Herbert Abrams, 82; Did Portraits of Dignitaries, Two Presidents
Hyfler/Rosner
BYLINE: Dennis McLellan, LA Times Staff Writer
Herbert E. Abrams, one of the country's leading portrait artists whose work
includes the official White House portraits of former presidents Jimmy
Carter and George H.W. Bush, has died. He was 82.
Abrams, who lived in Warren, Conn., died of cancer Friday in a nursing-care
facility in Kent, Conn.
During his 40-year career as a portrait artist known for his traditional
realism, Abrams painted many dignitaries, including Gen. William
Westmoreland, playwright Arthur Miller and astronaut Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin
Jr.
Abrams' portraits hang at the Capitol (former Sen. Howard H. Baker ), the
Treasury Department (former Treasury Secretary Donald T. Regan), the
National Portrait Gallery (Miller) in Washington, D.C., and the U.S.
Military Academy at West Point (Westmoreland and Aldrin).
Another portrait of Westmoreland hangs near Abrams' paintings of Gen.
Creighton W. Abrams (no relation) and Gen. Bruce Palmer in the Chiefs of
Staff Portrait Gallery at the Pentagon.
Others among Abrams' more than 400 portraits hang in statehouses, corporate
boardrooms, museums, universities and medical schools across the country.
But for Abrams, there was nothing like being able to immortalize on canvas a
major government official, particularly a president.
"It's the top -- something every portrait artist dreams about because the
prestige and publicity make it a big prize," he told the New York Times in
1986.
Abrams' White House portrait of Carter, which has been described by a former
White House art curator as the best of the contemporary portraits in the
White House collection, so impressed George and Barbara Bush that they chose
Abrams to paint their official portraits.
Abrams' paintings of the Bushes were unveiled in 1995 at a ceremony hosted
by President Clinton in the East Room of the White House, making Abrams the
first artist to have portraits in the White House of both a Democratic and a
Republican president.
In the portrait, Bush is shown standing in front of a Civil War painting,
with his right elbow resting on a globe to represent his interest in foreign
policy.
When the painting was unveiled, Bush smiled modestly and said, "I'm inclined
to think it's pretty darn good."Much to Barbara Bush's disappointment,
Abrams refused to let her hold her dog Millie in her lap during her sitting.
"Millie, I tried," Abrams remembered Mrs. Bush saying sadly to her beloved
dog.
Abrams painted the former first lady seated in front of a bookcase with
yellow roses on her left -- and a photo of Millie on her right.
Abrams' portrait of Carter, hung in the White House in 1983 during the
presidency of Ronald Reagan, did not receive similar attention.
"There was a good reason for that," Lois, Abrams' wife of 49 years, told The
Times on Friday. "The Carters and the Reagans did not have a good
relationship, and so that was really unveiled with very little fanfare."
The Carter portrait shows him in a contemplative mood with hands folded and
elbows resting on the arms of a red damask-upholstered, early 19th century
French empire chair.
"It looks just like him," Carter's mother, Lillian, said at the time.
Abrams later revealed that Carter never actually posed in the chair depicted
in the painting. The chair is one of a pair in the Red Room of the White
House, which Abrams had once seen and taken a picture of during a White
House tour.
During his sittings for Abrams, Carter actually sat in an armchair from his
own kitchen in Plains, Ga.
Lois Abrams, who handled her husband's public relations and was his business
manager, said that depending on a subject's schedule, it might take Abrams
three to six months to complete a portrait. But during that time, she said,
he could be working on two to four other paintings.
After receiving a commission, Abrams would ask for an informal hourlong chat
with his subject.
"It helps get a feeling of the inner person, and also helps to get over any
awe that might be there on either side," he once said.
In Carter's case, Abrams observed the former president teaching his Sunday
school class in Plains, then returned to Carter's home to chat.
He'd usually require three sittings: a two-hour session followed by two
one-hour appointments.
A good portraitist, Abrams believed, must have the courage to paint as he
thinks he should to capture the essence of a person's personality.
"No one tells me what to do," he told the New York Times in 1994. "If I get
what I like, I think they'll like it too."
In the 1950s, Abrams was selling paintings off a bench in Greenwich Village
and considering himself fortunate to receive $35 for an occasional portrait.
By 1994, he was painting about 10 portraits a year that ranged in price from
$10,000 to $35,000 each.
The ninth of 10 children, Abrams was born in Greenfield, Mass., on March 20,
1921. His German immigrant father had a dairy farm that went bankrupt during
the Depression and the family moved to Hartford, where the senior Abrams,
unable to find a factory job, sold fruits and vegetables from a pushcart.
Abrams attended Norwich Art School in Norwich, Conn., for a year after high
school and was studying art at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn when he was
drafted into the Army in 1942.
While he was serving as a camouflage technician, his wife said, he
redesigned the Army Air Forces aircraft insignia: the now familiar star with
two tabs on each side. He later became a pilot and flying instructor.
After the war, he graduated from the Pratt Institute and attended the Art
Students League in New York City.
Although he began his career as an artist in 1947 and painted occasional
portraits over the next decade, he did not paint his first major portrait
until the early 1960s: a painting of Westmoreland when he was superintendent
of West Point.
The painting gave Abrams his first major recognition.
Abrams, who taught art classes for officers and their families at the U.S.
Military Academy from 1953 to 1974, went to South Vietnam in 1972 and
produced five paintings of war scenes for the Army's military history
program.
He also painted 22 portraits for Johns Hopkins University and its medical
center. The university gave him an honorary doctor of humane letters degree
in 1997 in recognition of his "extraordinary career and accomplishments."
In addition to his wife, Abrams is survived by his daughter, Kathryn
Bindert, of Malverne, N.Y.; five grandchildren; and his brother, Arthur, of
Warehouse Point, Conn.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO: "It looks just like him," said former President Carter's
mother, Lillian. PHOTO: HERBERT E. ABRAMS: "It's the top -- something every
portrait artist dreams about because the prestige and publicity make it a
big prize," he said of painting two presidents' official portraits.
PHOTOGRAPHER: Los Angeles Times
Bill Schenley
> Presidents
> BYLINE: Dennis McLellan, LA Times Staff Writer
> Herbert E. Abrams, one of the country's leading portrait
> artists whose work includes the official White House
> portraits of former presidents Jimmy Carter and George
> H.W. Bush, has died. He was 82.
<snipped>
> GRAPHIC: PHOTO: "It looks just like him," said former
> President Carter's mother, Lillian.
http://www.homeofheroes.com/presidents/39_carter.html
And, of course, the Sleazoid I:
http://www.homeofheroes.com/presidents/41_bush.html
Also, Howard Baker:
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/resources/graphic/xlarge/32_00
038.jpg