Portraits of A Lady

The Painting Group was founded in 1958 by artists Aaron Shikler and David Levine. Though the group generally picks everyday people to paint at their weekly Wednesday meetings, they had the great fortune of getting access to Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who sat on the Bench for almost 25 years and was the first woman appointed to the Court. Justice O’Connor came and spent a day posing for the artists, and from the work they began during the six hours she sat for them, they crafted finished paintings to be featured in a show at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. The 25 members of the group were dispersed around the room, painting Justice O’Connor at the same time but from their own positions and using their own perspectives.