When Maine artist Alan Magee and former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell attend a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol next week, both will be leaving a mark on the most powerful government building in the world. On Tuesday, May 24, the Senate Commission on Art will unveil Magee’s new portrait of the Maine Democrat, who is being honored in the Leadership Portrait Collection for his work as Senate majority leader from 1989 until 1995.

“Our collection is a history of this country,” said Diane Skvarla, curator of the Senate collection. “The Senate feels we should honor the leaders – whether Democrat or Republican – because they have reached the pinnacle of what they can do in the Senate. The Capitol is a great symbol of democracy, and these are the leaders who help us achieve this.”

The Senate established the collection in 1999 to honor majority leaders whose job is to set the legislative agenda and be the spokespeople for the Senate. Since the 1880s, the Senate has honored vice presidents with marble portrait busts in the Capitol, but this series is the first effort to develop a comprehensive collection of Senate leaders. Several former leaders are already represented with portraits in the collection, including ones of Robert Taft, Howard Baker Jr. and Mike Mansfield, all of which were gifts rather than commissions.

The portrait of Mitchell is the first commission of a 20th century majority leader to be unveiled. Artist Ray Kinstler is working on a portrait of Sen. Robert Dole, to be completed by the end of this year. Next on the commissioning lineup is Tom Daschle, said Skvarla.

Magee was chosen by a prestigious art advisory board, including Alan Fern, former director of the National Portrait Gallery, Carolyn Carr, deputy director of the Portrait Gallery, Heather Mitchell, Sen. Mitchell’s wife, Richard Baker, Senate historian, David Johnson, a former staff worker for Mitchell, and Chris Crosman, director emeritus of the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland.

Members of the board agreed that Magee, best known for realist depictions of Maine stones and other still lifes, was an unconventional choice for an official portrait. But the precision and scope of his talent made him a unanimous choice from a group of three finalists. The other two were well-known portrait artists whose names were not released by the commission.

Mitchell, who interviewed all three finalists, said it was not his intention to be daring, although he recognizes why Magee’s style might be seen that way in the context of traditional portraiture at the Capitol. Magee’s portfolio of other works, he said, were “striking and impressive.” It helped, too, that Magee lives in Mitchell’s home state.

“All other things being equal, I’d like to have someone from Maine involved with this project,” said Mitchell in a phone call from Paris. “I’m not an expert on art, but I was impressed by him personally and by the quality of what I saw in his work. Many of the portraits I’ve seen seem to be cluttered in the background and detail. His work seemed to be spare, clean and accurate in capturing the essence of the objects. His paintings are very direct. That’s a quality of Maine people, too.”

Crosman, who has curated Magee shows at the Farnsworth, was envisioning exactly that connection when he suggested more than two years ago that Magee submit his work to the commission for consideration.

“I thought Alan would be able to capture George Mitchell’s gravitas as well as his personal worth,” said Crosman. “I based that on abstract heads Alan had done in an earlier phase and the emotional quality and sensitivity they convey. George Mitchell, whom I’ve always admired, deserved that kind of treatment. And Alan got everything you could hope for. It’s a very serious portrait, but he did catch that twinkle in the eye and a somewhat bemused look. It’s much more than a photographic likeness of Mitchell.”

In the portrait, Mitchell looks directly at the viewer from his post at the historic Senate desk. He is dressed in a dark navy-blue suit, white shirt and a tie with geometric shapes. The tips of his fingers are spread open and rest assuredly on the desk. He stands against a stark, bright, sage-green background, a departure from the usual brown or black backgrounds of traditional state portraits.

“I wanted something direct,” said Magee. “I had a strong impression of the way Mitchell worked, but it wasn’t until he was in the studio that I noticed his gestures. Mitchell is a person who is really able to listen over long periods of time, looking at you and responding. I wanted the painting to be strong and to be relatively symmetrical, with a frontal alertness.”

Magee, who characterized himself as a liberal Democrat, also said that he had admired Mitchell’s work over the years, which made the project all the more interesting to him. “I have enormous respect for him, for what he has done as a senator and for his work as Senate majority leader,” said Magee. “There was something about the intelligence and humanity about him that made us proud to elect him. He made us all look good.”

Although Magee did portraits for magazine covers earlier in his career and is a constant doodler of faces, he has for many years focused more on developing his own ideas. Breaking that focus for the Mitchell portrait, he said, has been very enjoyable: “We can do drastically new things as long as we’re the same person doing it. We can do anything we like. The human mind is so versatile.”

Early in the process, Magee and his wife, Monika, who works closely with her husband, submitted six sketches to Mitchell and his wife, Heather, at their New York City apartment. (The Mitchells also have a home in Seal Harbor, where they spend summer months.) The four worked together to make the final choice. Mitchell made two visits to the Magees’ home studio in a loftlike upstairs room in their house in Cushing. There, with light from fluorescent overhead bulbs and natural light beaming in from a wall of windows overlooking Maple Juice Cove on the St. George River, Magee studied the nuances of Mitchell’s facial lines and physical expressions. In one session, when the portrait was nearly completed, artist and subject stood a mere two feet from each other.

“Within seconds he made me feel comfortable, and that must be a characteristic that is common in his interactions,” said Magee. “He’s a formidable man who interacts with you in a nonformidable way. The process was certainly helped by that quality.”

Mitchell, as both Senate Majority Leader and in his post-Senate role as diplomat, is accustomed to being patient and waiting. Sitting for an artist made use of both of those skills, but he never found the process tedious. “He’s a very nice guy and so is his wife,” said Mitchell, who will see the finished portrait for the first time next week. “I have a great deal of confidence in him and in his ability.”

The portrait will hang in the Capitol permanently, though its exact display spot won’t be determined until after next week’s unveiling, said Diane Skvarla.

“This portrait continues to bring our collection into the modern era,” the curator said. “People are used to seeing a traditional portrait painter. Alan Magee isn’t that, and I commend Sen. Mitchell because he trusted the artist to go for a portrait like this. He chose something new and unique for the Capitol. We are all thrilled with the work. We all believed he could do this right from the start. What impressed me is that he had a vision, and that’s what comes through in the painting. We got the best that we were hoping for.”

Alicia Anstead can be reached at 990-8266 and aanstead@bangordailynews.net.