The John F. Kennedy Portraits

Any list of the most important figures of the 20th century would likely include U.S. President John F. Kennedy, whose life was tragically cut short in Dallas on November 22, 1963.  His time in office lasted less than three years; however, as President at the height of the Cold War, he guided the United States through several history-making events while offering a vision for his country that reverberates to this day.

Against this backdrop, it would seem remarkable that the son of a Ukrainian farmer, who narrowly escaped death in a WWII prison, would manage to meet the leader of the free world in 1962. However, this is precisely what Tkacz Gregoire managed to accomplish.

As a portraitist, Gregoire trained himself to look beyond a subject’s physical attributes, with the completed product reflecting both a person’s character as well as appearance. For this reason any living person that he painted would have to physically pose for him, thus allowing him to judge the subject’s character. In the case of President Kennedy, a 40-minute audience was granted in 1962. The most complete description of this meeting was recounted in the Kitchener-Waterloo Record on December 7, 1968, page 43:

“Skeptical of modern, abstract art, Mr. Gregoire says his specialty is portraits and he claims John F. Kennedy and John Diefenbaker as two of his more famous subjects.

Working mainly with a pallet knife, he said he did both Mr. and Mrs. Diefenbaker’s portrait in 1958. In 1962 he went to Washington with a letter of introduction from Mr. Diefenbaker’s office with hopes of getting an appointment with the president.

After applying at the White House, Mr. Gregoire said he sat in his hotel room for three days waiting for a telephone call.

Finally, the president’s secretary, Mrs. Lincoln, called and said the president would allow a 40-minute session for Mr. Gregoire to do the initial sketch.

Mr. Gregoire said he completed the portrait a year later and mailed it to the president just before his assasination. Mr. Gregoire said plans for a formal presentation ceremony ended with the president’s death and since then he has retrieved the work which now hangs in his St. Jovite, Que. gallerie des Laurentides.

Mr. Gregoire said the American consulate has offered him $5,000 for the portrait, but he refuses to sell.”

Recognizing that the Kennedy portrait would launch his career to a new level, Gregoire took great care in creating not one, but two Kennedy portraits, with one destined to remain in his private collection. Kennedy Portrait #1 was often featured during his one-man traveling exhibitions, while Kennedy Portrait #2 (pictured below) was sent to Washington on October 17, 1963.

It should be noted that the official White House portrait of President Kennedy, with arms crossed and head bowed-down, was painted posthumously in 1970. The portraits produced by Tkacz Gregoire may therefore be the only ones created of John F. Kennedy while he served as president.

While posing for his portrait, the President shared these words with Gregoire: “Anyone can do my job, but you alone can do what you do.”

Gregoire working on John F. Kennedy Portrait #2, 1962-63

Canada Customs invoice, shipment of Kennedy portrait, October 17, 1963

As the invoice above shows, the portrait was shipped to Washington a month prior to the President’s assassination. A formal unveiling ceremony was being planned for December, but all plans were quickly canceled. Just four days following the assassination, Gregoire received the following letter from Evelyn Lincoln, the President’s secretary:

Letter from the White House, November 26, 1963

Shortly thereafter, with a change in regime at the White House, Gregoire retrieved his Kennedy portrait and brought it back to Canada. As recounted by the artist some 30 years later, “this portrait was sold to members of the Kennedy family from New York, who came to my St. Jovite studio in the 1960s to purchase it.” This portrait is likely still in a private collection today, although anyone wishing to provide us with updated information on the whereabouts of Kennedy Portrait #2 may contact us at info@tkacz-gregoire.ca