I still say the Obamas deserved better than those Smithsonian portraits that made history.
Much was made, and rightly so, that the artists were African-American. What an appropriately historic complement for the first African-American First Couple. The artists were bold, colorful and contemporary. More barriers broken.
Only one problem. Michelle Obama’s portrait didn’t really look like her, and Barack Obama’s portrait, ironically, lacked dignity. He was seated in what looked like an aesthetic wind storm. As if someone with a leaf-blower was right outside the frame. The wrong result, alas, for all the right reasons.