Portrait of The First Lady

A stunning, visual biography of Michelle Obama that finally puts her phenomenal fame into a cultural and historical context we can now all understand…

There has never been a First Lady like her before. While there have been a slew of Obama celebrity books, none contain the message of Deborah Willis and Emily Bernard’s eye-opening book. With nearly 200 compelling photographs, these two noted scholars capture Michelle Obama’s dramatic transformation from working mother to First Lady, from her first tentative steps on the campaign trail, to her spontaneous hug of the Queen, to her fairytale-like “Date Night” on Broadway. Not since Jacqueline Kennedy has there been a First Lady who has so enchanted America, but in her down-to-earth dealings with all Americans – schoolchildren, military families, and home gardeners alike – and in her diverse fashion taste, from J. Crew to Jason Wu, Michelle Obama is inexplicably all pearls, all business, all mother.

POSING BEAUTY: Deborah Willis ATA's 2010 Featured Artist's Recent Work

Posing Beauty: African American Images from the 1890s to the Present

by Deborah Willis

is the first photographic history of black beauty. It tells a story overlooked by most of America, and promises to transform the way we think about the history of African American visual culture. Deborah Willis, whose much-celebrated Reflections in Black provided the first definitive history of black photographers, has now collected over two hundred photographs in duotone and full color that provide a lasting statement on beauty in the African American community. From posed studio portraits to dandies on parade to elegant debutantes, Willis has constructed a bold narrative of the ever-changing idea of beauty, both female and male, and shows how history books, newspapers, and mainstream magazines deliberately excluded black models until the late 1960s and early 1970s.