Q&A with Sarah Albee

 

 

 

Sarah Albee is the author of the new children's picture book The Painter and the President: Gilbert Stuart's Brush with George Washington. Her many other books include Bounce!. She lives in Manhattan.

 

 

Q: Why did you decide to write about George Washington and Gilbert Stuart?

 

A: I've written a lot about George Washington, but I've always found him to be an elusive character. He cared deeply about curating his image and his legacy and how history would perceive him, and perhaps as a result, it's not easy to show kids George-the-actual-person.

 

So when I stumbled across a casual mention in Ron Chernow's biography about George's fraught relationship with his go-to portrait painter, Gilbert Stuart,  I realized right away that would make a great story for a picture book. Also, I've always been a fan of Gilbert Stuart.

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamic between them?

 

A: George was a man with formidable hauteur. He believed everyone--including his portrait painter--should treat him with deference. I mean sure, he was the president, so that makes sense.

 

But Gilbert believed painters should be accorded a similar deference. After all, photography hadn't yet been invented in the late 1700s, so a great portrait was the only way future generations would know what you looked like.

 

Most wealthy people who commissioned portraits at that time treated painters more or less on a par with servants and tradespeople. But Gilbert believed artists should have a more elevated status.

 

Also he had social aspirations. He spent money he didn't have to dress and behave like the wealthy people he spent so much time painting. He was also charming and jokey and chatty. Hence the conflict.

 

Q: Especially considering that this is a book about a painter, what do you think Stacy Innerst’s illustrations add to the book?

 

A: I think his style works brilliantly. It can't be easy to illustrate a book about an artist, but Stacy's distinctive, 21st-century style perfectly complement's Gilbert's distinctive, late-18th-century style. Also Stacy has a great sense of humor.

 

Q: The Kirkus Review of the book called it a “humorous yet enlightening work that humanizes seemingly distant or imposing figures.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: That line made me so happy. It exactly sums up my goal in writing the book, and, more broadly, much of why I write what I do. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I have a book coming out in March (with Charlesbridge) about the history of the number zero, illustrated by Chris Hsu. I was blessed yet again with an illustrator who loves history and does tons of research.

 

And I also have a book in progress about dinosaurs--sauropods, specifically. It should be announced shortly.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I have another book out now called Bounce! A Scientific History of Rubber. It just made Science Friday's Best Science Books for Kids 2024 list (along with many other amazing titles), and also two NSTA lists (Best Stem Books and Outstanding Science Trade Books). So it's been a fun few months! 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Sarah Albee.