Marshall Bouldin III (September 6, 1923 – November 12, 2012) was an American

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better r ...

artist from

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

Biography

Bouldin was born in

Dundee, Mississippi Dundee is a census-designated place and Unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Tunica County, Mississippi, Tunica County, Mississippi, United States. Dundee is south-southwest of Tunica, Mississippi, Tunica. Dundee has a post office wi ...

, a small farming community in the northwest part of Mississippi, near the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. He worked at his family's cotton farm until he became a professional portrait artist during the 1950s. He painted more than 800 individuals throughout his life, including such notable subjects as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

Jim Wright James Claude Wright Jr. (December 22, 1922 – May 6, 2015) was an American politician who served as the 48th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1987 to 1989. He represented Texas' 12th congressional district as a ...

, Mississippi Governor William Winter, United States Senator

John C. Stennis John Cornelius Stennis (August 3, 1901 – April 23, 1995) was an American politician who served as a U.S. senator from the state of Mississippi. He was a Democrat who served in the Senate for over 41 years, becoming its most senior member f ...

of Mississippi,

Tricia Nixon Cox Patricia Nixon Cox (born February 21, 1946) is the elder daughter of the 37th United States president Richard Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon, and the sister of Julie Nixon Eisenhower. She is married to Edward F. Cox and is the mother of Christ ...

Julie Nixon Eisenhower Julie Nixon Eisenhower (born July 5, 1948) is an American author who is the younger daughter of former U.S. president Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat Nixon. Her husband, David, is the grandson of former U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower and h ...

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for William Faulkner bibliography, his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in fo ...

Space Shuttle Challenger Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' (OV-099) was a Space Shuttle orbiter manufactured by Rockwell International and operated by NASA. Named after HMS Challenger (1858), the commanding ship of a Challenger expedition, nineteenth-century scientific exp ...

crew member

Ronald McNair Ronald Erwin McNair (October 21, 1950 – January 28, 1986) was an American NASA astronaut and physicist. He died at the age of 35 during the launch of the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' on mission STS-51-L, in which he was serving as one of th ...

, United States Representative

Claude Pepper Claude Denson Pepper (September 8, 1900 – May 30, 1989) was an American politician of the Democratic Party. He represented Florida in the United States Senate from 1936 to 1951, and the Miami area in the United States House of Representatives ...

of Florida, and

Thea Bowman Mary Thea Bowman, FSPA (born Bertha Elizabeth Bowman; December 29, 1937 – March 30, 1990) was a Black Catholic religious sister, teacher, musician, liturgist and scholar who made major contributions to the ministry of the Catholic Church tow ...

. Examples of his

oil painting Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...

s are currently held in more than 400 private and public

art collections A museum is distinguished by a collection of often unique objects that forms the core of its activities for exhibitions, education, research, etc. This differentiates it from an archive or library, where the contents may be more paper-based, repla ...

throughout the United States. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' once praised Bouldin as "the South's foremost portrait painter." Bouldin became the first painter to be inducted into the National Portrait Artist Hall of Fame of the

Portrait Society of America Portrait Society of America is an art organization based in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. Established in 1998, the Portrait Society of America is a 501(C)3 registered charity was set to serve the purpose of an art education organization t ...

. Bouldin, a resident of

Clarksdale, Mississippi Clarksdale is a city in and the county seat of Coahoma County, Mississippi, Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. It is located along the Sunflower River. Clarksdale is named after John Clark, a settler who founded the city in the mid-19t ...

, died at St. Francis Hospital in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

, on November 12, 2012, at the age of 89.

References

1923 births 2012 deaths American portrait painters 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists Painters from Mississippi People from Dundee, Mississippi People from Clarksdale, Mississippi 20th-century American male artists {{US-painter-1920s-stub