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Barack and Michelle Obama, Chicago, Illinois

Mariana Cook American
Person in Photograph Barack Hussein Obama II American
Person in Photograph Michelle Obama American
1996, printed 2009
Not on view
Cook made this portrait of Barack and Michelle Obama at their home in Hyde Park in May 1996 as part of a project on American couples. At the time the photograph was taken, Barack Obama was working as a community organizer and preparing to run for his first term as an Illinois State Senator. What makes this portrait of the pre-Presidential Obamas so compelling today is its naturalness and informality. Seated close together on their sofa, surrounded by art collected on their travels (a small African sculpture and stone temple rubbings), the Obamas project a sense of quiet confidence and humane warmth. They seem connected to the world around them and comfortable with who they are and who they are destined to become.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Barack and Michelle Obama, Chicago, Illinois
  • Artist: Mariana Cook (American, born 1955)
  • Person in Photograph: Barack Hussein Obama II (American, born 1961)
  • Person in Photograph: Michelle Obama (American, born Chicago, Illinois, 1964)
  • Date: 1996, printed 2009
  • Medium: Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions: Image: 40.6 x 38.1 cm (16 x 15 in.)
    Mount: 76.2 x 63.5 cm (30 x 25 in.)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Vital Projects Fund Inc. Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2009
  • Object Number: 2009.276
  • Rights and Reproduction: © Mariana Cook 1996
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

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