Governor Albert Sleeper
(1917-1921)

1920
Painted by Edwin Murray MacKay
Oil on linen

This portrait of Governor Albert Sleeper by Edwin Murray MacKay showcases MacKay’s stylistic versatility by highlighting both his ability to produce realistic figurative artwork while also communicating intense emotion through more heavily impressionistic background elements. Sleeper is painted in a nearly full-length, simple pose. He looks directly at the viewer with a relaxed, comfortable expression. MacKay employs visible brushstrokes and layers the paint in Sleeper’s face and clothing, revealing the process he has taken to build up the paint on the canvas. His style takes on a more modern direction in this way, which contrasts with the smoother, more refined looking portraits of earlier governors. MacKay’s work represents a turning point in the Capitol’s portrait collection, where many artists begin to stray from the more classical approach to formal governmental portraits. Despite the visibility of MacKay’s brushstrokes in Sleeper’s face, the artist retains a level of realism that captures the governor’s likeness; it could be argued, even, that the variation of color and paint thickness across the Sleeper’s face and hands helps MacKay to better communicate the governor’s personality and essence.

Unlike the control shown in the realism of Sleeper’s form, the background of the painting demonstrates more artistic freedom and spontaneity. In particular, the couch in the lower left corner and the curtain in the top right corner display a myriad of colors and loose, unrestrained brushstrokes. Even the plain brown wall behind Sleeper’s head is built up with layers of contrasting warm and cool tones. It is as if MacKay exercised restraint in the painting of the governor’s figure and allowed himself freedom of expression in the background. This style of painting is fitting of the time period in which MacKay worked, when the art world was in flux between the earthy, often naturalistic paintings of Realism; the unbridled, spontaneous brushstrokes and intense colors of Impressionism; and the more symbolic, yet still emotional style of the developing Post-Impressionist movement.