Former President George W Bush held his first exhibit of paintings of world leaders. The exhibition, 'The Art of Leadership: A President's Personal Diplomacy,' was opened Saturday in Dallas at the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.
Bush, who admitted that he 'was no great painter' displayed 24 portraits of world leaders he met during his tenure including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Canadian politician Stephen Harper, retired Chinese politician Jiang Zemin and the Dalai Lama.
"I spent a lot of time on personal diplomacy and I befriended leaders and learned about their families and their likes and dislikes, to the point where I felt comfortable painting them," Bush said at the exhibition.
Harper's spokesman said he and Bush were always friendly. "President Bush has said these portraits were painted in the spirit of friendship, and that he chose to paint leaders he admired. That's a kind gesture from a President that Prime Minister Harper respected and with whom he has enjoyed a good personal and professional relationship," Jason MacDonald told The Canadian Press.
The president who was much maligned for his unilinear views of things has managed to catch the nuances and peculiarities of the leaders in his paintings. "Painting portraits of my friends and some people who weren't necessarily my friends gave me a sense to convey a feeling I have about them because I got to know them well in the presidency," he added.
Bush was modest enough to acknowledged that "the signature is worth more than the painting." Bush revealed that some of the painting had not got positive reviews from his family.
In an interview on the Today show Jenna Bush Hager, an NBC correspondent, asked Laura Bush about a portrait of her. "Yeah," Laura Bush said, "it still needs some work."
"You learned something from that?" Hager asked her father.
"Yeah," he answered, "don't paint your wife."
