Photos: Ross Rossin presents life-size paintings of all American presidents

Atlanta Living & Arts

Photos: Life-size paintings at Booth Museum depict 44 American presidents

Atlanta portrait artist Ross Rossin created this monumental 13-by-20-foot painting of all 18 presidents from the 20th century to satisfy an urge to celebrate American history. (Rebecca Wright for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Rossin decided to put the presidents of the 21st century on a separate 13-by-20-foot canvas, which has room for next 80 years of presidents. (Rebecca Wright for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Rossin and his wife Ava immigrated to Atlanta from Bulgaria 20 years ago, and he has not ceased marveling at our democratic republic. "You have no tyrants," he said. (Rebecca Wright for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Ross Rossin researched images of past presidents to complete his monumental paintings. For the earliest presidents, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, Rossin studied life masks and the sculptures of Jean-Antoine Houdon, who had been invited to sculpt busts of American political leaders by Benjamin Franklin. (Rebecca Wright for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Rossin's admiration for American democracy and his gratitude at being a naturalized citizen prompted him to pursue his goal of painting all 44 presidents. (Rebecca Wright for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Rossin began working on his project more than 15 years ago when he painted life-sized versions of all the 20th century presidents in a single 13-by-20-foot canvas. (Rebecca Wright for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

More recently, Rossin added a second canvas, of equal size, with full-sized portraits of all the 19th century presidents, plus George Washington and John Adams. (Rebecca Wright for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Rossin painted the 19th century presidents in a more formal, classical style, with a robust-looking George Washington standing at the center in a channel of light. The style has been compared to Raphael's fresco, "The School of Athens." (Rebecca Wright for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Rossin's paintings of the presidents have been acquired by a Wichita Falls, Texas, entrepreneur named Harry Patterson, who visited the Booth Museum and was entranced by Rossin's work. (Rebecca Wright for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

After the inauguration Rossin will update this canvas, which is devoted to the presidents of the 21st century. Somewhere down the road he hopes to find a successor who will complete this task, adding the presidents from the second half of the century after he's gone. (Rebecca Wright for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

When Rossin created his monumental canvas of 19th century presidents, he worked "in situ," painting in a gallery at the Booth Western Art Museum, as visitors watched his progress. (Rebecca Wright for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

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Credit: Rebecca Wright for the Atlanta J

Atlanta portrait artist Ross Rossin created this monumental 13-by-20-foot painting of all 18 presidents from the 20th century to satisfy an urge to celebrate American history. (Rebecca Wright for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

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