Guinn’s portrait hangs in Capitol
CARSON CITY — When Kenny Guinn occupied the governor’s office on the first floor of the Capitol, he could hear them through the walls: tour groups of schoolchildren passing through the halls, looking up at the portraits of governors past, asking who they were and what they did.
Now Guinn’s portrait hangs among them. A $20,000 oil painting of a somewhat stern-looking Guinn was unveiled in its spot to the left of the front door of the Capitol on Tuesday.
“I hope the thousands of young people who walk through here for years to come will say, ‘Oh, that’s the guy who got us the Guinn Millennium Scholarship,’ ” the former governor, whose term ended last year, said Tuesday.
“If we can be a role model in our historical life to them, maybe they’ll want to go into politics and serve our state,” Guinn mused.
The portrait, 4 feet tall and nearly 3 feet wide, shows the square-jawed Guinn standing, leaning one elbow on a chair, his thin lips pressed together in a resolute expression.
Next to Guinn’s portrait is that of his immediate predecessor, Bob Miller, who stands against a featureless red backdrop, his expression stoic, almost mournful.
Next to Miller is Richard Bryan, shown seated, with an eager look, almost as if he is about to speak — which the real Bryan nearly always is.
Guinn’s portrait is less impressionistic than Miller’s, less precise than Bryan’s, with dramatic lighting that highlights his face and figure and fades toward the edges of the canvas.
By state statute, all the paintings are the same size, leading Guinn to joke, “This is the first time I’ve ever been as tall as Bob Miller.”
The artist, Michele Rushworth, said the light in the study of the Governor’s Mansion, where Guinn posed for the portrait, helped her create the impression of simultaneous strength and warmth she sought in depicting Guinn.
Selected for the commission last June, Rushworth, of Sammamish, Wash., flew to Carson City to meet with Guinn and get to know him over the course of several conversations.
Although Guinn sat for the portrait for a couple of hours, Rushworth mainly worked from photographs. “Governors are usually too busy to sit for an actual painting from life,” she said.
Rushworth consulted Guinn and his wife, Dema, extensively about colors and poses, then sent them a small oil sketch for their approval. It then took her about two months to complete the portrait. Dema Guinn picked out the elaborate gilt frame.
Of the $20,000 budgeted for the portrait, about $17,000 went to Rushworth, the rest to travel and other expenses, she said.
Greg Bortolin, Guinn’s former press secretary, said the painting aptly captured the warmth and confidence in Guinn’s blue eyes.
“When people looked him in the eye, they trusted him,” he said. “It captures that. He’s serious, but at the same time he’s warm and friendly.”
Asked whether the artist had to elide any unattractive features, Bortolin said he doubted it.
“All my female friends say he’s a very good-looking guy,” he said.
Lobbyist Susan Fisher agreed. “He’s an attractive man,” she said. “He’s got nice shoulders. Am I blushing?”
Fisher said she liked the portrait, but “I wanted him to smile more. I love his smile.”
In unveiling the portrait, the current governor, Jim Gibbons, said, “I asked Kenny why all these governors, you never see them smile. He said it has something to do with the tenure of the job.”
Although the animosity between Gibbons and his predecessor is legendary, the two were cordial during the ceremony, even as a crowd assembled outside in anticipation of Gibbons’ announcement of a deal on the state budget after some contentious wrangling with the Legislature.
Casting a look outside, Guinn said reassuringly, “You’ll get there,” adding, “We left plenty of work. But I hope the foundation we left, the template we left, is helping you all make progress in education and health care and all the other needs of the state.”
Then he picked up an electrical cord at the edge of the frame and plugged it in, illuminating a lamp atop the portrait that cast a glow over the painting.
