Thomas E. Stephens - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Thomas Edgar Stephens was a portrait painter and friend of Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...

, whom the President addressed as "Dear Tommy", born in Cardiff

Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

in 1886. His father Thomas Stephens was born in Aberthaw, South Wales. He died in 1966 of cancer at Gramercy Park, New York.

He studied at the Art School of Cardiff University

Cardiff University

Cardiff University is a leading research university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing high quality research-based...

, then the Heatherly School in London, and then at the Académie Julian

Académie Julian

The Académie Julian was an art school in Paris, France.Rodolphe Julian established the Académie Julian in 1868 at the Passage des Panoramas, as a private studio school for art students. The Académie Julian not only prepared students to the exams at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts, but offered...

in Paris. One of the first portraits Stephens painted upon his arrival in the United States in 1929 was that of Abraham Lincoln. His portrait of Eisenhower hangs in the Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

's Gallery of Presidents in Washington, D.C. and his portrait of Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower at Gettysburg Battlefield

Gettysburg Battlefield

The Gettysburg Battlefield is the area of the July 1–3, 1863, military engagements of the Battle of Gettysburg within and around the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Locations of military engagements extend from the 4 acre site of the first shot & at on the west of the borough, to East...

home. His portrait of Eisenhower appeared on the front page of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

on April 4, 1969, the issue that carries Eisenhower's obituary.

Stephens also painted portraits of George C. Marshall and Douglas MacArthur

Douglas MacArthur

General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...

and many more of the Army's foremost generals of World War II on commission from the United States Military Academy. That of MacArthur appeared as another Time cover on August 28, 1950. He also painted many judges such as Fred M. Vinson

Fred M. Vinson

Frederick Moore Vinson served the United States in all three branches of government and was the most prominent member of the Vinson political family. In the legislative branch, he was an elected member of the United States House of Representatives from Louisa, Kentucky, for twelve years...

and Charles Davenport Lockwood. He painted Harry Truman and the entire Eisenhower cabinet such as George M. Humphrey

George M. Humphrey

George Magoffin Humphrey was an American lawyer, businessman and Cabinet secretary.Raised in Edenbronx, Humphrey received both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Michigan. After practicing law in his hometown for five years with his father's farm, he accepted a position with...

, Secretary of the Treasury. He also painted the Duke of Windsor

Duke of Windsor

The title Duke of Windsor was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1937 for Prince Edward, the former King Edward VIII, following his abdication in December 1936. The dukedom takes its name from the town where Windsor Castle, a residence of English monarchs since the Norman Conquest, is...

. Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

allowed him to paint his portrait at Eisenhower's request.

His works are in the White House, the National Gallery of Art

National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden is a national art museum, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, in Washington, DC...

, the U.S. Supreme Court, the Pentagon

The Pentagon

The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...

, Walter Reed Hospital, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the U. S. Naval Academy

Naval Academy

-Institutions:* The United States Naval Academy* The Indian Naval Academy of India* The Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy of Bulgaria* The Imperial Japanese Naval Academy* The École Navale of France* The Britannia Royal Naval College of the United Kingdom...

, the Eisenhower Museum in Abilene, Kansas, the Legion of Honor Gallery in Paris; the American Embassy in London, IBM corporate headquarters, Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

, Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

, Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

, the Harry Truman Library and others.

Stephens was a member of the Salmagundi Club and others.

He was the father of Richard Waring

Richard Waring

Richard Waring was a British-born American actor, appearing in both Hollywood movies and in many Broadway plays....

, an actor, and Peter John Stephens

Peter John Stephens

Peter John Stephens is known for his historical fiction books for teens and three children’s books. He was also a poet, a lyricist for operas and musicals, and a playwright with an off-Broadway play, "A Power of Dreams” in which Anne Meara of Stiller and Meara starred...

, a playwright and author of many teenage historical novels, both now deceased.

Portrait locations

Bobby Jones (golfer)
Bobby Jones (golfer)
Robert Tyre "Bobby" Jones Jr. was an American amateur golfer, and a lawyer by profession. Jones was the most successful amateur golfer ever to compete on a national and international level...

- Bobby Jones Collection, United States Professional Golf Association Museum, Far Hills, N.J.
two portraits of Eisenhower's mother - Eisenhower Museum in Abilene, Kansas
Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower
Mamie Eisenhower
Mamie Geneva Doud Eisenhower was the wife of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and First Lady of the United States from 1953 to 1961.-Early life:...

- Gettysburg War Museum
? - West Point Museum
Sec. George M. Humphrey - U.S. Treasury

External links

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