in subjecting yourself to a possibly fleeting style, marginalizing your image and your legacy. This is supposed to be an authoritative and official and somewhat defining pair of images. As with much of art, time will tell. I'm almost always right about architecture, but not so much with portrait painting.

41Forever Feb 13 2018 04:44 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

Clinton's official White House portrait is tamer. I'd forgotten about the controversy regarding his National Portrait Gallery painting with the shadow of the blue dress. The impressionistic version must be the Plan B.

Edgy MD Feb 13 2018 05:35 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

Tamer perhaps, but not everybody was a fan.

TransMonk Feb 13 2018 06:45 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

What I thought when I first saw it:

Lefty Specialist Feb 13 2018 07:36 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

Wow, I thought that too, but I have no Photoshop skillz. Though he IS a White Sox fan.

Valadius Feb 14 2018 06:59 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

I eagerly await the White House portraits. Fun fact - the White House portrait of the most recent former president - once it's unveiled - receives prime placement in the entrance hall right across from the stairs to the residence.

Benjamin Grimm Feb 14 2018 07:07 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

It's unfortunate that Donald Trump will one day occupy that spot, but at the same time, I hope it happens as soon as possible.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Feb 16 2018 12:27 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

We were visiting the gorgeous Capital building in Denver which had a room with portrait of every US prez and I could barely walk around it without feeling disgusted and embarrassed for every man there. What a tragic disgrace that any of them will be associated.

Nymr83 Feb 16 2018 12:32 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

Benjamin Grimm wrote: It's unfortunate that Donald Trump will one day occupy that spot, but at the same time, I hope it happens as soon as possible. Well, if all of you on the left got your wish he could occupy the spot for a single day between his impeachment and Pence's? :)

Edgy MD Feb 16 2018 01:31 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

I'm not on the left. I revile their administration as an American. I seek their removal as an American.

SteveJRogers Feb 17 2018 05:24 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

Nymr83 wrote: It's unfortunate that Donald Trump will one day occupy that spot, but at the same time, I hope it happens as soon as possible. Well, if all of you on the left got your wish he could occupy the spot for a single day between his impeachment and Pence's? :) Pretty sure the wishes of those on the #Resist side is for everyone on the line of succession gone until they get to the first extreme progressive lib. ;)

Edgy MD Feb 17 2018 07:12 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

I'm on the #resist side and have been since the day he entered the race, and no, I am not rooting for everyone to be gone until I can get the first "progressive lib." I am rooting for the removal of our inept, criminal, un-American, treasonous, despot of a president. It's reducing people to caricature labels that is a big part of what got us into this disaster.

SteveJRogers Feb 17 2018 07:31 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

Edgy MD wrote: I'm on the #resist side and have been since the day he entered the race, and no, I am not rooting for everyone to be gone until I can get the first "progressive lib." I am rooting for the removal of our inept, criminal, un-American, treasonous, despot of a president. It's reducing people to caricature labels that is a big part of what got us into this disaster. True, but I do see social media pages and hashtags that include Pence and other Republicans as if the party as a whole is the inept, criminal, un-American, treasonous cancer that needs to be removed, not just the POTUS.

Edgy MD Feb 17 2018 07:40 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

Well, if you think it's cool to go to Everyone on the #resist side" from I do see, then you do. I don't. I do see a lot of things. But if you make broad characterizations about people based on selective data, you're gonna do a lot of damage. And a lot of damage has been done. And I fully understand holding in contempt everyone that enables or attempts to normalize the president.

d'Kong76 Feb 17 2018 07:58 PM Re: Cool Obama portraits

Bumping to new page so I don't have to see that dreadful Obama picture every time I open this thread.