Ark. display reveals presidents' tastes

The show also features some revealing photographs.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- Famous works of art that once hung in the White House are on view at the Arkansas Arts Center, showcasing the personal tastes of presidents from Kennedy to Clinton.
Art center staff scoured nearly two dozen museums, big and small, to bring the pieces to Little Rock for the opening week of the Clinton Presidential Library. They secured 41 works by artists including Claude Monet, Georgia O'Keeffe and Roy Lichtenstein.
Along with their beauty and variety, the paintings offer a glimpse into the personal tastes of each president. Who would have thought that Republican Gerald Ford would have chosen a large portrait of Democrat Harry Truman?
"Isn't that interesting?" said Nan Plummer, the Art Center's executive director. "Presidents have a tradition of hanging mentors."
There are other portraits of American historical icons, including Benjamin Franklin, Abigail Adams and Andrew Jackson. Most were kept up on the White House walls by consecutive administrations, regardless of party.
Other portraits feature American people and places. Richard Nixon chose a painting by George Washington Carver and Ronald Reagan selected several scenes of American Indians by George Catlin. George H.W. Bush picked a painting of a fishing boat on rocky waters.
"I want [visitors] to understand that art of this quality is part of their culture," Plummer said.
Photographs
Also opening at the Arkansas Arts Center in honor of the Clinton Library is a collection of 83 presidential photos taken by Time magazine photographer Diana Walker from 1976 to 2001. Visitors to the photo exhibit seem to feel at home with Walker's work, recognizing famous images, such as the one of Reagan and wife Nancy waving from a hospital window after he was shot.
"These have become icons in recent history," Plummer said.
The photos highlight Walker's ability to capture private presidential moments. She caught Clinton relaxed in a Little Rock hotel room while receiving former Sen. Bob Dole's concession call after their election showdown in 1996.
She also found him eating french fries in the White House kitchen during his last week as president.
Walker shot President Bush on the campaign trail in Florida and his father with former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. In a quiet moment, Walker captured a young and beautiful Rosalynn Carter chatting with an elderly woman during Jimmy Carter's failed 1980 re-election campaign.
There are also shots of the Clintons in Africa with former South African President Nelson Mandela in his old prison cell. Worlds collide in a picture of Hillary Rodham Clinton talking with then president-elect George W. Bush in January 2001 at the White House.
The exhibit opens to the public Friday and runs through Jan. 23.