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KATHRYN RATHKE ILLUSTRATION: DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING

January 12, 2018

Kathryn Rathke was commissioned to draw Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for a Tavis Smiley event that was to be held Monday in Dr. King’s honor.  But then, whoops! Mr. Smiley has fallen out of favor, engagements cancelled… and so was this portrait, about which Mr. Smiley was very particular.

He sent very specific notes** according to Kathryn: “After I made the needed changes, I got this note from him. ‘We're cooking with fish grease now! Love it! Let's roll! Tell Kathryn I'm sending her a big hug! Thank you!’ So wasn’t that nice? But for naught. I am enclosing the illustration and how it would have looked on the little booklets. Sigh…”

** "It's really really lovely! I think the eyes are not quite there yet. I'm not an artist, but I am a collector, and folk tend to get everything about MLK right - except for the eyes. I dislike the national monument in DC for this very reason, the artist didn't capture the eyes. In the pic I sent, his eyes are more pensive, more piercing. I also wonder about the angle, the direction of his gaze. In the pic he looks to be deep thinking, which is why I chose it. A "what's on his mind" kind of thing. In her sketch, he's just looking at you, like a portrait. So, again, it's the eyes. Otherwise, I love it!”

Tags: Kathryn Rathke, Illustration, Portraits

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