In Praise Of The Constitution

From the moment of their unveiling at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in February 2018, the museum’s official portraits of President Barack Obama and Mrs. Michelle Obama have become iconic. Kehinde Wiley’s portrait of President Obama and Amy Sherald’s portrait of the former First Lady have inspired unprecedented responses from the general public.

“In Praise Of The Constitution” is also an inspirational drawing of President Obama done in graphite, pastel, charcoal, and chalk where the artist has chosen to present our 44th Chief Executive in an upright and statuesque stance that befits the power and authority of the office; where Mr. Obama exudes a stoic, relaxed aura that is stately - almost regal - in character.

Great portraiture usually conveys symbolism in one form or another. For Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603), pearls hint of purity in her many portraits. Images of eyes and ears sown into her gown speak of being all-seeing and all-knowing. But some works need no symbolism. Yousuf Karsh’s famous photograph of Winston Churchill staring into the camera with a fierce frown is all we need to see (the glaring look cutting right through us), being a visual testament of his indomitable strength and resolution.

Mr. Nixon has placed Harvard Constitutional scholar, Law Review editor, and former United States President Barack Obama in the proper setting - the Oval Office - holding a book of the Constitution, with the portrait’s main prop being an antique globe that just oozes history. But that history, to be perfectly honest, is not a kind one. And that unkindness (as gross understatement) is the Middle Passage gulf between freedom and slavery called the Atlantic Ocean. That careful and deliberate world positioning with compass rose (of “True North” (the artist's’s informal title)) is the main visual component standing next to the presidential figure. Other notable symbols are an 1862 engraving of Abraham Lincoln musing on the bust of George Washington; bookends of the bust of Martin Luther King; and volumes of the many laws and accomplishments produced during the president’s two successful terms (He ranks 10th in the most recent 2021 C-Span poll of 800 historians and authors.).

The title of the drawing is meant to describe a visionary, care-taking governance that is bigger than the office and the man - that is bigger than any man. Because we are a nation of laws, not of men. And no one should understand that better than the leader of our country: “The last best hope of earth,” as Lincoln wrote. That stable written foundation along with our national institutions were meant to help protect us from tyrannical rule - which was our Founding Father’s greatest fear. That elemental political stability and unruptured continuance of progress is what the original Framers and the Constitution have given us.

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