The portraits of governors, civil rights icons and college presidents are among those credited to George Mandus; but so are portraits of relatives, neighbors and beloved pets.
His works hang in the halls and stairwells of state buildings, law schools and other public spaces; and above fireplaces and in family rooms.
“He loved meeting the people he painted,” said his daughter, Mary Cade Mandus. “He could not only capture their likeness, but he could connect with the people in a very special way.”
George Mandus, who recently found out he had cancer, died Dec. 6 at home after a brief illness. He was 88. A memorial service will be planned for a later date. His body was cremated and Cremation Society of Georgia was in charge of the arrangements.
Mandus, who is responsible for portraits of John Adam Treutlen Georgia’s first Constitutional governor, and more than two dozen former governors, was born in Canonsburg, Penn. He drew a bit as a youngster, but not so much that his siblings expected him to become an artist, said his sister Ann Smoke, of Canansburg. After high school, Mandus took classes at the University of Pennsylvania before enlisting in the U.S. Naval Reserve. While stationed in Sarasota, Fla., he became aware of the Ringling College of Art and Design, where he eventually earned an art degree in the late-‘40s or early ‘50s his daughter said.
Mandus moved to Atlanta in the mid-‘50s, when he married the former Ann Fortson, daughter of longtime Georgia Secretary of State Ben W. Fortson Jr., whom he met on a highly successful blind date, their daughter said. The Manduses, who raised two children together, celebrated 57 years of marriage this year.
George Mandus went to work for his father-in-law as an aide, and painted portraits on the side, according to a 1986 Atlanta Journal-Constitution article. By that time he’d already done 40 portraits that hung in the capitol, at one time or another, including that of the Rev. Martin Luther King and of Button Gwinnett, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The interesting thing about the Gwinnett portrait, Mandus told the AJC, he didn’t have a photograph to work from.
“When there’s nothing,” Mandus told the reporter, “you just have to get an image … an artist’s conception.”
Mandus’ family said approximately 50 of Mandus’ portraits have been on display at the Georgia Capitol and other state offices. His work is also spread across the country, including a portrait of former-President Harry S. Truman, which hangs in the Truman Presidential Library & Museum in Missouri.
In addition to his daughter and sister, Mandus is survived by his son, Benjamin F. Mandus of Gresham, Ore.; sister Mary Springer of McMurray, Pa.; and one grandson.
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