William F. Draper was one of the foremost American portrait painters of the 20th century.
Among his more than 700 portrait subjects were: Dr. Charles Mayo of the Mayo Clinic; Paul Mellon; Terence Cardinal Cooke; Celeste Holm; the jazz harpist Daphne Hellman; and President John F. Kennedy. A combat artist during World War II, 25 of his war images appeared in four issues of The National Geographic in 1944. Also during the War he was commissioned to paint portraits of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and Admiral William F. Halsey. In 1945 he established a studio on Park Avenue in New York City and began his long career. In 1999 he received the Portrait Society of America’s gold medal, its highest honor. He died in 2003 at the age of 90. (from the New York Times obituary by Ken Johnson, November 01, 2003)
As seen in the photo below, the portrait of Joseph Verner Reed hangs in the atrium of the Museum’s research library over an antique Moroccan desk. Through the door on the right, one can glimpse a portion of Reed’s Morocco collection that he acquired while he served as American Ambassador to Morocco (1981-85).
One commentator on William Draper’s style characterized his paintings as “filled with color, light, and vitality, expressing Draper’s exuberance for life and his enjoyment of people.” It is precisely these qualities that have characterized the professional career of TALMS board member Joseph Verner Reed in his successive posts as: American ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco; Chief of Protocol in the administration of President George Herbert Walker Bush; and his many years as Under secretary at the United Nations. The appeal of the portrait and the subject are one.
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