Michael O'Brien's portrait of Donald Trump
Photographer Michael O'Brien's portrait of Donald Trump was taken in 1989 for the business magazine Fortune. A print of the portrait was donated to the National Portrait Gallery in 2011.
O'Brien had been assigned to photograph businessman Donald Trump for an article on billionaires for Fortune magazine.[1] He immediately visualised the image of Trump upon receiving the assignment, with Trump portrayed standing against a blue sky reminiscent of the paintings of René Magritte, "looking confident and back on top".[1] O'Brien later wrote that Trump had been "bouncing back" after business difficulties.[1]
On the day he was due to shoot Trump, O'Brien realised that the image needed "an accent ... something unexpected, but revealing". He choose a few red apples from a local fruit stand in Brooklyn, and drove to Manhattan.[1] O'Brien first photographed Trump without an apple as "you never know how cooperative the subject will be". He proposed the idea of tossing the apple, to which Trump was immediately receptive.[1] Trump threw the apple "again and again and again" to get the perfect shot, which O'Brien described as "A surreal sky with a red apple floating magically at its arc". Trump only complained once, that his arm was tired.[1]
It was published in the September 11, 1989 issue of Fortune. O'Brien felt the image published was too small and his "good shot had gone to waste". It was subsequently used as the cover image for Trump's second book, Trump: Surviving at the Top, which O'Brien described as "a second life; the image had grown a little larger". A print of the portrait was donated to the National Portrait Gallery as part of a selection of 16 of O'Brien's prints donated by Sally and Bill Wittliff between 2009 and 2011.[1] It was displayed in January 2017 prior to Trump's inauguration after he had been elected the 45th President of the United States.[2][3][4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g "Photographing a Future President". National Portrait Gallery (United States). Retrieved 26 March 2025.
- ^ "National Portrait Gallery Installs Photo of President-Elect Trump". National Portrait Gallery (United States). 2017. Retrieved 29 March 2025.
- ^ Harlan, Becky (January 13, 2017). "National Portrait Gallery Installs Photo Of President-Elect Trump". NPR.org. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ Mcgraw, Meridith (January 16, 2017). "Trump Photograph Installed at the National Portrait Gallery". ABC News. Retrieved January 17, 2017.