30 1/4 x 25 in. (76.8 x 63.5 cm)
Framed: 35 3/4 x 30 1/2 in. (90.8 x 77.5 cm)
Accession Number
2002.010.009
Credit Line
Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
Object Details
Kee’s portrait was painted in 1949—when he became Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee—by noted artist Alfred Jonniaux. Just two years later, he died suddenly, and his wife, Maude Kee, won the special election to fill his seat. After a long career, her son James represented the same West Virginia district, and extended the Kee tradition of congressional service from 1933 to 1972. Despite his deep roots in his rural district, Kee’s portrait is very much in the tradition of official Washington portraits of the era, with indeterminate background and half-length figure expertly rendered by Jonniaux.
