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The collection of fine art at the White House has evolved and grown over time. The collection began with mostly presidential portraits, commissioned or purchased by Congress, or donated by presidential descendants. In the era before photography, some presidents invited painters to set up studios in the White House to record significant events and paint their likeness. In the late
Georgia O’Keeffe’s captivating flower paintings and Southwestern landscapes have made her one of the world’s most recognizable modern artists. O’Keeffe was born on November 15, 1887, and raised in Wisconsin. Throughout her childhood, she took art lessons at home with her siblings and later attended lessons at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Virgi
Henry Ossawa Tanner was one of the most distinguished Black artists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Despite his immense success, Tanner’s life story reveals the challenges faced by many Black artists. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 21, 1859. His mother, Sarah Tanner, was a formerly enslaved woman who escaped to freedom on the Underground Railroad, while his fa
Greta Kempton (born Martha Greta Kempton) was born in 1903 in Vienna, Austria. She discovered painting early on, completing her first painting at the age of nine—a portrait of her sleeping governess. Kempton studied at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and the Vienna National Academy of Design before emigrating to the United States in 1926 with her young daughter, Daisy. In
On June 14, 2004, the official portraits of President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton were unveiled in the East Room of the White House. These paintings made history as the first official White House portraits created by a Black artist, Simmie Knox.
On October 14, 2016, First Lady Michelle Obama hosted a reception celebrating the recent renovation of the Old Family Dining Room, located on the State Floor of the White House. After welcoming her guests, Mrs. Obama delivered remarks about the space, including the addition of twentieth-century abstract artwork by diverse artists: As many of you know, the President and I, we are
Jacob Lawrence, one of the twentieth century’s most celebrated Black artists, is remembered for his vivid portrayals of the Black experience in America. Lawrence was born in New Jersey on September 7, 1917, and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Harlem, New York. While taking art classes at Harlem’s Utopia Children’s Center and Harlem Art Workshop, Lawrence trained under prominent leader
Inside the Decatur House’s California Room hangs a series of remarkable nineteenth-century Japanese silk panels that depict the changing seasons. The paintings, created by Japanese artist Utagawa Kunitsuru, were signed by the artist in 1872. They came to Decatur House sometime between this signing date and their first mention in a Washington Capital newspaper article in late 1873, which noted that th
