Introduction
Read markers 1, 2 to learn more about President Kennedy's portrait.
The official presidential portrait of John F. Kennedy, painted by Aaron Shikler.
- One of the traditions of being president is having an official presidential portrait made. For many years, a portrait was the only way in which people could know what their presidents looked like. Some presidential portraits were done before the sitters were elected president; others were painted during their presidency; and still others were created after they left office. Kennedy's official portrait was painted in 1970, seven years after he died in office, by Aaron Shikler by request of the late president's former wife, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
- Kennedy's presidential portrait shows him standing with his head bowed and his arms crossed, like he is in a state of deep thought. In a 1981 People magazine interview, artist Aaron Shikler states that Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who was married to Kennedy during his presidency authorized the portrait, told him how she wanted her late husband to look. The artist stated she told him "I don't want him to look the way everybody else makes him look, with the bags under his eyes and that penetrating gaze. I'm tired of that image." So, the artist painted Kennedy with his gaze directed downward. "All I wanted to portray was a man who looked like he could think," Shikler stated.
 |