Portraits of four former Baltimore mayors unveiled at City Hall

Mayor Brandon Scott unveiled the portraits of four former Baltimore mayors on Saturday in a City Hall ceremony called “Portraits of Power.”

“This collection of portraits will…add some much-needed diversity to the walls of City Hall, including of course the first three women and the best-looking bald head,” Scott said at the ceremony.

The portraits were the result of a competition that Scott launched last year to identify artists to paint the likenesses of former mayors not already represented in City Hall’s second-floor Hyman Aaron Pressman Board Room, where the Board of Estimates meets and which doubles as a mayoral portrait gallery.

The former mayors depicted in the portraits are: Sheila Dixon (Baltimore’s 49^th mayor, 2007 to 2010), Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (50^th mayor, 2010 to 2016), Catherine Pugh (51^st mayor, 2016 to 2019) and Bernard C. “Jack” Young (52^nd mayor, 2019 to 2020).

The “Faces of Leadership” portraits competition drew 180 submissions. The selected artists are: Andrew Pisacane, also known as Gaia, for Dixon’s portrait; Megan Lewis for Rawlings-Blake’s portrait; Kennedy Ringgold for Pugh’s portrait; and Karen Warshal for Young’s portrait.

“This is a really big deal,” said Tonya Miller Hall, the mayor’s former Senior Advisor of Arts and Culture, when the competition was announced. Before Scott’s initiative, there were “no women in that Board of Estimates room,” even though three of Baltimore’s last five mayors have been women, she said. Only two of Baltimore’s seven African American mayors were represented at the time: Clarence “Du” Burns (January 1987 to December 1987) and Kurt Schmoke (1987 to 1999).

The Scott administration initially allocated $100,000 in city funds to commission five artists, who were then paired with their portrait subjects. A $20,000 prize was offered for each portrait. A fifth artist, Ernest Shaw, Jr., has been named to paint Scott’s portrait, but that was not shown on Saturday. Representatives said Shaw hasn’t painted Scott’s portrait yet and it won’t be unveiled until after Scott leaves the Mayor’s office, which is customary.

The “Portraits of Power” ceremony took place in the City Hall Rotunda and was attended by Scott and his family, the former mayors, four of the five artists, and dozens of well-wishers. A fifth former mayor, Martin O’Malley, was in the audience. O’Malley, 62, was the last Baltimore mayor (1999 to 2007) to have his portrait painted before Scott launched the competition.

The portraits reflected each artist’s style and had different backdrops. Dixon’s backdrop was the lake in Druid Hill Park. Rawlings-Blake’s backdrop included images of her father and mother. Pugh’s backdrop was the Baltimore Design School, which she helped start. Young’s backdrop was a ceremonial room in City Hall.

The former mayors stood by their portraits as they were unveiled and offered brief remarks afterwards. Young, 71, said he chose City Hall as a backdrop because he loves City Hall and the city of Baltimore. Rawlings-Blake, 55, said she wanted images of her parents to be part of her portrait because they shaped who she is.

Dixon, 71, who was indicted in 2009 on charges of using gift cards intended for needy children and received probation in exchange for stepping down as mayor, said she chose Druid Hill Park as a backdrop because she worked to create a “cleaner, greener” environment and wanted people to look back and say she was “part of the earth of the city.”

Pugh, who served approximately two years in prison after pleading guilty to four charges of conspiracy and tax evasion, and was accused of involvement in a “self-dealing” arrangement in which organizations purchased large quantities of her “Healthy Holly” children’s books in exchange for contracts with the city, said it was difficult for her to figure out what her legacy would be. Now 75, she said her tenure as mayor was “the best of times and also the worst of times for me, but at the same time it was an opportunity to serve the citizens of Baltimore.”

The “Portraits of Power” ceremony was followed by a catered reception that was closed to the media. The portraits will hang in the North Gallery of City Hall for the month of November. Then they’ll be moved to permanent spots in the Pressman room in December or early next year. That will bring to 31 the number of former mayors with portraits in the Pressman room and the anteroom leading to it.