I had relatively few occasions to draw the first President Bush, who died last Friday, during his single term. Probably the best was the first, a party invitation for Inaugural Day at Eve’s and my loft in New York. This was only ironically a celebratory occasion; we were good Democrats who had supported Bush’s opponent Michael Dukakis. I actually painted a caricature of Bush on our floor for guests to dance on, though it was not as detailed as the one on the flyer:
David Chelsea is reading: Seduction: Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes’s Hollywood
by Karina Longworth
Once Bush became President, I had more chances to draw him for the op-ed illustration service INX. Republicans are generally not known for enlightened environmental policies, and Bush was no exception:
Also for INX, Bush and his 1992 opponent, Bill Clinton, grappling to be America’s Dad. I was pretty practiced at drawing Bush by then, but my Clinton clearly needed work:
After he left office, Bush still popped up in the news from time to time, especially after his son George W. was elected President. I drew him for The New York Observer (before it was bought by the current President’s son-in-law), when he celebrated his 80th- or 75th- I’m not sure- birthday with a parachute jump: