Portrait of a Presidency

During the fall of her final year as president of Smith College, Kathleen McCartney was handed a package containing samples of the work of dozens of artists. Her task: Choose one for the job of painting her presidential portrait. “There was so much talent. Talk about pressure,” McCartney jokes. However, she kept returning to one particular painting—a portrait by renowned artist Ying-He Liu of her husband. “It was incredibly beautiful and evocative,” McCartney recalls. “I couldn’t get it out of my head. I felt like I knew him, that I could see into his soul, and it struck me that that’s what a good portrait should do.”

So began a nearly two-year collaboration between McCartney and Liu, the result of which was unveiled to the Smith community during a ceremony in mid-October in the Klingenstein Browsing Room in Neilson Library, where the portrait will eventually hang in the company of the portraits of Smith’s 10 previous presidents.

McCartney’s portrait stands out—and that’s exactly what she wanted. Nearly life-size, the oil-based painting features the former Smith president standing just outside the Grécourt Gates, with College Hall visible in the background, her hair blowing in the breeze, and a scarf hanging casually at her side. “I wanted something that breaks with the traditional portrait of the subject sitting with their hands in their lap,” McCartney says. “I wanted the portrait to be both formal and informal.”

A sense of place was also important. “I felt strongly that the portrait be as much about Smith as it is about me,” McCartney says. “I love nature, so it felt right to be outside. College Hall was the first academic and administrative building on campus and it has always been home to the President’s Office, so, of course, the setting seemed just right. And the Grécourt Gates are a symbol of life outside of Smith, and they are so emblematic of the college.”

When Liu was first approached about painting McCarney’s presidential portrait, she wasn’t quite sure she wanted the job. “I wasn’t eager to jump at another commission,” she says. But then she met McCartney in person and was instantly charmed and impressed. The two went out to dinner and shared their life stories. “I left and said to myself, ‘I’m in luck.’ Kathy was so warm and kind-hearted, and she knew what she wanted.”

Liu also came to understand the significance of Smith’s mission, history, and place in the world, especially in light of her own experience as a young artist who, upon arriving in the United States from China in 1981, was relegated to painting family portraits while her male counterparts received more prestigious commissions. “For someone like me who came to this country with nothing but fierce ambition, places like Smith made so much possible for women,” Liu says. “I can’t overemphasize the value of the work Smith does.”

Liu calls her time with McCartney a “true collaboration.” “I love the result,” she says. “It’s not a regular portrait. You feel as if she’s walking toward you. You can feel the gentle breeze and the spring in her step. I think it captures Kathy’s spirit.”

Ultimately, for McCartney, the portrait also tells a deeper story about Smith’s history and evolution. Looking around at the portraits of the previous presidents currently hanging in the browsing room, McCartney notes: “Portraits like this provide historical records for institutions like Smith. They weave together a narrative about our history. For example, six of the 11 portraits that hang here are of men; when [current Smith President Sarah Willie-LeBreton’s] portrait joins this collection, there will be as many portraits of women as men, and that will say something incredibly important.”