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George Bush’s Portrait Exhibition Opens in Dallas An Ex-President, Brush in Hand, Captures His Fellow Leaders
(about 4 hours later)
A dour Vladimir Putin glares ever so frostily, full of menace, free of mirth, ready to annex any passer-by unwise enough to get too close. A dour Vladimir V. Putin glares ever so frostily, full of menace, free of mirth, ready to annex any passer-by unwise enough to get too close.
Tony Blair stares ahead, sober and resolute. Hamid Karzai, in traditional green cap and cape, glances off to the side, almost as if checking over his shoulder for the Taliban — or perhaps for the United States. The Dalai Lama looks serene, Stephen Harper jovial, Jiang Zemin grim.Tony Blair stares ahead, sober and resolute. Hamid Karzai, in traditional green cap and cape, glances off to the side, almost as if checking over his shoulder for the Taliban — or perhaps for the United States. The Dalai Lama looks serene, Stephen Harper jovial, Jiang Zemin grim.
The world’s most distinctive gallery of international leaders opens in Dallas on Saturday, famous faces as seen through the eyes of the former president of the United States and noted amateur painter, George W. Bush. Graduating from dogs and cats and landscapes, Mr. Bush has produced a collection of more than two dozen portraits of foreign figures he encountered while in office and put them on display at his presidential library.The world’s most distinctive gallery of international leaders opens in Dallas on Saturday, famous faces as seen through the eyes of the former president of the United States and noted amateur painter, George W. Bush. Graduating from dogs and cats and landscapes, Mr. Bush has produced a collection of more than two dozen portraits of foreign figures he encountered while in office and put them on display at his presidential library.
The official debut of the artist known as W. peels back the curtain on the hobby that has consumed him, and intrigued many others, over the last couple of years. Although some of his early works, including vaguely unsettling self portraits in the bath and shower, were posted on the Internet after his family’s email accounts were hacked, this is the first time the former president has staged an exhibit of his art. And his choices are as revealing about the artist as the subjects. The official debut of the artist known as W. peels back the curtain on the hobby that has consumed him, and intrigued many others, over the last couple of years. Although some of his early works, including vaguely unsettling self-portraits in the bath and shower, were posted on the Internet after his family’s email accounts were hacked, this is the first time the former president has staged an exhibit of his art. His choices are as revealing about the artist as the subjects.
“I spent a lot of time on personal diplomacy and I befriended leaders,” Mr. Bush said in a seven-minute video produced by the History Channel that will greet visitors to the library on the campus of Southern Methodist University. “I learned about their families and their likes and dislikes, to the point where I felt comfortable painting them.” “I spent a lot of time on personal diplomacy and I befriended leaders,” Mr. Bush said in a seven-minute video produced by the History Channel that will greet visitors to the George W. Bush Presidential Center, on the campus of Southern Methodist University. “I learned about their families and their likes and dislikes, to the point where I felt comfortable painting them.”
For Mr. Bush, foreign affairs during his eight years in office revolved powerfully around these relationships. “I watched one of the best at personal diplomacy in my dad,” he said. “He was amazing about befriending people where there may not be common interests, and I emulated that.” Alongside many of the portraits in the exhibit, “The Art of Leadership: A President’s Personal Diplomacy,” are photographs of the subjects with Mr. Bush as well as some artifacts of their interactions and quotations about each other. “What’s interesting about them is less that they’re representational pictures of these people, because a photograph would do just fine,” said Stephen J. Hadley, who was Mr. Bush’s national security adviser. “But in the way he’s painted them, it tells you about his relationships with them.”
Alongside many of the portraits in the exhibit, “The Art of Leadership: A President’s Personal Diplomacy,” are photographs of the subjects with Mr. Bush as well as some artifacts of their interactions. The former president is quoted describing his experiences and giving his impressions of the subject, and the subject is quoted describing Mr. Bush. Mr. Bush picked up painting two years ago after the Yale historian John Lewis Gaddis suggested he read an essay by Winston Churchill, “Painting as a Pastime.” After experimenting with an iPad sketch application, he began lessons with Gail Norfleet, a noted Dallas painter.
“What’s interesting about them is less that they’re representational pictures of these people, because a photograph would do just fine,” said Stephen J. Hadley, who was Mr. Bush’s national security adviser and who planned to interview his former boss about his paintings for a group of library patrons on Friday night. “But in the way he’s painted them, it tells you about his relationships with them.” Mr. Bush started by painting his pets, producing scores of works, and then did a portrait of Jay Leno that he presented to him on NBC’s “Tonight” show. By last fall, had begun concentrating on world leaders.
Mr. Bush picked up painting two years ago after the Yale historian John Lewis Gaddis suggested he read Winston Churchill’s essay, “Painting as a Pastime.” After Mr. Bush experimented for a while with an iPad sketch application, Laura Bush’s friend, Pamela Nelson, a Dallas artist, recommended an instructor and he began lessons with Gail Norfleet, a noted Dallas painter. Now on some days he spends three or four hours at his easel. The man who never much cared for museums — he rushed through the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 30 minutes flat — told a private gathering the other day that he now could linger in art exhibits for hours at a time studying brush strokes and color palettes.
He started by painting his pets, producing scores of works. He crafted a portrait of Jay Leno that he presented to him on “The Tonight Show.” By last fall, at the suggestion of an S.M.U. art instructor, Mr. Bush began concentrating on world leaders. Mr. Bush is not the first presidential painter. Ulysses S. Grant studied painting while at West Point and produced landscapes and western scenes. Dwight D. Eisenhower picked up the hobby later in life, after World War II, but still produced scores of paintings, some of which are displayed at his own library in Kansas. Jimmy Carter has painted nature scenes and one of his works was even sold at a charity auction in 2012 for $250,000.
Now on some days, he spends three or four hours at his easel. The man who never much cared for museums – he famously rushed through the legendary Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg in 30 minutes flat – told a private gathering the other day that he now can linger in art exhibits for hours at a time studying brush strokes and color palettes. But Mr. Bush’s new venture has captured more attention, if for no other reason than it seemed surprising that the “war president,” as he liked to call himself, had an artistic side. Just as surprising was that his early work drew generous reviews from some art critics not known for conservative politics.
Many have wondered whether Mr. Bush is working through some unresolved issues through his art, but friends say it is a way of channeling a restless spirit now that he has left politics behind. “Fundamentally, he’s a guy with a lot of energy,” said Mark McKinnon, his former political consultant. “And he needs a pursuit to help burn it off. And it may seem counterintuitive, but it’s also how he relaxes.” But if Mr. Bush has “a Rembrandt trapped in this body,” as he likes to joke, it has not been entirely liberated. He acknowledges in the video that “the signature is worth more than the painting,” and told the recent gathering that it was either confident or foolish of him to put his work on display.
Mr. Bush is not the first presidential painter. Ulysses S. Grant studied painting while at West Point and produced landscapes and western scenes. Dwight D. Eisenhower picked up the hobby later in life, after World War II, but still produced scores of paintings. Jimmy Carter has painted nature scenes and one of his works was even sold at auction for $250,000 in 2012 for charity. “The paintings are kind of primitive and amateurish, which is kind of how I remember him as president,” said Paul Chan, a contemporary artist based in New York. The initial works in particular looked as if “they were being painted by someone who had a very literal view of the world.”
Somehow, though, Mr. Bush’s new venture seems to have captured more attention, if for no other reason than it seemed surprising that the “war president,” as he liked to call himself, had an artistic side – one that even he apparently did not know about. Just as surprising was that his early work drew generous reviews from some art critics not known for conservative politics. Robert A. Anderson, a Yale contemporary of Mr. Bush’s who has painted his portrait twice, was more charitable. “He’s got a long way to go if he’s trying to bring out his inner Rembrandt, but he has sufficient passion and discipline to get there eventually,” Mr. Anderson said.
To be sure, this is not a new Rembrandt, and Mr. Bush freely acknowledged in the video that “the signature is worth more than the painting.” He told the recent private gathering that it was either confident or foolish to put his work on display. Many of the world leaders he painted were friends. Mr. Bush was closest to Mr. Blair, the former British prime minister, despite their ideological differences, as the two teamed up to topple Saddam Hussein, only to watch the Iraq war bog down in a quagmire. Mr. Bush said he had painted that one “with a lot of affection,” adding, “I wanted people to say he’s a man of conviction.”
And not every painting has gone over well, even inside his own family. Others he considered friends included Junichiro Koizumi of Japan, Angela Merkel of Germany, John Howard of Australia and Nicolas Sarkozy of France. Some he admired, like the Dalai Lama (“a very sweet man, and I painted him as sweetly as I could”) and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia (“a strong determination to succeed, and so I painted her as a strong woman leader, as she is”).
In an interview aired on the “Today” show on Friday morning, his daughter, Jenna Bush Hager, an NBC correspondent, asked Laura Bush about a portrait of her. With others, he had complicated relationships, like Mr. Karzai of Afghanistan, Mr. Jiang of China, Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, Jacques Chirac of France, Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq.
“Yeah,” Mrs. Bush said, “it still needs some work.” And then there was Mr. Putin, the “frenemy” who has been locked in a tense confrontation with President Obama over Russia’s annexation of Crimea, much as he clashed with Mr. Bush over the war with Georgia in 2008. Interviewed by his daughter, Jenna Bush Hager, on NBC’s “Today” show on Friday, Mr. Bush recalled the famous incident when Mr. Putin boasted that his own dog was “bigger, faster and stronger than Barney,” the president’s Scottish terrier.
“You learned something from that?” Ms. Hager asked her father.
“Yeah,” he answered, “don’t paint your wife.”
None of the world leaders Mr. Bush painted had a choice, as he did not tell them he was trying to capture their likenesses.
Many of them were friends. He was probably closest to Mr. Blair, the former British prime minister, despite their ideological differences, as the two teamed up to topple Saddam Hussein only to watch the Iraq war bog down in a quagmire. Mr. Bush said he had painted that one “with a lot of affection,” adding, “I wanted people to say he’s a man of conviction.”
Others he considered friends included Junichiro Koizumi of Japan, whom he once took to Graceland to croon Elvis Presley songs, not to mention Angela Merkel of Germany, John Howard of Australia and Nicolas Sarkozy of France. Some he admired, like the Dalai Lama (“a very sweet man, and I painted him as sweetly as I could”) and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia (“a strong determination to succeed, and so I painted her as a strong woman leader, as she is”).
With still others, he had complicated relationships, like Mr. Karzai of Afghanistan, Mr. Jiang of China, Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, Jacques Chirac of France, Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq.
And then of course, there was Mr. Putin, the frenemy from the Kremlin who has been locked in a tense confrontation with President Obama over Russia’s annexation of Crimea, much as he clashed with Mr. Bush over the war with Georgia in 2008.
“The picture shows a tough guy, set jaw and very cold eyes,” observed Mr. Hadley. “Putin has certainly put himself on display for the world. I don’t think there’s much more we can say about Putin that Putin hasn’t already revealed to the world in living color.”
Closer to home, Mr. Bush also included a self-portrait (fully clothed this time) and a portrait of his father, the 89-year-old former President George Bush, who appears ruddy cheeked and bright eyed.Closer to home, Mr. Bush also included a self-portrait (fully clothed this time) and a portrait of his father, the 89-year-old former President George Bush, who appears ruddy cheeked and bright eyed.
The younger Mr. Bush said the lesson of his journey into art is that there are always fresh beginnings. “You can teach an old dog new tricks,” he said. “I expect I’ll be painting til I drop. And my last stroke, and I’m heading into the grave, I wonder what color it will be?” The younger Mr. Bush said the lesson of his journey into art was that there were always fresh beginnings. “You can teach an old dog new tricks,” he said. “I expect I’ll be painting ’til I drop. And my last stroke, and I’m heading into the grave, I wonder what color it will be?”