"Swearing in Ceremonies"
Object number2011.034.0020
Date1968 - 1985
ClassificationsArt
Artist
Bernadine Stetzel
ObjectArtwork
Credit LineBernadine Stetzel Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions31 x 47 in. (78.7 x 119.4 cm)
DescriptionOil painting on canvas created by artist Bernadine Stetzel depicting John F. Kennedy's inauguration.
Artist Stetzel described this piece as follows: "The swearing in ceremony of John F. Kennedy as the 35th President of the United States, at the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 1961."
An enthusiastic supporter of John F. Kennedy, Stetzel was devastated by the assassination. Shortly after visiting the president’s gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery in 1968, she began work on a series of paintings that depicted the life of the late president. Between 1968 and 1985, with a long break in the middle, Bernadine Stetzel created 71 works that followed John F. Kennedy from his christening ceremony to the eternal flame at his gravesite.
Curatorial CommentaryExhibit label: John F. Kennedy was sworn-in as the 35th president of the United States on January 20, 1961. Stetzel, a devout Catholic, painted several nuns among the spectators outside the Capitol. In 2011, she said of this work, “I think the inauguration I love the best.”
