John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 29 May 1917 - 22 Nov 1963
Exhibition Label
After returning to New York and working out a seated composition that fulfilled something of the formal qualities that the Truman Library required, Elaine made several paintings with this seated pose. As months passed, she recalled. "I attempted to re-approach the President’s portrait in terms of my original impression of him. That impression had been of a golden quality. I sloshed orange and yellow paint on a canvas . . . to attain this quality (in an abstract sense) . . . not only in terms of physical coloring (which, in any event, was not bright orange and yellow!) but to suggest, somehow, a spiritual quality. He had a kind of radiance." This painting, which reflects her thinking, was chosen from among others to be the official portrait for the Truman Library.
Después de regresar a Nueva York y haber dilucidado una postura sentada que respondiera en cierta medida a los requisitos formales de la Biblioteca Truman, Elaine hizo varias pinturas con dicha pose. A medida que pasaban los meses, “trataba de re-abordar el retrato del presidente partiendo de mi impresión original, la impresión de aquel tono dorado. Unté pintura anaranjada y amarilla sobre el lienzo [...] para lograr ese efecto, en sentido abstracto, [...] no solo en términos del colorido físico (¡aunque no era naranja vivo y amarillo!), sino también para sugerir de cierto modo una cualidad espiritual. Él irradiaba una especie de resplandor”. Esta pintura, que tan bien refleja el pensamiento de la artista, fue seleccionada como retrato oficial para la Biblioteca Truman.
