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Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Illustration for Franklin Roosevelt at Hyde Park: Lunch on the West Porch
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.

Illustration for Franklin Roosevelt at Hyde Park: Lunch on the West Porch

Object numberMO 1956.125
Artist (American painter and printmaker, 1904-1981)
Date1949
Mediumpaper (illustration paper, cardboard, matboard), ink, paint (gouache), pencil
Dimensionsmat H 20 in x W 24 in (50.8 cm x 61 cm )
sheet H 13 in x W 18 1/2 in (33 cm x 47 cm )

DescriptionAn original pen and ink and ink wash drawing with gouache highlights showing Franklin D. Roosevelt and Louis Howe having lunch on the west porch of Springwood, the Roosevelts' Hyde Park, New York home. The two are seated at a table while Eleanor Roosevelt is seen exiting the house and carrying a telegram towards them. The drawing is signed by the artist in ink in the lower left below the image: Olin Dows © 1949.

On the reverse of the drawing is a handwritten note in ink describing the image: F.D.R. and Louis Howe having lunch on the west porch after F.D.R. was paralyzed. Mrs. R is coming out with a telegram.

The drawing is mounted to a piece of cardboard and comes with a window mat on which the title is written in pencil: Lunch on the West Porch.
Label TextThis drawing is one in a series of original ink wash drawings created by Olin Dows for his book, "Franklin Roosevelt at Hyde Park," published in 1949 by American Artists Group, Inc. Olin Dows spent two years writing the text and drawing the book's 174 illustrations. This illustration appears on page 109 of the book where it is captioned: HAVING LUNCH WITH LOUIS HOWE ON THE WEST PORCH.

The Dows family had been lifelong friends and neighbors of the Roosevelts and were frequent guests at events at Hyde Park, NY and in Washington, DC, both before and during the presidency. In 1939, Olin Dows received a commission to design and paint the murals in the Rhinebeck, NY Post Office. In 1941, at the suggestion of President Roosevelt, Dows was commissioned to design and paint the murals in the Hyde Park Post Office as well, and worked closely with FDR in the conception and design of the murals.
Additional Details
Custodial History NoteDonated to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum by Olin Dows in 1955.
Credit LineGift of Olin Dows
Use Restriction StatusUnrestrictedCopyrightReproduction or other use of these holdings or images thereof is unrestricted.
No expuestos