Jacqueline Kennedy

Artist: Aaron Shikler
Date of Work: 1970
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Type: Portrait
Credit: White House Collection/White House Historical Association

This oil on canvas portrait of First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy was painted by Aaron Shikler in 1970 and was placed on public display in the East Room on February 5, 1971.

This oil on canvas portrait of First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy was painted by Aaron Shikler. Prior to her marriage to John F. Kennedy, Mrs. Kennedy worked at the Washington Times-Herald and she was educated at Vassar, the University of Grenoble, and the Sorbonne. As First Lady, she was a skilled hostess and entertainer, and she undertook more official visits to other countries than any other previous first lady. However, her lasting legacy was a major restoration of the White House. Feeling that the house lacked a sense of history when she arrived, Mrs. Kennedy established a committee to raise funds for and oversee the restoration. To further raise funds for this project, she initiated the first White House guidebook and used those sales. Additionally, she personally wrote to owners of historically important furniture and art appeals to donate those pieces. She also redesigned the Rose Garden and the East Garden. The East Garden was renamed the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden after President Kennedy's assassination in 1963. The results of this endeavor were not only a White House that documented American history and culture within its furnishings, but also the formation of the White House Historical Association, the Committee for the Preservation of the White House, the White House Endowment Trust, the White House Acquisition Trust, and a permanent Curator of the White House. Her portrait was placed on public display in the East Room on February 5, 1971.