Fine Art
Featured Collection
Art in the White House
The collection of fine art at the White House has evolved and grown over time. The collection began with mostly presidential portraits, commissioned or purchased by Congress, or donated by presidential descendants. In the era before photography, some presidents invited painters to set up studios in the White House to record significant events and paint their likeness. In the late
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From White House to Your House
Chicagos 1893 Worlds Columbian Exposition gave us many firsts, among them the Ferris wheel, Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, and the introduction by the U.S. Post Office Department of the picture post card. Printed on government-issued postal cards with an imprinted one-cent stamp were illustrations of the fairs structures. Privately printed souvenir cards were also sold that depicted the fairs attractions,
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Foreword; White House History Number 29
Special spaces at the White House are usually those created by the presidents for their own use while resident there. For example, President Richard Nixon's favorite place to work alone was the Lincoln Sitting Room; First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt prepared her cozy dressing room on the opposite or west end of the home, while FDR filled the big upstairs oval
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The White House at War
To commemorate the end of the Spanish American War, artist Theobald Chartran painted the signing of the peace protocol between Spain and the United States. French Ambassador Jules Cambon, acting on behalf of Spain, signs the treaty at the table originally purchased by President Grant. U. S. Secretary of State William R. Day sits next to the French Ambassador, and
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An Essay on "Visitors from the East" by Peter Waddell
Those who lived it remembered the 1850s as the most elegant era the white House had ever known. Emerged from the war with Mexico, its western boundary stretched to the Pacific Ocean, the United States was rich with promise, and while the decade was cursed by economic crisis in the Panic of 1857 and the violent debate over slavery, few would
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An Essay on "Tiber Creek: The Bathers" by Peter Waddell
Tiber Creek now flows safely beneath a masonry vault, over which passes Constitution Avenue. In the 1820s, the open creek raced dangerously to the Potomac River through the sweeping landscape you see here. From marshy creek banks, the land rose gently to the elevation upon which the White House stood. Its muddy realities were covered by grasses and wildflowers.President