William F. Draper dies

[Cynthia Daniel]

William Franklin Draper, the "Dean of American portraiture," died on Oct 26. Cause of death was not released. He was 90.

Draper studied at Harvard University, the National Academy of Design in New York and the Cape Art School in Massachusetts before joining the Navy in 1942. He spent World War II hunkered in foxholes or on aircraft carrier decks sketching the battles as they happened and occasionally painting portraits of admirals. For his service, Draper reached the rank of lieutenant commander and earned a Bronze Star.

After he returned to the states, Draper developed a reputation in the art world as one of the premiere portrait painters in America. His portraits of Presidents John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon hang in the National Portrait Gallery. Many of his military paintings and celebrity portraits reside in the National Gallery of Art and the Navy Art Collection in Washington D.C.

In 1999, Draper received the lifetime achievement award from the Portrait Society of America.

[Jim Riley]

How sad it is to learn the news about Bill Draper. Those of us that had the opportunity to meet or see him at the Portrait Society conventions learned that aside from his considerable skill as an artist, he was very witty and made all believe he was a wonderful person.

[Cynthia Daniel]

Here's an interesting link about him on pbs.org: http://www.pbs.org/theydrewfire/artists/draper.html

[Cynthia Daniel]

His military paintings:

http://www.history.navy.mil/ac/artis...er/draper1.htm

His portrait of JFK in the National Portrait Gallery. I wish the reproduction was larger:

http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/hall2/bigjfks.htm

Paul Mellon at the National Gallery of Art:

http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/pimage?62341+0+0

It's amazing that more of his work is not on the web.