Obamas’ portraits set for unveiling
The Bidens will revive a White House tradition after Trump disregarded the ritual.
WASHINGTON — It’s been more than a decade since then-President Obama and his wife, Michelle, welcomed back his predecessor in the Oval Office, George W. Bush, and Bush’s wife, Laura, for the unveiling of their White House portraits, part of a Washington tradition that for decades managed to transcend partisan politics.
President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are set to revive that ritual — after an awkward and anomalous gap in the Trump years — when they host the Obamas on Wednesday for the unveiling of their portraits in front of scores of friends, family and staff members.
The Obama paintings will not look like any in the White House portrait collection to which they will be added. They were America’s first Black president and first lady.
The ceremony will also mark Michelle Obama’s first visit to the White House since Obama’s presidency ended in January 2017, and only the second visit for Barack Obama. He was at the White House in April to mark the 12th anniversary of the healthcare law he signed in 2010.
Portrait ceremonies often give past presidents an opportunity to showcase their comedic timing.
“I am pleased that my portrait brings an interesting symmetry to the White House collection. It now starts and ends with a George W.,” Bush quipped at his ceremony in 2012.
Bill Clinton joked in 2004 that “most of the time, till you get your picture hung like this, the only artists that draw you are cartoonists.”
Recent tradition, no matter the party affiliation, has had the current president genially hosting his immediate predecessor for the unveiling — as Clinton did for George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush did for Clinton and Obama did for Bush.
Then there was an unexplained pause when President Trump did not host Obama. Two spokespeople for Trump did not respond to emailed requests for comment on the lack of a ceremony for Obama, and whether artists are working on portraits of Trump and former First Lady Melania Trump.
The White House portrait collection starts with George Washington. Congress bought his portrait. Other portraits of early presidents and first ladies often came to the White House as gifts.
Since the middle of the last century, the White House Historical Assn. has paid for the paintings.
The first portraits financed by the association were of Lyndon B. Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson, and John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy, said Stewart McLaurin, president of the private, nonprofit organization established by Jacqueline Kennedy.
Before presidents and first ladies leave office, the association explains the portrait process.
The former president and first lady choose the artist or artists, and offer guidance on how they want to be portrayed.
“It really involves how that president and first lady see themselves,” McLaurin said.
The collection includes an iconic, full-length portrait of Washington that adorns the East Room. It is the only item still in the White House that was in the executive mansion in November 1800 when John Adams and Abigail Adams became the first president and first lady to live in the White House.
Years later, First Lady Dolley Madison saved Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of Washington from almost certain ruin. She had White House staff take it out of the city before advancing British forces burned down the mansion in 1814. The painting was held in storage until the White House was rebuilt.
President and first lady portraits are seen by millions of White House visitors, though not all are on display. Some are undergoing conservation or are in storage.
Past presidents’ images move around the White House, depending on their standing with the current occupants. Ronald Reagan, for example, moved Thomas Jefferson and Harry S. Truman out of the Cabinet Room and swapped in Dwight Eisenhower and Calvin Coolidge.
In the Clinton era, portraits of Richard Nixon and Reagan, idols of the Republican Party, lost their showcase spot in the Grand Foyer and were replaced with pictures of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Truman, heroes of the Democrats. Nancy Reagan temporarily moved Eleanor Roosevelt to a place of prominence in the East Room in 1984 to mark the centennial of her birth.
One of the most prominent spots for a portrait is above the mantle in the State Dining Room. It has been occupied for decades by a painting of a seated Abraham Lincoln, hand supporting his chin.