Herbert Abrams dies

[Cynthia Daniel]

Presidential Artist Herbert Abrams Dies Date: 08-31-2003; Publication: AP Online; Author: NOREEN GILLESPIE, Associated Press Writer

Dateline: HARTFORD, Conn. Herbert E. Abrams, the painter of presidents and dignitaries whose work included White House portraits of former President Bush and former President Carter, has died at the age of 82.

Abrams, of Warren, died Friday of prostate cancer, his family said.

In a career that spanned more than four decades, the artist completed more than 400 portraits that also included Gen. William Westmoreland and astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin. Other famous works included playwright Arthur Miller and several university provosts and presidents. He also painted three of Connecticut's former governors.

"His favorite portrait was always 'the next one,'" said his daughter, Kathryn Bindert.

Born in Greenfield, Mass., on March 20, 1921, Abrams was the ninth of 10 children born to German immigrants. Abrams studied at the Norwich Art School and became a pilot in World War II. While he was serving as a camouflage technician, he redesigned the Army Air Forces aircraft insignia. Later, he taught art classes to officers at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he was the subject of the documentary "A Different Light."

After the war, he studied in New York City at the Pratt Institute and the Art Students' League. During the 1950s, he considered himself fortunate when he made $35 selling a portrait from a bench in Greenwich Village.

"I didn't think I would finish school. They were very hard times. I had to make my own way," he said in a 1995 interview with the Waterbury Republican-American.

Abrams' portrait of former President Bush depicts the president, looking fit and smiling faintly, standing in his office with his right elbow resting on a globe to represent his interest in foreign policy. "I'm inclined to think it's pretty darn good," Bush said at the time. Abrams was selected to complete the painting after George and Barbara Bush were impressed by his Carter portrait, described as a former White House curator as the best of the contemporary portraits in the Capitol collection.

An artist who said he believed in painting people's personalities, not their politics, Abrams frequently spent time with his subjects before the portraits were composed. For Carter's portrait, he spent time observing him in Sunday school classes; for the Bush portrait, they met at a country club.

"You don't have to fake or make something up," he told The New York Times in 1985. "Just look."

His wife, Lois Abrams, managed his schedule while he painted. The two were married 49 years and raised two children. "Her part in it is so tremendous," he said in 1995. "I can't even explain to you her importance in my success."

In addition to his wife and daughter, he is survived by a son, a brother and five grandchildren.

NOREEN GILLESPIE, Associated Press Writer, Presidential Artist Herbert Abrams Dies. , AP Online, 08-31-2003.