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George W Bush exhibits his paintings of world leaders George W Bush exhibits his paintings of world leaders
(about 5 hours later)
An exhibit featuring paintings of world leaders by former US President George W Bush is to open at his library in Texas. On Saturday, former US President George W Bush, who has said he is admittedly "not a great painter", opens a public exhibit of his works - more than 24 portraits of world leaders he met while president. The BBC's Nick Bryant has a preview of the gallery.
In an interview with his daughter for NBC News, Mr Bush said he took up painting after leaving the White House because he was a "driven person". For a president long criticised for seeing things only in black and white, the exhibition of George W Bush's art at his presidential library in Dallas comes as something of a revelation.
One of the works featured is a stern-faced portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Delicate brushwork has replaced his famed swagger. He presents himself as a wholly different kind of Texas oilman. With each new brushstroke he seems also to be softening his public image.
Mr Bush said he had come to know Mr Putin "very well". George W Bush told his art teacher, whom he meets on a weekly basis, to unleash his inner Rembrandt, and the results are now on public display: a deeply personal gallery of world leaders, focusing on the art of personal diplomacy.
While the former US president did not directly address Russia's annexation of Crimea, he said: "Vladimir is a person who in many ways viewed America as an enemy. His vantage point, of course, is unique: the cockpit of the presidency - or, at least, his recollection of those tumultuous White House years. So there is more to them than canvas, paints and brushes. Another key ingredient is personal chemistry.
"I tried, of course, to dispel him of that notion." His portrait of Tony Blair, which is bereft of the former British prime minister's trademark toothy smile, was intended to portray compassion, strength and reliability.
Twenty-four portraits of world leaders Mr Bush met while in office are featured in the exhibit. The former US president told NBC he was reluctant to make them public "because I'm not a great artist". His Angela Merkel shows a more cheery side to the German chancellor than her sometimes grumpy public persona projects.
He also told the US broadcaster he was inspired in part by a Winston Churchill essay, Painting as a Pastime, and said art had opened up a "whole new world". And maybe his Dalai Lama reveals more about the former president himself, as he enters a more contemplative and cloistered phase of his life. In art, he appears to locate an inner serenity.
The exhibition opens to the public - admission is $16 (£9.60) - on Saturday at the George W Bush Presidential Library and Museum in Dallas. But perhaps the most eagerly anticipated portrait is that of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
During their first meeting, in Slovenia in 2001, Mr Bush came close to claiming he could read the former KGB spymaster like a book.
"I looked the man in the eye," he famously said. "I was able to get a sense of his soul."
But here he is rendered as a poker-faced Putin, more enigmatic and unreadable.
There's a coldness to the portrait of a leader whom Mr Bush referred to privately as "Pootie Poot".
Mr Bush, or "43" as he signs each canvas, reckons this to be his finest work.
Perhaps the most unflattering portrait is that of the former Pakistan president, General Pervez Musharraf, a leader who liked to think of himself as a dashing former paratrooper rather than the tired and bloated figure represented here.
The extravagant bouffant, of which the general was justifiably proud, does not even make it into frame.
Maybe this is a form of artistic revenge. After all, when it came to fighting al-Qaeda and hunting down Osama Bin Laden, the Bush administration always suspected Islamabad of playing a double game: accepting American military aid but of not doing enough to flush out the mastermind of 9/11.
Nor is the outgoing Afghan president Hamid Karzai portrayed in a complimentary light. This, again, was a fraught relationship.
Making these kinds of extrapolations is part of the fun of this exhibition. Far from being declarative, it can be interpreted in so many different ways.
So is it possible to read into this work a subtle dig at the man who succeeded him as president?
George W Bush says his portraits would not have been possible had he not invested so much time in personal diplomacy.
He got to know the family details of international leaders - those useful conversation points. Many of them, like Tony Blair and the former Australian prime minister John Howard, were invited into the inner sanctum of his Texan ranch.
Barack Obama's approach is noticeably less chummy. He is often criticised as being more aloof and of not investing enough effort in working on the personal chemistry that can reap diplomatic dividends.
For those of us who covered the Bush presidency, from the golf rounds to the mountain-bike riding, from the brush clearing to that Top Gun moment in the aftermath of the fall of Baghdad, his newfound hobby is an improbable departure.
But he paints every day, gets a lesson every week and says his inspiration came from his great hero Sir Winston Churchill.
Those who interacted closely with Mr Bush during his White House years reckon he was unrecognisable from the two-dimensional figure who lent himself to such easy caricature.
Certainly, his artwork has added an extra and unexpected side.