Friday, June 8, 2018

Former President George W. Bush's Art

The art exhibition and display of gifts and photos 
at the George W. Bush Presidential Center.


Former President 
George W. Bush's ART

NOW A PAINTER!


Painted Portraits by former President George W. Bush.
Former President George W. Bush has taken up painting, inspired to some degree, by the writings and artworks of Winston Churchill. A major exhibition of his work opened on April 5, 2014 at the one-year-old George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Texas, on the SMU campus. There his Library and Museum provide access to presidential materials, the archives and the artifacts of the George W. Bush Administration (including 80 terabytes of digital information, more than 200 million e-mails and more than 43,000 artifacts).

Editor's Note:
If Rembrandt's style is his goal, his current primitive and amateurish works need practice. On the other hand, if a Chelsea gallerist or museum curator were to view his painting, looking at them as if he were an unknown emerging contemporary artist, his work would most likely catch their eye and the work would compete very well when compared to some of the current art stars like Elizabeth Peyton and Billy Sullivan. To President G.W. Bush's credit, there is also a consistency of technique throughout his entire collection, which is admirable for an artist.

EXAMPLE: TWO CURRENT "FAMOUS" ARTIST WHO PAINT IN A SIMILAR STYLE TO President George W. Bush.
A painting by current art star Elizabeth Peyton.

The detail of a painting by the 
contemporary artist Billy Sullivan.

Former President W. Bush is receiving tremendous press coverage over his new career and has received a 99.9% positive rating for what he is creating. Everyone seems to be wishing him well on this new frontier - The Art World!

(Above) The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum
is the 13th such resource in the nation operated by 
the National Archives and Records Administration, a federal agency. 
The George W. Bush Presidential Center is comprised of his library, institute, and foundation. It occupies a 226,565-square-foot-building on the SMU campus, surrounded by Texas prairie landscaping.  

The George W. Bush Institute (pictured) is an independent public policy organization,
reporting to the Bush Foundation.  

The museum's art exhibition is titled "The Art of Leadership: A President’s Personal Diplomacy". It features more than two dozen never-before-exhibited portraits of world leaders whom George W. Bush met on the world stage, during his tenure as the 43rd President of the United States, plus a self-portrait and a portrait of his father.


 A painted portrait of the artist's father, 
the 41st President of the United States, 
George H. W. Bush

Helping to make this exhibition more interesting to visitors who are not interested in art, each painting is surrounded by photographs of President Bush's encounters with that leader and below the artwork are "objets d'art" (personal gifts and other memorabilia) associated with that specific leader or country.

Vladimir Putin, Tony Blair, Hamid Karzai, The Dalai Lama and Jiang Zemin are some of the paintings of presidents, prime ministers and other world leaders currently on the walls of the G.W.B. Presidential Center. 


Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

Tony Blair of Britain.

George W.Bush started painting only two years ago, after reading "Panting as a Pastime", an essay by WWII English Prime Minister and painter Winston Churchill. 


Winston Churchill's studio and paintings.
At first George W. Bush experimented with his iPad sketch application, then he got serious and turned to private instructors, artists Bonny Flood and Gail Norfleet, to teach him the craft of painting.

The first of his artworks seen by the public were somehow gathered through social media and leaked onto the internet. They included a portrait of his Scottish terrier Barney and his self-portraits (one in a bathtub and the other in the shower).


Bush's Scottish terrier "Barney."

George W. Bush, self-portrait in a bath.

George W. Bush, self-portrait in a shower.

A painted portrait was presented to Jay Leno, the talk show host, by former President Bush on national television before Leno's job with "Tonight" show ended.

Jay Leno's Portrait by G.W.B.

Bush and Leno looking at the former President's art gift.

Other U.S. Presidents who took up painting include Ulysses S. Grant, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Jimmy Carter. As former President Bush puts it, he is trying to bring out his inner Rembrandt. 


Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.

Self-portrait by former President George W. Bush.

The ticketed exhibition is open to the public at the George W. Bush Presidential Center, SMU campus, Dallas, Texas, during normal business hours until June 3rd, 2014. For more photos of the exhibition go to: https://www.flickr.com/photos/georgewbushcenter/13622415065/in/photostream/

Collectibles for sale at the Presidential Center gift shop:
Dog Painting buttons.



The Art of Leadership
Special Exhibit
Gallery Booklet, $20
A full-color, 36-page gallery booklet catalogs the exhibit and features 30 portraits of world leaders painted by President George W. Bush, including a self-portrait and painting of his father.


Exhibition postcard. $1.98



(Source, The George W. Bush Presidential Center + Google, Wikipedia + information gleaned from various news organizations covering this subject.)


Until later,
Jack

Until later, 
Jack
ARTS&FOOD is an online magazine dedicated to providing artists and collectors around the world with highlights of current art exhibitions, and to encourage all readers to invest in and participate in “The Joy of Art” and Culture. All Rights Reserved. All concepts, original art, text & photography, which are not otherwise credited, are copyright 2018 © Jack A. Atkinson, under all international, intellectual property and copyright laws. All gallery events', museum exhibitions', art fairs' or art festivals' photographs were taken with permission or provided by the event or gallery. All physical artworks are the intellectual property of the individual artists and © (copyright) individual artists, fabricators, respective owners or assignees. 
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