Object Details
Artist
Cecilia Beaux, born Philadelphia, PA 1855-died Gloucester, MA 1942
Sitter
Georges Clemenceau
Luce Center Label
The United States War Portraits Commission hired Cecilia Beaux to paint this portrait of Georges Clemenceau, the premier of France who signed the World War I peace treaty at Versailles in 1919. Clemenceau hated having his portrait made, so Beaux prepared her composition from photographs and sketches while she waited for his return from a trip to the Middle East. She wrote: "Now I am after the most illusive and 'orneriest' of them all, and dear knows when I shall catch him . . ." Beaux finally went to his house for one sitting and from an oil sketch created this portrait of the statesman, standing in his study behind a desk with books and papers.
Luce Object Quote
"I have made a sketch for the Clemenceau portrait and have it fully in mind." Cecilia Beaux letter, in Tappert, Cecilia Beaux and the Art of Portraiture, 1995
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the National Art Committee
Date
1920
Object number
1923.6.5
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Type
Painting
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
46 7/8 x 36 3/4 in. (119.2 x 93.3 cm)
See more items in
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department
Painting and Sculpture
On View
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor, 2A
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 3rd Floor
Data Source
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Topic
Occupation\political\statesman
Portrait male
Link to Original Record
Record ID
saam_1923.6.5