Marc & Sen. George McGovern
Marc H Miller, Bettie Ringma & Curt Hoppe
Miller, Ringma & Hoppe posing with the painting
The success of Curt's painting "Bettie & The Ramones" would lead to other multi-media, paparazzi self-portraits featuring other celebrities. Next on our agenda was a painting of me shaking hands with Senator George McGovern based on a photograph that Bettie took back in 1976 when we first began taking pictures with famous people. Senator McGovern, a leading critic of the Vietnam War, had secured his place in the pantheon of American history when he ran unsuccessfully against Richard Nixon in the presidential election of 1972.
Curt worked long and hard on the painting and the cooperative McGovern agreed to a signing session at his Capitol Hill offices. Our intrepid art team was now reinforced with video artist Paul Tschinkel, who journeyed with us from New York to Washington DC to film the signing. A feature article in the Washington Post on October 24, 1978 explained to the curious that we were portrait artists seeking commissions: "Celebrities will continue to personify a specific period of time years later, and the subjects of these portraits can say I Was There."
Marc Shakes Hands With Senator George McGovern
Washington, D.C., 1979
Video by Paul Tschinkel
Don Shirley for the Washington Post, 1978. Our Paparazzi Self-Portraits included in an article about new portraiture.