Sherman Beck USA, b. 1942
Seated Royalty, 2020-21
Oil on canvas
60 x 48 in
152.4 x 121.9 cm
152.4 x 121.9 cm
8515
Further images
In this memorial portrait, Beck depicted U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, as Fourth Dynasty Egyptian prince Rahotep and his wife Nofret. Obama is...
In this memorial portrait, Beck depicted U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, as Fourth Dynasty Egyptian prince Rahotep and his wife Nofret. Obama is notably pictured with the gray hair he had when leaving the office after eight years, while the Obama’s two daughters are pictured in the background as roughly the age they were when Obama first took office. Says Beck, “Prince Rahotep was a government official, and his wife Nofret also had some power. I thought this would be a different and unique way of portraying Obama. Everybody does portraits of the sitting president. I wanted to present him in a princely way. I chose to present the daughters in a kind of meek way. I didn’t want to leave them out, but I didn’t want them to be a big part of the statement either. They’re roughly the age they were when their dad took the presidency.”