Pat. Hurley inscribed photograph [unframed]

Photograph [unframed]. Matt outer measurement is approximately 10.75 inches by 13 inches. Inner measurement is approximately 6.75 inches by 8.75 inches. The black and white photograph is approximately 7.5 inches by 9.25 inches, taped at top to the back of the matt. Matt has minor soiling. The stamp on the back of the photograph states that this photo is a reproduction of a painting by Thomas E. Stephens. The image is of the two-star general seated with a neutral background. He is facing to the front with a small angle to the side. Across his chest and arm in white ink is the inscription To my friend Don Shepard from Pat. Hurley. Donald D. Shepard was the personal counsel of Andrew Mellon, the executor of his estate, and a trustee of the Mellon endowment. He helped draft the legislation that established the National Gallery of Art. Patrick Jay Hurley (January 8, 1883 – July 30, 1963) was an American politician and diplomat. He was the United States Secretary of War from 1929 to 1933, but is best remembered for being Ambassador to China in 1945, during which he was instrumental in getting Joseph Stilwell recalled from China and replaced with the more diplomatic General Albert Coady Wedemeyer. Hurley's lack of what was considered to be a proper ambassadorial demeanor and mode of social interaction made professional diplomats scornful of him. He came to share pre-eminent army strategist Wedemeyer's view that the Communists could be defeated and America ought to commit to doing so even if it meant backing the Kuomintang and Chiang Kai-shek to the hilt. Thomas Edgar Stephens (November 18, 1884 – January 4, 1966)[1][2] was a Welsh-American artist and portrait painter. Born in Cardiff, Wales in 1886, he studied at the Art School of Cardiff University, then at the Heatherly School in London, and then at the Académie Julian in Paris. One of the first portraits Stephens painted upon his arrival in the United States in 1929 was that of Abraham Lincoln. His portrait of Eisenhower hangs in the Smithsonian Institution's Gallery of Presidents in Washington, D.C. and his portrait of Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower at Gettysburg Battlefield home. His portrait of Eisenhower appeared on the front page of Time on April 4, 1969, the issue that carries Eisenhower's obituary. Stephens also painted portraits of George C. Marshall and Douglas MacArthur and many more of the Army's foremost generals of World War II on commission from the United States Military Academy. That of MacArthur appeared on a Life magazine cover on August 28, 1950. He also painted many judges such as Fred M. Vinson and Charles Davenport Lockwood. He painted Harry Truman and the entire Eisenhower cabinet such as George M. Humphrey, Secretary of the Treasury. He also painted the Duke of Windsor. Winston Churchill allowed him to paint his portrait at Eisenhower's request. Stephens' works can be found, among other places, in the White House, the National Gallery of Art, the U.S. Supreme Court, the Pentagon, Walter Reed Hospital, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the U. S. Naval Academy, the Eisenhower Museum in Abilene, Kansas, the Legion of Honor Gallery in Paris; the American Embassy in London, IBM corporate headquarters, Cornell University, Columbia University, Harvard University, the Harry Truman Library and others. Condition: Very good.

Keywords: Patrick Jay Hurley, General, Ambassador, Personal Representative, Secretary of War, Thomas E. Stephens, Portrait, Photograph, Autograph, Don Shepard, Donald D. Shepard, Donald D'Arcy Shepard

[Book #83173]

Price: $500.00

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