Portraits of First Ladies

There's a new Online Exhibition of Portraits of First Ladies of the United States over the years - created by the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian.

Home Page of the Online Exhibition of "First Ladies of the United States"

The options are to:

• View the Exhibition - which is split into time periods as follows (do click the "read more" off to the right of each era - as it provides some fascinating details about both the times and the women. You can either scroll down or navigate by individual portraits using the arrows at the bottom of the page
• 1789-1845: Becoming First Ladies
• 1845–1877: Manifest Destiny and the Civil War
• 1877–1901: The Gilded Age
• 1901-1933: Imperialism and Progressivism
• 1933–1993: Serving a Cause
• 1993–Present: Into the New Century
• Discover more about the First Ladies - from past blog posts and articles
• It also includes Educational Resources

This strikes me as what every national portrait gallery should do - combine the art of portraiture with the history associated with the sitters!

The one thing which struck me about the exhibition is how amazing the portrait of FLOTUS 51 Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama is in the context of portraits of recent First Ladies.  Amy Sherald's portrait of her is just stunning when placed next to the portraits of other First Ladies in the 

When Amy Sherald’s portrait of Obama was unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery in 2018, many viewers were pleased while others were shocked by the artist’s distinctive approach, which uses gray for skin color as a way to look beyond the superficial differences of race.

I wrote at the time about the Portraits of the Obamas in The response to the Obama Portraits.

This time looking at the portraits from across the centuries, it provides a history lesson in the art of portraiture - as well as an education in the personal tastes of all the different FLOTUSs.

• the ratio of paintings to photographs is interesting, It rather seems that having a photograph of a Presidents wife in the latter half of the 19th Century was the done thing - which includes a rather impressive photo of Mrs Lincoln. (Although alternative / additional portrait of the First Ladies are also included in the "Read More" section.)

Her focus on class position is seen in the many carte-de-visite photographs of her in fashionable costumes.

• the narrative about the women reflects on their position in relation to slavery
• it's interesting to see how they choose to have themselves portrayed - in finery or in normal day costume - there again I didn't know what I only found out as I got to Hillary Rodham Clinton
• I loved the portrait of Eleanor Roosevelt - with the small studies included at the bottom - and was even more impressed by the narrative about her

Arguing that dignity came from within, she is credited with the saying “Remember, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” After her husband’s death in 1945, which came just months after his re-election to an unprecedented fourth term, she became the chairperson of the United Nations’ Human Rights Commission. Her work on the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights led many to hail her as the “First Lady of the World.”

• I was intrigued by the fact that Jackie Kennedy's portrait by Boris Chaliapin (1904–1979) was created in "Gouache, watercolor, colored pencil, and graphite on paperboard" until I realised it was a gift from Time Magazine and had obviously been created for the cover of the magazine
• Apparently all portraits prior to Hillary Rodham Clinton were gifts to the National Portrait Gallery who had only commissioned portraits of the POTUS. Thereafter a portrait was also commissioned of the FLOTUS - however 
• Barbara Bush's portrait was also a gift
• it seems as if sponsors are required to make sure a decent portrait artist is engaged to create the portrait - note the very many sponsors of the Michelle Obama portrait!

Note: As a public health precaution due to COVID-19, all Smithsonian museums are temporarily closed.