Joseph Warren Fordney

Object Details

An unusual choice was made for Joseph Fordney’s representation in the Ways and Means Committee room—his portrait is a hand-painted photograph. Charles Fairman registered his disapproval of this move in Art and Artists of the Capitol (1927), writing, “ . . . it can not be understood why the members of the committee should have selected a firm of photographers to provide the portrait.” He softens his judgment, though, adding that it “is an excellent example of the photographer’s art. Surely no one can say while viewing this portrait that it is not an accurate likeness.” However inexplicable Fairman found the choice of Underwood and Underwood, the same was made for an image of Chairman Robert Doughton some 20 years later.