After working with Howard Chandler Christy—a popular illustrator and artist—on the commission of a poster for the Constitution Sesquicentennial Commission in 1936, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Sol Bloom sought the artist’s services for his chairman portrait. Originally a three-quarter length seated portrait of the elegantly attired chairman, the work was cut down to bust length by staff at the National Gallery of Art in 1952 due to damage to the canvas. Such drastic interventions were not uncommon during the period.
History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives, “Sol Bloom,” https://history.house.gov/Collection/Listing/2002/2002-010-003/ (March 07, 2021)
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