"The President's Rocking Chair"
Object number2011.034.0028
Date1968 - 1985
ClassificationsArt
Artist
Bernadine Stetzel
ObjectArtwork
Credit LineBernadine Stetzel Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)
DescriptionOil painting on canvas created by artist Bernadine Stetzel that depicts President Kennedy in his rocking chair.
Artist Stetzel described this piece as follows: "J.F.K. seen sitting in his favorite rocking chair in the oval office. The chair was many times a comfort to the President's bad back."
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.
