Gregory Heisler at the National Arts Club

In 2007, Gregory Heisler was approached to make a portrait of acclaimed Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, in honor of Achebe receiving the Medal of Honor for Literature from the National Arts Club. Heisler liked the idea of creating a photographic portrait that would hang alongside the oil paintings in the Arts Club, a photograph that would have a traditional, formal style as the portrait paintings.

Since the initial portrait, Heisler has continued to make formal portraits of artists for the Arts Club, including Don DeLillo, actor Patrick Stewart when he won the Sir John Gielgud Award in 2008, and most recently Joyce Carol Oates.

Dot Editions collaborated with Heisler in the final stages of imaging the portraits, as well as making the large scale prints that now hang in the National Arts Club. The resulting prints have great dimensionality and depth, with a richness similar to oil painting that could only be achieved through digital imaging.