Game-changing Obama Portraits arrive in SF

Barack Obama made history when he was elected to the presidency in 2008, and now his and Michelle Obama’s groundbreaking presidential and first lady portraits have come to San Francisco, opening at the de Young museum in Golden Gate Park June 18, where they will be in display through Aug. 14.

The Obama Portraits Tour is part of a unique seven-city tour that began in Chicago, Illinois, in June 2021. The stops in San Francisco and Boston, the last two on the journey, were added later. The tour, organized by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, the repository for all presidential portraits, has been extremely popular, which prompted the Smithsonian to extend it through October.

Both portraits are unlike any other presidential or first lady portraits, and both were painted by Black artists.

Tom Campbell, director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, said the portraits “speak to the sense of hope and possibility that the Obamas inspire,” and praised the artists for expanding and critiquing artistic conventions that have traditionally defined representations of power.

“We are thrilled that Bay Area audiences will have the opportunity to experience these powerful, iconic paintings in person at the de Young museum,” he said.

"Barack Obama" by Kehinde Wiley, oil on canvas, 2018 (Courtesy of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery) President Barack Obama
“Barack Obama” by Kehinde Wiley, oil on canvas, 2018 (Courtesy of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery) President Barack Obama

Obama’s portrait, which depicts him seated on the edge of a chair, surrounded by flowers and foliage, was created by Kehinde Wiley. The native of Los Angeles and graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute is known for his vibrant, large-scale paintings that use European portraiture tradition to depict contemporary African Americans.

Michelle Obama’s portrait, painted by Amy Sherald, is a counterpoint to her husband’s. It depicts her in a flowing gown, an alert but serene look on her face, against a solid sky blue background. Sherald is the first woman and first African American to win the triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition held by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Sherald has also received a 2019 Smithsonian Ingenuity Award.

Obama’s 2008 election shares the same sense of historic significance with the portraits, painted 10 years later, said de Young curator Timothy Burgard, both in the choice of portraitists and the portraits themselves.

Black artists had never been chosen, possibly never even considered, to paint such important portraits. Wiley and Sherald re-envisioned the centuries-long tradition of representing political leaders, and for the first time drew the Black community into the conversation.

“Growing up as a kid in South Central Los Angeles going to the museum in L.A.,” Wiley has said, “there weren’t too many people who happened to look like me on those walls. So, as the years go on and as I try to create my own type of work, it has to do with correcting some of that. Trying to find places where people who look like me do feel accepted or do have the ability to express their state of grace on the grand narrative scale of museum space.”

In a statement about his Obama portrait, Wiley said: “This is our humanity, this is our ability to say: I matter. I was here. The ability to be the first African American painter to paint the first African American president of the United States is absolutely overwhelming.”

The two paintings are a striking contrast to the formality of earlier presidential portraits and paintings of first ladies. In the decades of presidential portraits, most presidents were painted against brown backdrops, sitting at desks or standing with an air of detachment.

Obama is painted with a vibrancy that immediately stands out. Although he is perched on the edge of his seat, as if ready to get back to work, there also is a casualness to the pose. He wears a suit, but no tie, and the top two buttons of his shirt are open.

The plants that seem to threaten to overwhelm him are symbolic, Burgard says. They represent both his public life and his private one, both open and concealed. The flowers also are symbolic — chrysanthemums, the official flower of Chicago, his adopted city; jasmine, which pays homage to his birthplace, Hawaii; purple African lilies, which are native to Kenya, his father’s home country; and roses, which represent Washington, D.C.

The flowers also represent the full bloom of his presidency and his accomplishments, as well as a number of buds that speak to hope.

"Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama" by Amy Sherald, oil on linen, 2018(Courtesy of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery) Michelle Obama
“Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama” by Amy Sherald, oil on linen, 2018(Courtesy of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery) Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama, also seated, evokes imagery found in religious iconography, including that of the Madonna, Burgard says. Her dress, chosen by the artist, is from Milly designer Michelle Smith, and has the modernist traditions of abstract art and the traditional patterned quilts of the Gee’s Bend community in Alabama.

Although her image is ethereal, the dress anchors her and flows outward as if to envelope and enfold humanity.

Sherald uses a technique that tends to de-emphasis race by painting in monochromatic gray tones that shift the focus away from preconceived ideas and prejudices of race to spotlight the inner lives of individuals.

Both artists worked in close consultation with the Obamas and used photographs in planning their compositions. Another thing that sets the Obama portraits apart from other presidential and first lady portraits is the different sizes and the poses. Other presidential and first lady portraits have been the same style, and have them either looking at each other, or the wife posed to look toward her husband.

The Obamas’ portraits are framed differently, with a more traditional frame for Obama, and a sleek modern frame for Michelle. Obama also is slightly larger than life-size, while Michelle is slightly smaller, but not diminished.

In a press viewing before the opening, Burgard also pointed out other symbolism in the paintings:

  • The painting was unveiled, at Obama’s request, on Feb. 12, the birth date of Abraham Lincoln and Obama’s personal hero and role model.
  • The chair Obama is seated in is 19th-century neo-classical, and is reminiscent of the chair and pose artist George Peter Alexander Healy used in his portrait of Lincoln.
  • Obama wears both his wedding ring and his watch, which serves as a poetic symbol for the passage of time and Obama’s advocacy for change, saying, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time.”
  • Michelle Obama’s mouth is slightly open, suggesting she is about to speak.
  • Her dress pattern suggests a heart shape at its center, reflecting the First Lady’s devotion to a number of public causes and her concerns.
  • Burgard also revealed there is a secret message on Obama’s painting that none but museum staff can see. In paintings such as these, foam board is used for added protection, but a hole is cut from the board so that the artist’s signature can be easily read. Wiley added a message below his signature: “Greatest President in history.”

The portraits were commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery and paid for through private donations. The Portrait Gallery, which has the official portraits of every U.S. president beginning with George Washington, began commissioning presidential portraits in 1994, beginning with George H.W. Bush. The inaugural first lady portrait was of Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2006.

The idea to put the Obama portraits on tour was sparked both by the popularity of the paintings and COVID, which kept visitors out of the gallery for months. Officials said they wanted to bring the artwork to the people who might not otherwise get a chance to view it.


THE OBAMA PORTRAITS TOUR

When: June 18-Aug. 14

Where: De Young Museum, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drove, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

Hours: 9:30 a.m.-5:15 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays

Health & safety: Neither proof of vaccination nor masks are required, but masks are strongly recommended

Tickets: Admission included in museum entrance fee, $15 for adults, $12 for seniors, $6 for students, and free to children 17 and younger; entry is free on Saturdays; visitors are advised to purchase tickets online in advance; deyoungmuseum.org.

Related programs and events

Opening day ceremony: Noon-3 p.m.; includes live music by cellist and vocalist Mia Pixley, accompanied with dance performances from Kimberly Olivier, and a free portrait session with First Exposures alumni.

Power and Creativity in Portraiture with First Exposures: 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m. June 25; First Exposures is a nationally recognized youth photography mentoring program in the Bay Area, visitors can tour the 28-year retrospective of youth work focusing on portraiture and participate in a pop-up portrait studio inspired by the Obama Portraits with First Exposures alumni.

Art, Fashion, Activism with Youth Art Exchange: 11 a.m.-4 p.m., July 30; inspired by the themes of the Obama Portraits Tour, visitors are invite to an exclusive viewing of art and fashion showcasing Youth Art Exchange students and teaching artists. Youth Art Exchange sparks a shared creative practice between professional artists and public high school students

Poetry and Storytelling with 826 Valencia and Oakland Poet Laureate: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Aug. 6; hear poems written by Bay Area youth in response to the Obama Portraits and works from museum’s permanent collection; includes appearance by Oakland poet laureate Dr. Ayodele Nzinga; a a zine-making workshop and poetry day will be led by 826 Valencia, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting under-resourced students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.

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