Painting A Portrait Of A Lady

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's face is instantly recognizable. She is the first woman ever to sit on the United Supreme Court. And now, at age 77 and retired after nearly 25 years on the bench, she's in the spotlight again in "Portraits of Sandra Day O'Connor," a new show at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington.

The 25 portraits were made by 25 artists (some amateurs, some professionals) known as The Painting Group. In two three-hour sessions, Justice O'Connor posed for her portrait.

The Painting Group was founded by caricaturist David Levine — the CEO — and painter, Aaron Shikler — the vice president. They meet every week in a small New York Studio.

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Click here to see some portraits of Sandra Day O'Connor.

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In the 50 years that the Group has been in existence, it's been mostly out of the public eye, until now. A documentary about the Painting Group, called "Portraits of a Lady," focuses on the day last October that Justice O'Connor came to sit.

One of the film's producers is Walter Bernard, a longtime member of The Group.

"I thought, what if all of us painted a prominent American figure at one time? That would mean 25 different impressions," Bernard told Sunday Morning correspondent Rita Braver. "The same moment, same context, same person."

[carl132]

The portrait attributed to Carl Lubow is actually by artist Pamela Talese...

[elainejaffe]

I missed this show and I am interested in viewing this segment. Will you be posting this as a Sunday morning video, or is there another way I can view the clip.

elaine Jaffe

[bexis]

Unfortunately, I missed the segment in this morning's show, and this website unfortunately does not feature all of the portraits. They can be seen at the National Portrait Gallery website at http://www.npg.si.edu/