On the afternoon of Wednesday, September 7, 2022—after being revealed as the artist behind President Barack Obama's official White House Portrait—Robert McCurdy ’74 (General Fine Arts BFA) joined an exclusive list of MICA alumni who have recently been tapped to capture political legends in paint.

Those alumni include Amy Sherald '04 (Hoffberger School of Painting MFA), who was commissioned by the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery for its official portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama, and Jerrell Gibbs '20 (LeRoy E. Hoffberger School of Painting MFA), who painted the official portrait of the late Maryland congressman and civil rights activist Elijah E. Cummings.

Commissioned by the White House Historical Association, the identity of the artist painting Obama's portrait was kept secret until the official unveiling in the East Room of the White House by President Biden. McCurdy, who is known for his photorealistic oil paintings of notable figures in contemporary history, has painted the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Warren Buffet, Toni Morrison, and Neil Armstrong, in addition to the former president.

McCurdy's process includes taking hundreds of photos of his subjects, seeking an image that has no implied past or future but exists in the eternal present. His work is focused entirely on the viewer, and he specifically uses neutral backgrounds in his portraits to maximize the highly personal nature of the encounter between the viewer and subject.

As he noted, "The painting's not telling the story of Barack Obama, it's telling the story of the relationship of the viewer with this particular person, and that's a two-way street."

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