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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.
Drawn Portrait of Norman Hezekiah Davis
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.

Drawn Portrait of Norman Hezekiah Davis

Artifact IDMO 2009.8.1
Object Type Drawing
Artist (American painter, illustrator, and printmaker, 1880-1948)
Date1935
Mediumpaper, charcoal, chalk, pencil, ink
Dimensionsmat H 27 in x W 20 in (68.6 cm x 50.8 cm )
 sheet H 25 5/8 in x W 19 3/4 in (65.1 cm x 50.2 cm )
Physical DescriptionA charcoal and chalk sketch of Norman Hezekiah Davis done from life. Done on buff paper, the head and shoulders portrait shows Davis, turned to the proper right in an almost full profile, wearing a suit jacket, white shirt, and a dark tie. Davis’s pencil signature is directly below the portrait: Norman H. Davis. The artist's stamped signature is in the lower left quadrant: S.J. Woolf. Stamped in red ink and written in pencil above the portrait: NOV 17 1935 / 596 / MAG / 5x9.

Written in pencil and ink on the reverse of the artwork page: P-269 / L 3596.29 / 596 / MAG / 5 x 7.

The artwork page is mounted inside a window mat folder.
Historical NoteNorman Hezekiah Davis (1878-1944) was a U.S. diplomat who filled a variety of roles including the chairman of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies from 1938 to 1944, and president of the Council on Foreign Relations 1936-1944.

This portrait of Davis by Samuel Johnson Woolf accompanied an article, also by Woolf, titled, "NORMAN DAVIS TALKS OF WAR AND PEACE - Our Ambassador at Large Thinks the Approach to a Cure of the World's Ills is Economic”. The article, along with a reproduction of the portrait, appeared in the November 17, 1935 edition of the New York Times Magazine.
Additional Details
Custodial History NoteDonated to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum by Stuart P. and Sue Feld in 2008.
Credit LineGift of Stuart P. and Sue Feld
National Archives Catalog CollectionFranklin D. Roosevelt Library Museum Collection (National Archives Identifier 735948)
National Archives Catalog SeriesPortraits (National Archives Identifier 778816)
Use Restriction StatusUnrestrictedCopyrightReproduction or other use of these holdings or images thereof is unrestricted.
In Collection(s)
Not on view