Thursday, June 24, 2010

A painting donation to the White House.


Around 1962, Sam Salz (my father) donated a painting to the Kennedy White House titled "The Signing of The Declaration of Independence" by the French artist Charles Edouard Armand Dumaresq(1826-1895). He wanted to give a gift to America for having welcomed him after his escape from Nazi dominated Europe. In the late eighties, First Lady Barbara Bush decided to hang the painting over the fireplace in the Cabinet Room. It has been there ever since. Jacqueline Kennedy also bought a Monet for the White House but with Kennedy funds. It's also still there in the White House. It was President Clinton's favorite painting. "The Signing...." painting hung above my bed when I was twelve years old before it was donated (photo from TIME magazine). For more on this painting from Wikipedia go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Signing_of_Declaration_of_Independence_by_Armand-Dumaresq,_c1873.png or the White House web site at: http://www.whitehouseresearch.org/assetbank-whha/action/viewAsset?id=35



No comments: