Said Barack Obama, quoted in "Official Obama Portraits Are Finally Unveiled at the White House/In a break with tradition, there was no ceremony while former President Donald J. Trump held office. President Biden unveiled the Obama portraits: his by Robert McCurdy, hers by Sharon Sprung" (NYT).
These were the official portraits, not to be confused with the National Portrait Gallery portrait, which we saw unveiled in 2018, the one with the leaves. Instead of a background full of green leaves, this new portrait has a stark white background, like a photographer's paper backdrop or an Interrotron video by Errol Morris.
It seems that Obama portraits always demand that we talk about the background. All those leaves were distracting, and now nothingness — whiteness — is distracting. Obama has a tie on this time, and instead of forefronting the hands — as in the Portrait Gallery portrait — the hands are entirely hidden. The focus is on the face, and it seems very photorealistic. (I say "seems" because I'm not seeing a big enlargement.)
Photorealism heightens the texture and the discontinuities of the skin — the little freckles and moles and wrinkles and shiny spots. I think that's what inspired Obama to say "Presidents so often get airbrushed." You expect a painted portrait to idealize, and the photographic equivalent of that is airbrushing (or, as we say these days, photoshopping). So it seems that Obama is explaining or accepting the portrait: It's good not to airbrush me.
One reason he can find it easy to say don't give me "mythical status" — I'm a "human being like everyone else" — is that people have accorded him mythical status.
And don't tell me people don't give Trump mythical status. Why, he's Satan!
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74 comments:
I don't like the Obama portrait. The tie is a bad color, the hands in the pockets looks awkward and the harsh lighting is very unflattering.
President Obama was a larger than life, highly romanticized, figure. The official portrait should reflect that.
True. Satan is an Archangel, but the Archangel Trump would be is Michael. Actually Obama was like Satan , the father of lies and with a bright smile of a light bearer, Lucifer.
I begin the day by vomiting.
Said he was talked out of his tan suit.
They are both so awful and hate us Americans. Right back acha Obama’s
I prefer the other portrait. This looks like a png.
In his mini-lecture to the world, praising verisimilitude and humbly noting his own humility —he’s a mortal just like you!— I hear the faintest echo of Oliver Cromwell’s words to his portraitist: “Warts and all.”
In Obama’s case, it’s more like “Ears and all.”
The Great Divider. This man purposely divided this country by RACE, gender, religion and class. I hope History tells the REAL story, and not some made up fairy tale about how great he was(n't)
The funniest thing about this, is that the Obamas are crying that Trump refused to do this for them. NOT TRUE. The Great Divider himself refused to participate in unveiling it while the Trump was there. They are lying to the American people once again. TO DIVIDE US MORE. https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2022/07/29/obama-finally-decides-to-unveil-white-house-portrait-after-refusing-to-do-so-under-trump-n1616805
I'm told that Trump reached out privately to the Obamas to tell them he would host a portrait unveiling ceremony at the White House. The Obamas then publicly said that they had no interest in a portrait ceremony as long as Trump was in the White House. All of the usual suspects spin this as "Trump did not hold the ceremony" in order to ding Trump and hold blameless the Lightbringer.
Nice paintings!
“Muh norms!”
Trump is not Satan, he’s William Wallace and Biden plans to have him drawn and quartered with piece’s hung to rot in public squares across the red states to keep the peasants from ever getting any idea’s that they have any say in their government again.
There is something here for everyone, apparently.
They are just pictures, folks, painted by third parties. At least Obama isn't shown freeing the slaves.
I can't wait for Joe Biden done in the style of Hogarth, sniffing a child while two shadowy figures in the background exchange weapons for cash under a Ukrainian flag. A character who looks like Hunter lies in the street while a prostitute makes off with his wallet. A character who looks like Larry Summers weeps at a Bloomberg screen while a crazed Lawrence Tribe is led off in a strait-jacket.
So many Cucks, so easily triggered.
Obama's portrait looks photorealistic I agree, but Michelle's looks very airbrushed. The other Portrait Gallery portrait didn't get her face right either. She must be hard to paint.
The Michelle Obama portrait color scheme reminds me of Gauguin's Tahiti period. I love the scowl on her face. It's like she's giving you people the finger.
The media started airbrushing him when he was still at the Illinois state level. And a LOT of voters, most of whom should have known better, swallowed it hook, line, and sinker.
this new portrait has a stark white background
Perfect. That's the way Obama lovers experienced him as President. They could see Obama and nothing else.
Howard said...
So many Cucks, so easily triggered.
You should know, you're the head cuck.
Howard said:"So many Cucks, so easily triggered."
I was going to congratulate you Howard for not including your trademark phrase "you people" in your comment, but alas there it is a few comments later.
Just like Biden scatterguns "MAGA Republicans" without definition, you toss out the "you people" blather. Throw the hand grenade and then run for the bunker!
@ Howard
She's not scowling and she's not giving anyone the finger. That's all you.
I think she looks like she's suppressing a smile in order to be appropriately serious.
The IPresident?
Michelle Obama Feb 18, 2008: "For the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country ...."
Were there any MAGA cretins populating the political universe prior to her quote?
The Barack portrait reminds me of Richard Avedon's photographic portraiture. Avedon had his subjects stand in front of a blank white background without instructions in hopes that the camera would capture something of the real person in the unpracticed, but not necessarily unguarded, moment. It is a photographic technique, seeking revelation. One expects more interpretation from a painted portrait.
The white background will make it much easier to photoshop memes for Twitter……
"So many Cucks, so easily triggered."
The hate, Howard, the hate...
What does that even mean? Cucks? What is a Cuck? Clucks, maybe, as in "dumb clucks"? Besides, Obama is in the rear view mirror. Good luck to him, and good riddance.
We have much more colorful characters to deal with than BHO. Grandpa Gropes of the Third Reich, and Trump the Avenger, who is literally SATAN to your people, Howard, must be dealt with. Is this going to be Godzilla vs. Mothra? I think so. Joe is so callous and so empty that he can heedlessly smash every tradition we have in this Great Republic while sporting his rictus grin and shouting his fury in front of a blood-red background that Hitler would have loved.
Trump the Avenger's bloodlust is insatiable. He will make every one of his antagonists eat at the Trump Grill, and he undoubtedly has a few culinary surprises cooked up. Have you seen that picture of him with the taco bowl? It should give you nightmares. That taco bowl is meant for YOU, Howard! May God have mercy on your soul.
The unveiling of the Trump portraits will be must see TV.
Watching the ceremony yesterday made me remember why The Obamas were so beloved, I sure do miss them.
You people prove his point by being triggered by his low effort comment.
call him BIG zer0
he will be remembered for
teh Racial Healing®
The Obama portrait is actually quite profound. Prescient even. I Barack, hands in pocket, insouciant. Casually triumphant. And in the background, no more white people. Just their unbearable whiteness of being.
The one man in America most responsible for Hillary Clinton not (yet) being President.
So he's got that going for him.
Huh, taking the portrait at a quick glance, the lighting makes his face is half black, half white. Most noticeable in overhead unveiling shot.
"The Barack portrait reminds me of Richard Avedon's photographic portraiture. Avedon had his subjects stand in front of a blank white background without instructions in hopes that the camera would capture something of the real person in the unpracticed, but not necessarily unguarded, moment. It is a photographic technique, seeking revelation."
Yes, I wish I'd thought of that. I remember seeing an entire exhibition of that — here in Madison, I think — decades ago. He would just wait for the person to relax and then get bored or impatient. Ha ha.
The Errol Morris film technique — his Interrotron — is the same idea in motion. He used it in that film about Robert McNamara.
"One expects more interpretation from a painted portrait."
Both portraits (and both Portrait Gallery portraits) look like they were done from photographs. Were photographs printed onto the canvas?
I agree that something different is supposed to come from a painted portrait, something inward and spiritual.
I can't help suspecting that the background was white because it was going to be used to paint in some imagery, but time was called. Same thing with the awkward hands in pockets. Save a lot of time. So does a dark suit. In the old days, the men wore shiny pantaloons and painters made the folds pop with excitement.
" Were photographs printed onto the canvas?"
I mean printed in a very light tone and then painted over, glorified paint by numbers.
She has a perpetual sulking bitch face. It's normal.
I liked Obama's painting. It reflected him at the end of his presidency - a few more line and gray hairs. I appreciate the discussion of the style in the comments - it does look "like" a photograph but is a painting. I had no qualms about Michelle's either but thought it very traditional.
Heh. I commented earlier on the Hillary post and said my piece about Obama before I realized you had an Obama post.
Man...this guy has such a hold on people. I know Lefties like to think of him as Pericles, but to me he's more like today's version of Cary Grant. And though he was suave and good looking, we would never have asked Cary Grant to manage our nation.
Ipecac.
Like the outfit. Don't like the shadow on his face, if the school photographer did that you would want a new picture made. It just looks like bad lighting. Not showing the hands reminds me of a movie I saw where a person getting their portrait done decides not to include his hands because that costs way more. Also, to much space around him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNUlFDsfcJQ
Artist really captured Michelle’s bitchy resting face
The portrait is a little zen, no? Obama and Nothingness. Nothingness and Obama. You reflect on that try to figure out what it means.
Obama is everything and everything else is nothing? Or the Obama years were basically a big nothing? Or Obama is in his own realm apart from the real world?
It's about detachment, rather than involvement in the world. But for some people Obama the Mythic, Obama the Lightbringer really was above (and thus outside of) this world.
The Michelle portrait doesn't look that good to me. Is that just because it looks painted rather than photographed? Or is it because it looks amateurish?
Also, there's something creepily 19th century about it. I would have put her in modern clothing and standing to avoid the unpleasant associations with slavery and the exploitation of Blacks, and especially Black women.
“But at the same time, my experience here has given me a front-row seat to how deeply and unconsciously, as well as consciously, so many people in this country hate women. And they hate women of color. People ask me questions about the future. And realistically, I can’t even tell you if I’m going to be alive in September. And that weighs very heavily on me.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
Michelle Obama redux.
AMDG: "The unveiling of the Trump portraits will be must see TV."
By that time the GOPe-ers will have worked behind the scenes with the democraticals to criminalize presidential portrait unveilings.
I remembered the name of the film, Goya's Ghost.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNPZ4jV9Bm0
A lone non-white president set against and emerging from a backdrop of whiteness. Clever.
The silver tie probably represents steel-like strength of character needed to persevere. It's certainly an unconventional color for something like this.
I don't doubt that the studiously mannered and ever self-conscious Obama considered each of those details at length before proceeding.
I agree that the white background is weird. It's like his image was cut out of another picture in Photoshop. Maybe they wanted the image to be meme ready, save the hacker known as 4Chan some time.
Why do we have pictures of first ladies hanging in the White House, though? Nobody elected them.
Biden upstaged again.
I see the portraits as emphasizing, to deride, the strongest personal criticisms of the two subjects. Candidate Obama was derided as a blank slate controlled by others, upon which voters could project their own desires while his handlers ran the administration. First Lady Michelle was called manly, with insults to her big athletic shoulders, and even slandered as being a male in drag. So we get Obama on a blank background and Michelle in a strapless gown. Of course, his hands are in his pockets, very hands off, and she is posed to minimize her bare shoulders' breadth.
The portraits are responses to insults. Great symbolism use by the painters. Thanks, Obamas!
They left one side of his face very dark. No good photographer would have done that. The lighting was purposely done badly.
They must have done that on purpose.
Looks like he got a nip-and-tuck around the ears, but still looks like he could pick up ESPN on a good day...
'Biden upstaged again.'
I saw some clips.
Biden was treated like a potted plant.
Before commenters get too far over their skis in assessing the meaning of details in the conception and execution of the Barack portrait, they should view it's stylistic twin, Untitled, 2019.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/jeff-bezos-gifts-historic-200-million-smithsonian-180978174/
The hollow under the tie knot mesmerizes
Thanks for the Bezos link!
?! why could they not have used his Kenyan or Indonesian passport photos?!
And though he was suave and good looking, we would never have asked Cary Grant to manage our nation.
============
Q why : was Cary Grant eligible for that ?
And though he was suave and good looking, we would never have asked Cary Grant to manage our nation.
===========
why not Bob Hope?
Everything he was supposed to mean to the nation - poof!
I should have been the empty chair. Instead, it's the empty suit.
'why not Bob Hope?'
Bob Hope was by no means good looking...
I judge portraits by the hands - so many fine portraitists just can't paint hands well.
Hands in the pockets is a cheat.
Visually, I don't like that white background. Thematically, though, it's interesting. Behind President Obama is an unending line of white presidents.
Why does the NYT insist on the cheap shot at Trump, though? It was probably during covid when no one was gathering for any reason. They diminish the portrait with their partisanship.
World War Springs (WWS) including the second Iraq war, Ukraine war... and he did get away with it.
Watching the ceremony yesterday made me remember why The Obamas were so beloved
Beloved? You're delusional. He and his wife hated half the country and that half of the country hated him reciprocally.
Just because you fawn over a preening, pretentious prick and his perpetually angry wife doesn't mean the rest of us do.
Oh yes thanks for the feedback. Clearly I forgot snowflake as well. I'm sorry forgive me.
"Beloved? You're delusional. He and his wife hated half the country and that half of the country hated him reciprocally."
I didn't care for Obama as president and I did not vote for him, (he was essentially just a moderate Republican and a loyal servant of Wall Street and the bankers, and a war criminal, like his predecessors and successors), but there is no evidence that he and his wife "hated half the country...." Can you elucidate?
One can guess why at least a portion of "half the country" hated them.
Obama is white washed.
Obama is white-washed.
Hands are very difficult to paint. So, put them in your pockets. Problem solved. Next time, get a better artist.
Empty suit strikes again
"Hands are very difficult to paint. So, put them in your pockets. Problem solved. Next time, get a better artist."
Not difficult for an experienced and skilled draughtsman or painter, which this painter obviously is. Speaking as one who has drawn the human form from life literally tens of thousands of times, the difficulty of drawing or painting hands (and feet) is overblown. It is true only in the case of insufficiently practiced (or capable) artists. The hardest part of the human form to draw and paint is the head and face. I think the artist painted Obama with his hands in his pockets because it seems a natural pose for Obama to assume.
It was petty, stupid, and wrong for Obama to refuse to have the portrait event during Trump's tenure.
Our willingness to engage in public rituals and traditions across party lines is a big part of what ties us together. During times of strife, it's especially important.
Obama was just cutting another stitches that hold the Republic together at the seams.
Watching Democrats wield power is like watching a petty, sadistic, and vile narcissist go through a divorce.
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