Former President Bush to Publish Oil Portraits of Global Political Prisoners
George W. Bush’s third art collection, featuring oil portraits of political detainees, will be released on March 9 alongside an exhibition in Dallas.
Crown, an imprint of Penguin Random House, revealed that former President George W. Bush’s newest art book, "The Call of Freedom: Portraits of Political Prisoners and Dissidents," is slated for a March 9 release. The publication showcases 44 oil paintings Bush created after leaving office, each paired with a brief biography of the subject. Featured figures include the late Mahsa Amini, whose 2022 death in Iranian custody sparked nationwide protests, and imprisoned Nicaraguan bishop Rolando José Álvarez Lagos.
Former Soviet Union dissident Natan Sharansky contributes a foreword. The book’s debut will coincide with an exhibition at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, and Bush frames the effort as a message of solidarity from the United States for those denied freedom.
Why it matters
The book uses art to draw attention to ongoing human-rights abuses and political imprisonment worldwide.
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