Bob Schieffer's art at the Katzen

This one Mr. Schieffer titled Our Very Best and wrote: "We've lived through a difficult period, but we must never forget that Washington, Lincoln and Roosevelt dealt with far worse during their presidencies."

The artist from CBS and "60 Minutes" and more was there, of course, with his curator, Michael Beschloss, presidential historian, and a packed gallery at American University's Katzen Arts Center.

I can't call it an elbow to elbow crowd; it was more like cheek-to-cheek. You guess.

From left, Michael Beschloss, the curator; Jack Rasmussen, the director of  American University's Katzen Arts Center; and Bob Schieffer/photo by Patricia Leslie, AP 6, 2024

Bob Schieffer, Paradise Lost, 2023 (detail).  The label says:  "The horrible fire that swept Maui was the perfect example of the new threat that extreme weather now poses."

Bob Schieffer, Honest Abe ... "I drew this picture in 1983 and I included it because I always feel better when I think about Honest Abe."

For 87 years old (! where does time go?), Bob Schieffer paints well, mixing mostly non-fiction subjects in a collage fashion in large-sized works. His colors are bold and brassy; his style is mostly realism with some impressionism (Election Night, 2020 and the celebration in Lafayette Park, my favorite). His portraits of celebrities (a startled Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sandra Day O'Connor, John Lewis, Amanda Gorman, John McCain, George Floyd) are unadorned. 

Every time I look at his art, I find myself with growing admiration for his talent for it's obvious that he didn't first pick up a paint brush when he retired, but years ago when his grandmother taught him. 

Bob Schieffer, The Bump, 2020:  "After Biden won, hundreds of celebrants poured into Lafayette Park to let the world know." 

Bob Schieffer, The Face of Evil, 2022: "This was the easiest painting to name. I have no idea who first painted it, only that is appeared on hundreds of signs carried by Ukrainians fighting the Russian invaders."

Schieffer has modeled many of his works on notable scenes and photographs, such as his Napalm Girl, a sad token of the 1973 Pulitzer Prize winning photograph, "The Terror of War," by Huynh Cong "Nick" Út.  Growing up during the Vietnam War, I hate to be reminded.

Bob Schieffer with Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson with a Schieffer painting:  Cassidy Hutchinson: Profile in Courage. Ms. Hutchinson testified before the January 6 Committee about Trump's actions on January 6 and, on another day, she helped a White House valet clean catsup off a wall where someone had thrown it. Who in the White House eats catsup and has temper tantrums?/Photo by Patricia Leslie, April 6, 2024 

Bob Schieffer with Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson at the exhibition opening/Photo by Patricia Leslie, April 6, 2024 

There's a painting of Maggie Haberman smiling.  Maggie Haberman smiles? Since when did she smile? She's spent so much time with Trump, she's become schooled in the Trump Center for Facial Expressions:  "Never smile." (He's also pictured scowling in front of St. John's Church.)

Bob Schieffer, Journalism 101  featuring Maggie Haberman

Bob Schieffer, The Unforced Error:  Leaving the Graveyard of Empire, 2021 (detail). Schieffer writes:  "Unlike the American experience in VIetnam, Biden envisioned a dignified end to America's longest war. Instead it was a debacle."

Bob Schieffer, The Irony of War, 2022-2023 (detail) with the label: "Russian and American astronauts returned to Earth after working together for a year in space, something no longer possible back home."

A large crowd turned out for the opening of Bob Schieffer's art exhibition at the Katzen Arts Center, American University/Photo by Patricia Leslie, April 6, 2024 

It was cheek to cheek for the opening of Bob Schieffer's art exhibition at the Katzen Arts Center, American University/ Photo by Patricia Leslie, April 6, 2024 

Celebrities at the event included Gloria Borger, Judy Woodruff, Al Hunt, Gloria Bohan, Christine O'Dwyer, Mary Gotschall and Bruce Guthrie.

Most of the women wore Washington Safety Black with the exception of Norah O'Donnell in a matching rose pink jacket and pants, and Cassidy Hutchinson in a spring garden dress.

Jake Tapper reportedly showed up in a Phillies jersey after a game between the Nationals and Philadelphia who won.  

Mr. Schieffer laughed (and the crowd laughed with him) about all the talk about presidential candidates being old:  He would love to be 80 again!  

In the artist's statement posted on the wall, he wrote that his interest in an exhibition started in early 2020: "What I soon understood was that Covid was just the beginning. One crisis after another settled over a society already reeling from the pandemic."  

The title of the show, Looking for the Light, originated with Amanda Gorman's poem delivered at President Biden's inauguration. Schieffer: "I found hope in a dark and dangerous time."

On April 20 from 2 - 3 p.m., Mr. Schieffer and Jack Rasmussen, the AU museum director, will give a talk (with perhaps Curator Beschloss on hand; the website is unclear).  Go here to sign up at Eventbrite. Signed catalogues will be available.

WHAT: Looking for the Light

WHEN:  Through May 19, 2024, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday 

WHERE:   Katzen Arts Center at American University, 4400 Mass. Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20016-8031

ADMISSION:  Free!

PARKING:  Garage parking is free on weekends and after 5 p.m., weekdays. Paid parking is available, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., weekdays.

patricialesli@gmail.com

RFK Book and Journalism Awards, 2017

 

Ethel Kennedy and her daughter, Kerry Kennedy, arrive at the Robert F. Kennedy Book and Journalism Awards presentation at the Newseum, May 23, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

As the photos attest, Ethel Kennedy, age 89, and her daughter, Kerry Kennedy, 57, looked wonderful and glam (I realize this is not p.c., but still they looked so good, comments cannot be ignored) at Tuesday night's 49th annual presentation  of the Robert F. Kennedy Book and Journalism Awards. 

The awards are given to those writers who "best applied RFK's ideals and values" and instilled his goals and aspirations "in the public interest, on the issues of poverty, political inclusion, and justice," according to the website and remarks by Ms. Kennedy, president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, and presidential historian Michael Beschloss who presided with Margaret Engel at the event at the Newseum.

 Ethel Kennedy and her daughter, Kerry Kennedy, arrive at the Robert F. Kennedy Book and Journalism Awards presentation at the Newseum, May 23, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 Ethel Kennedy and her daughter, Kerry Kennedy, arrive at the Robert F. Kennedy Book and Journalism Awards presentation at the Newseum, May 23, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Winners in the journalism category were chosen by 60 judges. The book award went to Matthew Desmond for Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, chosen by writers Peter Edelman, Ruth Marcus, and Annette Gordon Reed.

Journalism categories included college, high school print and high school broadcast, radio, cartoons, new media, and domestic and international print, television, and photography. (A complete list of winners is available here.)

 Ethel Kennedy and her daughter, Kerry Kennedy at the Robert F. Kennedy Book and Journalism Awards presentation at the Newseum, May 23, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Before the ceremony began, Ethel Kennedy, center, sitting, received guests at the Robert F. Kennedy Book and Journalism Awards presentation at the Newseum, May 23, 2017.  To Mrs. Kennedy's left is her daughter, Kerry Kennedy, sitting/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Kerry Kennedy, president of RFK Human Rights, at the podium with Margaret Engel and Michael Beschloss at the Robert F. Kennedy Book and Journalism Awards presentation at the Newseum, May 23, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 John Seigenthaler, Jr. congratulates Josh Salman, Emily Le Coz, and Elizabeth Johnson of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune on winning the John Seigenthaler Journalism Prize at the Robert F. Kennedy Book and Journalism Awards presentation at the Newseum, May 23, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

John Seigenthaler, Jr., presented the John Seigenthaler Journalism Prize to "Bias on the Bench" by Josh Salman, Emily Le Coz, and Elizabeth Johnson writing for the Sarasota Herald Tribune.  The reporters studied 80 million records to show that judges discriminate against black defendants in Florida. (Mr. Seigenthaler was RFK's close personal aide.)

The RFK Media Advocacy Prize went to "Rikers" by Bill Moyers, Judy Doctoroff O'Neill, Marc Levin, Mark Benjamin and Rolake Bamgbose, Schumann Media Center and Brick City TV in association with Public Square Media, PBS.  

Mr. Moyers was not present and unable to accept the award which was the same for all winners:  a bust of RFK, about 18 inches high with a design, reminiscent of the JFK bust at the Kennedy Center.  The busts looked to be bronze and based upon Kerry Kennedy's reaction when lifting them from a table to present them to the winners, they were bronze.

Receiving "special recognition" was My Own Words by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg written with Wendy Williams and Mary Hartnett.  Due to a long-standing commitment with the American Bar Association, Justice Ginsburg was unable to attend the presentation and sent a video message instead.  

During her remarks, Kerry Kennedy made several references to "Daddy" which seemed odd, simply because she looked too young to remember her father, but when he was killed in 1968, she was eight years old. 

She quoted from a speech he made to the American Association of Newspaper Editors in 1961 about the importance of journalism to the lifeblood of the U.S.: Writers and reporters must dig into government and find out what's going on, and report it accurately.  

Kerry Kennedy issued a refrain:  "The press is under attack; our freedoms are under attack" which Mr. Beschloss picked up and repeated. 

So much more is at stake this spring, he said, when "values are under assault...hour by hour." Robert Kennedy "didn't denigrate; he dreamed."

Lest anyone forget, he reminded all, it was a night of celebration and a reflection on Robert Kennedy's journey.

 

At the beginning of the evening Mr. Beschloss publicly recognized Ethel Kennedy sitting on the front row with her daughter, before her daughter took the podium. 

Ethel Kennedy is not just "a national treasure," Mr. Beschloss said, "she is a global treasure." Mrs. Kennedy beamed and stood to wave, and the audience rose to gave her a standing ovation and applaud her achievements and her life.

 U.S. Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MD and House Minority Whip) at the Robert F. Kennedy Book and Journalism Awards presentation at the Newseum, May 23, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Mr. Beschloss noted that three buildings important to Mr. Kennedy stood nearby:  the U.S. Capitol (he was a U.S. Senator from New York from 1965 to 1968), the Justice Department (he served as attorney general from 1961 until September, 1964) and the White House.  

A short video of the last few years of RFK's life was screened.  In one segment RFK recounted telling his wife that he wanted to start a speech with a funny story, and Ethel Kennedy replied:  "Just point to the top of your head, and they'll laugh."  (Mr. Kennedy had a healthy and notable head of hair.) 

Videos of less than three minutes each which described themes of each of the winning articles and book were shown before winners arrived on stage to accept awards. 

A cocktail reception followed.  About 200 attended.

Robert F. Kennedy: "One person can make a difference and each of us should try." 

patricialesli@gmail.com