In December of 2012, the National Portrait Gallery unveiled this monumental image of
General Colin Powell, former Secretary of State. the artist, Ronald Sherr was also responsible for
one of the National Portrait Gallery's images of President George H. W. Bush. Recently, we had the
opportunity to speak with Ronald Sherr. We're using the term "monumental" just because it's a
large work. It is. Are we okay with that, are you happy with that? Yeah, yeah, sure. It strikes us
as... I think of him as a man who's bigger than life, you know, and I, as I was saying earlier,
that, that really did have an effect on me, when I came in and I saw that painting of LL Cool J
by Kehinde Wiley. A very dramatic picture, you know? I said, I was very impressed by
it. But the overall scale of it is what made me think, you know, truthfully, that someone coming
to the gallery for the first time could look at that and just assume, if you knew nothing
about American history, that he had to have been the most important person that ever lived. So,
that, right then and there I decided, a head and shoulders? No way. You know, a three-quarter? No
way. And very, very kindly the National Portrait Gallery gave me license to do what I felt
was best. So I discussed that with General Powell early on. And he, he was okay with,
the only thing he insisted upon is that it looked like him. He wanted it to look like him. And then
he did express some interest in how I was going to deal with the fact that he had aged since the time
he was in the military and chairman of the Joint Chiefs. And I remember, you know because he said
that his hair was nearly, you know, white-ish now. In fact he made a comment, that was very funny,
that it is much straighter than it used to be. And he picked up a lock of it and, or a piece of it,
and it is much straighter than it used to be. But he asked how I was going to do it. And I said,
"I don't know." I said, "I'll have to find a middle ground, or, you know," but I didn't, I
didn't know that until I was into the painting. I didn't want to paint him, you know, as he was back
then. I didn't, I knew that I could do certain things to, for instance, make up for things like
whiter hair. For instance, if I take someone with very light gray hair and I posed them against dark
background they're going to look like they have a really white hair. If I posed them against a much
lighter background brings out the darks in it. So, you know, the amount of shadow on that side
of his head is, is an important factor in maybe giving that slightly younger look to him because
it darkens a lot of that. Start to finish, how much time did that take? The whole process? The
whole process, again, I was talking earlier about the changes that I made to the picture,
but with those changes, nearly I remember talking to Brandon that I was at my limit
for the 18-month contract literally the whole time. And it was because of those, those endless,
endless changes to the picture. Are you happy with it? The portrait? Yes sir. I am because,
as I was saying earlier, the whole thing for me is when, when I do a portrait I really try to create
a feel of the person. And, although I try that on all of them, it doesn't always go my way. And,
and I really feel like he's there in the portrait, you know? I feel like that's the way he stands,
I feel like that's the way he, you know, kind of looks at you. And hopefully other people will feel
that. I think that's what he sensed and that's what his family sensed. I got some of the nicest
comments from his family they were just, you know, I mean they're wonderful people, but they were
just beside themselves, and what more could I ask? You know? What more could I ask? like I say if,
if people feel that, if I feel it in the painting, other people often feel that as well. But I'm not
the judge. You know? I mean everyone else from now on, it's up to them. Thanks. You
know may your sitters be still and your colors bright. You're welcome, my pleasure, thank you.