I do have to say, we need to go back to painted portraits… They look so much classier and dignified. Fitting for a position of power. Obama’s looks like a cardboard standee. Biden’s is alright until you look at his face too much. Trump’s first looks like he’s posing for employee of the month. His second looks, well yeah, it looks like his just like mugshot. They’re like school yearbook photos…
Obama’s is actually a hyperrealistic painting, based on the label. Probably directly based on a photograph, but not itself a photograph. I don’t think I’d seen it prior to this.
Trump Term 1 looks like the first time we dropped the painting as a medium for the photograph.
Hah. I was looking at them again and realized that they got much lighter, and I just realized what I bet that was.
Most of the original paintings are done indoors, and almost all of those are dark. The light ones are outside. The only exception is #13, Millard Filmore. Then, suddenly, at Theodore Roosevelt, all of the portraits are indoors…but almost all are bright.
I realized that that’s right about when electrical lighting showed up. It looks like the White House got electric lights in 1891, during Harrison’s term:
President Benjamin Harrison and First Lady Caroline Harrison refused to operate the switches because they feared being shocked and left the operation of the electric lights to the domestic staff.
I assume that Harrison’s portrait, done at the beginning of his term, would have predated that.
William McKinley was after that and was also dark – I don’t know why. Maybe tradition. But it’s the final one. After that, virtually everyone is in bright environments.
I do have to say, we need to go back to painted portraits… They look so much classier and dignified. Fitting for a position of power. Obama’s looks like a cardboard standee. Biden’s is alright until you look at his face too much. Trump’s first looks like he’s posing for employee of the month. His second looks, well yeah, it looks like his just like mugshot. They’re like school yearbook photos…
Obama’s is actually a hyperrealistic painting, based on the label. Probably directly based on a photograph, but not itself a photograph. I don’t think I’d seen it prior to this.
Trump Term 1 looks like the first time we dropped the painting as a medium for the photograph.
Hah. I was looking at them again and realized that they got much lighter, and I just realized what I bet that was.
Most of the original paintings are done indoors, and almost all of those are dark. The light ones are outside. The only exception is #13, Millard Filmore. Then, suddenly, at Theodore Roosevelt, all of the portraits are indoors…but almost all are bright.
I realized that that’s right about when electrical lighting showed up. It looks like the White House got electric lights in 1891, during Harrison’s term:
I assume that Harrison’s portrait, done at the beginning of his term, would have predated that.
William McKinley was after that and was also dark – I don’t know why. Maybe tradition. But it’s the final one. After that, virtually everyone is in bright environments.