Nelson Shanks, at 77; painted presidents, a pope, and a princess - Boston Globe
ANDALUSIA, Pa. — Nelson Shanks, a painter renowned for his portraits of prominent figures ranging from presidents to a pope to royalty, died Friday. Shanks died at his home in Andalusia, according to Bill Wedo, spokesman for the Studio Incamminati art school that Mr. Shanks founded with his wife, Leona. Shanks painted well-known subjects such as Princess Diana, Pope John Paul II, presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, and a group portrait of the first four women to serve on the US Supreme Court. He was called ‘‘the most talented contemporary traditional portraitist’’ by D. Dodge Thompson, chief of exhibitions at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C. The artist and his Clinton portrait made waves earlier this year when he told... He said a shadow beside Clinton is a reference to Lewinsky’s infamous blue dress and a symbolic nod to the shadow the affair cast on his presidency. Although he taught at several art institutes, he launched the Studio Incamminati, School for Contemporary Realist Art in Center City Philadelphia in 2002 to teach figure-painting and other realist techniques, telling the Associated Press that year... Source: www.bostonglobe.com
