Like her husband’s, Michelle Obama’s portrait is painted in a distinctive style that breaks a mold of the more traditional portraits hung in the White House. That she didn’t contribute that much other than present herself,” Sprung told the historical association. “I felt this trust come from her, that you do your thing, I do my thing, I’m going to trust you with your thing, and I think portraiture works better sometimes like that. “He was open to that and accepting of that process, so he never saw the images that we worked from.”įormer first lady Michelle Obama was equally hands off with her final portrait after posing for photographs with her portraitist, New York-based artist Sharon Sprung, in the White House. They’re completely outside the process,” he said. “It is part of my process that the sitter doesn’t get to say anything about how the painting looks. “That appealed to me, in part because presidents so often get air brushed. They even take on a mythical status, especially after you’ve gone, and people forget all the stuff they didn’t like about you.”Īfter the initial photo was taken from which McCurdy painted, the former President had no say in the final portrait, according to the artist. “It feels like you’re face-to-face, forming a connection,” Obama went on. “You’ll note that he refused to hide any of my gray hairs. Refused my request to make my ears smaller. He also talked me out of wearing a tan suit, by the way.” “What I love about Robert’s work is that he paints people exactly the way they are, for better or worse. He captures every wrinkle on your face, every crease in your shirt,” Obama said during Wednesday’s ceremony. Wearing a black suit, white shirt and a light gray tie with his hands in his pockets, Obama looks out from the canvas at the viewer with an enigmatic expression. First lady Michelle Obama was painted by Sharon Sprung. President Barack Obama's portrait was painted by Robert McCurdy.
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