White House portraits of President Clinton and First Lady by Simmie Knox unveiled; first painted by a black artist

Jet, July 5, 2004

Portraitist Simmie Knox has painted himself onto the pages of American history books with the recent unveiling of the official White House portraits of former president Bill Clinton and former first lady, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Knox is the first Black to be commissioned to paint an official presidential portrait. The former president's portrait will be hung on the west side of the Grand Foyer, replacing the portrait of the first President Bush, which will move to the east side.

A Mobile, AL, native, the self-taught artist is best known for his portraits of Black celebrities like Lou Rawls, Hank Aaron, Bill and Camille Cosby, Muhammad Ali, as well as Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Knox told JET that when he began to paint as a hobby during his teen years, he never thought it would bring him international acclaim.

"I don't understand it yet, I really don't, because I've been at this for a long time and I'm 68 now, and you know, you just quietly live your life and suddenly it's like every finger starts pointing at you. And I'm like, 'you've got to be kidding.'

"It is just wonderful; it's something you read about, you hear about it happening to other people, and you see it in movies happening to other people, then suddenly, you're in that movie! It's surreal!"

Knox, whose portraits have a vibrant clarity and startling life-like appearance, has been painting for 50 years.

"There is no easy part [to painting a portrait]. The only easy part about it is I just love the challenge, and I love doing it. But there's nothing about it that's easy, and that's why I don't think too many people try to do it, because it's quite a challenge. It's very stressing, but it just so happens that I love it. You know how there are some things that people hate to do that others love to do? It's one of those things," according to Knox.

Knox, whose commission fees range from $9,500 to $60,000 per portrait, grew up poor as the son of sharecroppers on an Alabama farm. He says the lessons taught him by his paintings and his upbringing has helped prepare him for success.

"Painting has taught me patience and persistence. I make big pictures with tiny brushes. Sometimes it's not always the size of your hammer, or the size of the rock, but it's how often you hit that rock. And eventually if you keep hitting it, pieces are going to fall off. You make a painting with little tiny strokes and one day it materializes. And that teaches you a lot about life and living in general," he told JET.

"I learned that as a farmer. As a little kid, my granddad would go out in the field and be able to pick 100 pounds of cotton. And I would say, 'How the heck does he do that?' [Because] I'd go out there and I'd stay all day and I couldn't come up with more than 25. He said, 'Son, just take care of what's right in front of you ... and you get out there and get it early while the dew is on it.'

"And so that teaches me about life. If you can take care of the things in your life for that day, focus on that. Because tomorrow is going to come ... I try to do that in life and that's what painting has taught me. Make every effort count."