Former President Barack Obama and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, returned to the White House on Wednesday to unveil their official portraits in an event punctuated by wisecracks but tinged with history and politics.
Hosted by fellow Democrat President Joe
Biden more than five years after Obama left office, the Obamas basked in
applause from former staff members assembled in the East Room and lauded the
artists for capturing their images, which will hang in the White House for
generations to come.
Artist Robert McCurdy put Barack Obama,
wearing a black suit and a gray tie, at the center of his canvas in a
photorealistic portrait with a white background.
The former first lady is pictured in a
blue dress in the White House's Red Room, in a painting by Brooklyn artist
Sharon Sprung.
The event was a reunion of sorts for
Obama administration officials and for the Obamas and Bidens, who grew close
during the eight years Biden served as Obama's vice president.
"There are few people I've ever
known with more integrity, decency and moral courage than Barack Obama,"
Biden said at the beginning of the ceremony. "Nothing could have prepared
me better or more to become president of the United States than being at your
side for eight years."
Large, formal portraits of U. S.
presidents and first ladies adorn walls, hallways and rooms throughout the
White House.
Customarily, a former president returns
for the unveiling during his successor's tenure, but a ceremony for the Obamas
did not take place during Republican President Donald Trump's administration.
Trump, before winning the 2016 election
and succeeding Obama, pushed the "birther" movement that falsely
suggested Obama was not born in the United States.
Obama, the first Black U. S. president,
thanked Biden, his vice president between 2009 and 2017, for building on the
work they did together.
"Thanks to your decency and thanks
to your strength, maybe most of all thanks to your faith in our democracy and
the American people, the country’s better off than when you took office and we
should all be deeply grateful for that,” Obama said.
He also thanked his former staff, many
of whom are now working at the White House with Biden, but joked that none had
named a new child "Barack" or "Michelle."
McCurdy's hyper-realistic painting of
the former president recalls portraits he has done of author Toni Morrison and
South African leader Nelson Mandela. The artist "refused my request to
make my ears smaller,” Obama quipped. "He also talked me out of wearing a
tan suit," he added to laughter, a reference to an unusual 2014 wardrobe
choice that dominated Washington's news cycle for days.
Michelle Obama said traditions like the
portrait ceremony were important for people watching and participating in a
democracy, and she appeared to reference the refusal by Trump to accept the
results of the 2020 election, in which Trump was defeated by Biden.
“You see the people, they make their
voices heard with their vote. We hold an inauguration to ensure a peaceful
transition of power," she said. "Once our time is up, we move on.”
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