Portraits Of Sandra Day O'Connor

This painting by Adam Van Doren is one of the works in the new show, "Portraits of Sandra Day O'Connor," at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, 77, was the first woman to sit on the United States Supreme Court.

Byron Dobell painted this O'Connor portrait. Justice O'Connor posed in her robe for 25 portraits by 25 artists known as The Painting Group based in New York City.
"It wasn't fun to sit there for all those hours, I can tell you that," she said.

This portrait is by Pamela Talese. A documentary on The Painting Group, produced and directed by Neil Leifer, is now in production. It focuses on the day last October that Justice O'Connor came to sit.

This portrait is by David Levine. He and Aaron Shikler are longtime friends who founded the Painting Group in 1958. The group is actually incorporated and Levine is CEO.
"Somehow this highly important person comes around and is going to sit," he said. "I'm only used to certain people who have a different approach to their bodies so that it enables them to pose nude and so on."

Jacqueline Taub did this O'Connor portrait. Some members of the Painting Group are amateurs and others are professional artists. Taub is an interior designer but is one of the group's original members.

Jean Marcellino painted this O'Connor portrait. She created ads and album covers for many of the music industry's most famous performers. She joined the group in 2005.

Laura Duggan painted this portrait. Marc Pachter, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, says these portraits capture O'Connor as both a justice and a woman. "That's what I love," he said, "that when you look around we have a sense of a professional, formal presence. But then we have a sense of an intimate connection with it. I love the fact that some really didn't put her in robes at all."

Geoffrey Atkin did this portrait. When asked what she thought of the portraits, O'Connor replied: "Well, different strokes for different folks."
"What can I say?" she said. "They each take a different approach. I knew they would all bring to the task the best of their abilities and that they would enjoy trying to do something as a joint project, and I think they did."