Jim Yong Kim, President of Dartmouth College 2012

This is Nelson Shanks's portrait of Jim Yong Kim, painted in oils, sometime while Kim was president of Dartmouth College. Shanks was interested in light, and how it shapes form. Look at the way the cool daylight from the window meets the warm interior light. There’s a push-pull between the specificity of portraiture and the way paint has its own life. Up close, you can see how the paint is laid on, thinly in some areas, like the face, and more thickly in the suit. It’s like Shanks is saying, "I’m not just making a picture of someone; I’m showing you how a picture gets made." And check out the green of the tie – it's almost electric, a little jolt of color that brings the whole thing to life. It’s that little bit of discordance that makes you look, and then look again. Think of someone like John Singer Sargent who, like Shanks, was working in a long tradition of portraiture, while bringing a new sense of vibrancy and seeing to the form. It is not about a fixed meaning, but more of a lively exchange.