6890

General John Joseph Pershing 1933

Head and shoulders with his head turned slightly and looking to the right, wearing service dress with decorations and a red sash across his chest which is underneath his Sam Browne belt

Oil on canvas, 72 x 53 cm (28 ½ x 20 ⅚ in.)

Inscribed lower left: 9 July / de László 1933 / PARIS

Laib L18157 (238) / C22(27)  General Perishing [sic]

NPG Album 1933, f. 18a

Sitters’ Book II, f. 76: John J Pershing, / Sept. 21. '33.

Studio Inventory, p. 13 (75): General Pershing, C. in C., U.S. Army. A finished study for the official portrait commissioned for the Hall of the Légion d'Honneur in Paris.  Painted in 42bis, Avenue Henri Martin, Studio of the Duc de Gramont.

West Point Museum Art Collection, United States Military Academy, West Point, New York

De László’s early biographer, Owen Rutter, records that in 1933 the artist completed a portrait commission of Pershing for the Duchesse de Talleyrand, who presented it anonymously to the Musée de la Légion d’Honneur on behalf of the American colony in Paris [6888].^[1] The present portrait remained in the possession of the artist until his death and is recorded in the artist’s studio inventory as having been a study for that work.  

It was not unusual for the artist to make a well considered study portrait in the course of the sittings for a formal portrait, and retain it as a souvenir in his studio. In most instances the sitter would have been unaware of this. There also exist two further related portraits, with the sitter portrayed in similar pose and uniform. These include a small preparatory oil sketch for the Légion d’Honneur picture, which remained in the artist’s possession and is now in the Allentown Art Museum in Pennsylvania [10244], and a larger finished portrait, that remains with the Pershing family [10242].

For biographical notes on the sitter, see [6887].

PROVENANCE:

In the possession of the artist on his death;

Given by the de Laszlo family to Dr. Erno Laszlo^[2];

Presented by him to West Point Military Academy, in 1964

EXHIBITED:

•Knoedler Galleries, New York, Portraits by Philip A. de László, 16-28 October 1933, no. 13

LITERATURE:

•The New York Times, 22 October 1933, Rotogravure Section, ill.

•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, pp. 347, 373-4

•Whitmore, Earle, Portraits, West Point, U.S.M.A., 1974

•Hart-Davis, Duff, in collaboration with Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, De László: His Life and Art, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 246

MD  2012