Who is the artist of Trump portrait in Colorado controversy?
President Trump doesn't appear to be a fan of Colorado Springs artist Sarah Boardman, or at least her portrait of him hanging in the Colorado Capitol for nearly six years.
Trump trashed the image in a social media post on Sunday as "truly the worst" and demanded its removal.
"(Boardman) must have lost her talent as she got older," he added on Truth Social.
British-born Boardman, who is in her 70s, has painted many portraits, including one of President Obama that hangs alongside Trump's in the Colorado Capitol.
According to the biography on her website, she worked in airline travel and business before shifting her focus to art. She began studying at the Wiesbaden Herzfeld School of Art in Germany in 1986, focusing on the techniques of the Old Master Painters.
"Sarah has always been passionate about painting portraits, being particularly intrigued by the depth and character found deeper in her subjects," her website reads. "Sarah believes that the ultimate challenge is to capture the “personality, character and soul” of an individual in a two-dimensional format."
Boardman didn't immediately respond to The Hill's requests for comment, but she told the Colorado Times Recorder in a 2019 interview that she wanted the portrait to be neutral. In her submission for Colorado's national competition to paint Trump's likeness, she described his expression in her preferred image as "serious, non-confrontational, thoughtful."
"The portrait is not designed for just one faction of the population," she told the Times Recorder while the painting was underway. “I love painting portraits, and each one brings different challenges and highlights."
The Colorado Capitol Building Advisory Committee selected Boardman for the job after she presented two Trump sketches and four photos of the president with different expressions and stylistic features, the Times Recorder reported.
The artist described the image in the submission as "direct and show(ing) confidence, courage and purpose."
The depiction initially faced backlash from some Colorado Democrats who opposed honoring Trump because of his policies. Boardman acknowledged that portraits often elicit anger "directed at the subject, not the actual piece of art."
“There will always be dissent, so pleasing one group will always inflame another," she said. "I consider a neutrally thoughtful, and non-confrontational, portrait allows everyone to reach their own conclusions in their own time, in addition to that approach being more durable over time."
Boardman compared the Democrats' criticism to Republicans' opposition to her painting of Obama when it was first displayed.
“Being president is the qualification for entry into the gallery, and I respect that qualification on face value as I did with the portrait of President Obama,” she said.
Colorado Senate Republicans led the ceremony when the portrait was added to a third-story wall alongside past presidents at the state Capitol in 2019. Boardman later expressed her gratitude online to “all the dignitaries, staff, donors and visitors who attended and made this a wonderful event!”
“Feeling very grateful for this opportunity,” she wrote.
Republican lawmaker Kevin Grantham, president of the state Senate at the time of the portrait's initial planning, spearheaded an online fundraiser in 2018 to get the $10,000 needed to commission Trump's portrait after the nonprofit Colorado Citizens for Culture was unable to secure donations.
"It’s only fitting that a populist, such as the president, would have the first crowd-funded campaign for a presidential portrait," Grantham said at the time.
Grantham, a Trump supporter who was a member of the advisory committee that picked Boardman for the job, wasn't immediately available to speak with The Hill about Trump's criticism.
During his campaign for reelection in 2024, Trump, who turns 79 in June, sold digital trading cards that featured virile depictions of himself as a cowboy, superhero and astronaut, among other images.
Trump wrote in his Truth Social post Sunday evening that he would rather have no portrait up in the Colorado Capitol than the image currently displayed and claimed that "many people from Colorado have called and written to complain."
He blamed Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) for issues with the image.
"Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves, but the one in Colorado, in the State Capitol, put up by the Governor, along with all other Presidents, was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before," Trump wrote.
Polis, who took office in January 2019, was not governor at the time of the bipartisan group's selection of Boardman and wasn't involved in the portrait's unveiling ceremony.
A Polis spokesperson told The Hill, “Gov. Polis was surprised to learn the President of the United States is an aficionado of our Colorado State Capitol and its artwork. The State Capitol was completed in 1901, and features Rose Onyx and White Yule Marble mined in Colorado, and includes portraits of former Presidents and former governors. We appreciate the President and everyone’s interest in our capitol building and are always looking for any opportunity to improve our visitor experience."
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