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
- 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
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Topic
- Occupation\political\statesman
- Portrait male
- Record ID
- saam_1923.6.5
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk74fefcd76-dee0-4cb4-a38b-53ec1e6ad5a4
