George W. Bush Publishes Book of His Paintings, and It’s a Bestseller
2017-03-20
President George W. Bush painting. Courtesy of Grant Miller/George W. Bush Presidential Center.
It has been a couple of years since we’ve heard anything about the burgeoning art career of former president George W. Bush, but he has just published a new book of his paintings, titled Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief’s Tribute to America’s Warriors. It’s already a best seller.
George W. Bush, Sgt. Daniel Casara. Courtesy of Grant Miller/George W. Bush Presidential Center via Crown Publishing.
Since leaving office, Bush has helped veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars transition back to civilian life through the George W. Bush Institute’s Military Service Initiative. The new book features 66 oil painting portraits of US servicemen and women he has personally come to know as part of this work, and all of the proceeds go to the initiative.
George W. Bush, Sgt. Leslie Zimmerman. Courtesy of Grant Miller/George W. Bush Presidential Center via Crown Publishing.
“I know each person I painted,” Bush told NBC’s Today show. “I was thinking about their backgrounds, their service, their injuries and their recovery.” On the artistic side, he counts Lucian Freud, Wayne Thiebaud, Jamie Wyeth, Ray Turner, Fairfield Porter, and Joaquín Sorolla as influences.
Each portrait is accompanied by a written statement by the former president about the subject, detailing his or her military service, injuries sustained in the line of duty, and the struggle to recover, both physically and psychologically. Considering how widely he has been criticized for leading the nation into two long-running wars, it’s a bold choice of subject matter—the New Yorker dubbed the works “Painted Atonements” and the Guardian described it as “one of the most complex relationships between artist and subject in recent memory.”
George W. Bush, Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael R. Rodriguez. Courtesy of Grant Miller/George W. Bush Presidential Center via Crown Publishing.
George W. Bush, Ramon Padilla Munguia. Courtesy of Grant Miller/George W. Bush Presidential Center.
Source Artnet.com