Aaron Shikler
{{Short description|American painter}}
{{Infobox artist
|name = Aaron Shikler
|image = Aaron Shikler.jpeg
| caption = Aaron Shikler at The Art of the Portrait Conference, 10th Anniversary Celebration
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1922|3|18}}
|birth_place=Brooklyn, New York City
|death_date = {{Death date and age|2015|11|12|1922|3|18}}
|death_place = Manhattan, New York City
|nationality = American
|known_for = Portrait Painting
|notable_works = The John F. Kennedy Official Portrait
|spouse = Barbara Shikler
|education = The High School of Music & Art
Temple University's Tyler School of Art
Hans Hofmann
}}
File:Catching Up with The Curator- The Presidential Portrait of John F. Kennedy.webm William G. Allman discusses the inspiration behind Shikler's 1970 portrait of John F. Kennedy]]
Aaron Abraham Shikler (March 18, 1922 – November 12, 2015) was an American artist noted for portraits of American statesmen, such as the official portrait of John F. Kennedy, and celebrities such as Jane Engelhard and Sister Parish.
Early life
Shikler was born in Brooklyn, New York on March 18, 1922. His parents were Eastern European Jewish immigrants who came to the United States before World War I.{{Cite news|title = Aaron Shikler, court painter of American nobility, dies at 93|url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/aaron-shikler-court-painter-of-american-nobility-dies-at-93/2015/11/16/f333c546-8c77-11e5-ae1f-af46b7df8483_story.html|newspaper = The Washington Post|date = 2015-11-16|access-date = 2016-01-05|issn = 0190-8286|language = en-US|first = Emily|last = Langer}} After graduating from The High School of Music & Art in 1940,Grimes, William. [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/17/arts/aaron-shikler-portrait-artist-known-for-images-of-americas-elite-dies-at-93.html?_r=0 "Aaron Shikler, Portrait Artist Known for Images of America’s Elite, Dies at 93,"] New York Times (NOV. 16, 2015). Shikler studied at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, and at the Hans Hofmann School in New York. Drafted in 1943, he served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II as a cartographer in Europe. He married Barbara Lurie, whom he met at Tyler, and had two children with her. Barbara was diagnosed with lung cancer and died in 1998.
Work
Jacqueline Kennedy personally selected Shikler in 1970 to provide the posthumous character study of John F. Kennedy, Oil Portrait of John F. Kennedy, which serves as Kennedy's official White House portrait.{{Cite book|last=Andersen |first=Christopher |authorlink=Christopher Andersen |title=The Day John Died |year=2001 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-380-81958-4 |page=176 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UbSt0L8ydwsC&pg=PA176 |accessdate=2 March 2012 }} He also painted the official White House portraits of First Ladies Jacqueline Kennedy and Nancy Reagan, as well as portraits of the Kennedy children{{cite web
| title = Davis and Langdale - Aaron Shikler
| url=http://www.davisandlangdale.com/Pages/AaronShikler.html
| accessdate = 2008-08-04 }}
and is represented in numerous public collections such as The Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the New Britain Museum of American Art, and the National Academy of Design.
Shikler painted the official White House portraits of Nancy and Ronald Reagan in 1989. His portrait of Ronald Reagan was subsequently rejected as being an insufficient likeness and put into storage in 1991. A second portrait, painted by Everett Raymond Kinstler in 1991, was deemed more successful and presently hangs in the White House.{{cite web|title=Official White House Portraits|url=https://www.whitehousehistory.org/press-room/press-backgrounders/official-white-house-portraits|archive-url=|publisher=White House Historical Association|accessdate=18 February 2025|archivedate=}} Shikler's portrait of Nancy Reagan depicted her in a red dress and is presently part of the White House collection.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/pennsylvania/doylestown/doylestown-intelligencer/1989/11-17/page-34|title=Reagans return to White House|date=17 November 1989|work=Doylestown Intelligencer|accessdate=18 November 2023}}
Awards and honors
Shikler was elected a centennial fellow of Temple University in 1985, an academician of the National Academy of Design in 1965 and an associate of the National Academy of Design in 1962. Shikler received the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award in 1957 and the Thomas B. Clarke Prize in 1958, 1960, and 1961. In 1976, he received the State Department Traveling Grant, a Certificate of Honor at the Tyler School of Art and the Benjamin Altman Prize from the National Academy of Design.
Death
Shikler continued to paint in his studio at home until he died of kidney failure on November 12, 2015.{{Cite web|url=http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Aaron-Shikler-artist-who-portrayed-America-s-6639258.php|title=Aaron Shikler, artist who portrayed America's elite, dies|work=SFGATE |date=17 November 2015}}
Gallery
Image:Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy.gif|Jackie Kennedy's official White House portrait by Shikler hangs in the Vermeil Room.
Image:John F Kennedy Official Portrait.jpg|Official Presidential portrait of John F. Kennedy painted by Shikler.
Image:Nancy Reagan official White House portrait.jpg|Nancy Reagan's official White House portrait by Shikler hangs in the Vermeil Room.
Image:Daschle Portrait.jpg|Official Senate portrait of Tom Daschle
Image:Mike mansfield.jpg|Portrait of Montana Senator Mike Mansfield
Image:Portrait of Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson - NARA - 192427.tif|Lady Bird Johnson
References
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20140104001033/http://www.whitehousehistory.org/whha_pictures/presidentshouse_kennedy-01.html Oil Portrait of John F. Kennedy]
- [http://www.davisandlangdale.com/Pages/AaronShikler.html Brief biography at the Davis & Langdale gallery]
- [https://www.foxnews.com/politics/renowned-painter-aaron-shikler-reveals-stories-behind-famous-white-house-portraits/ Renowned Painter Aaron Shikler Reveals Stories behind Famous White House Portraits]
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Category:Articles containing video clips
Category:20th-century American painters
Category:American male painters
Category:21st-century American painters
Category:American portrait painters
Category:Painters from Brooklyn
Category:Temple University alumni
Category:National Academy of Design associates
Category:The High School of Music & Art alumni
Category:United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II