Portraits

President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, have chosen New York artist Aaron Shikler to paint their formal White House portraits, presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater has announced. "This is done traditionally for all presidents through the White House Historical Assn. and they have arranged for this again this year," Fitzwater said. Of the $100,000 cost, $40,000 is being paid by the association, and the remainder has been contributed by an anonymous donor, said Elaine Crispen, Mrs.

As the six women and one young man of "Portraits of Anorexia" (a one-week addition to regular programming at Los Feliz) explain their encounters with this insidious eating disorder, film maker Wendy Zheutlin moves from the healthy young face on the screen to photographs taken during the peak of his or her illness. They are cadaverous, almost like X-rays of the person speaking.

I write this letter while watching the unveiling of the Clinton portraits on Monday. Never has George W. Bush been more impressive. Never has Bill Clinton been seen more clearly as a man who deserved to be president. How I hope this moment in history will inspire the best in the people of our great country. Don Brown Beverly Hills I want to nominate President Bush for a courage award. Monday, he had to preside over a ceremony in the White House as they unveiled the Clintons' portraits to be hung there with all previous presidents and first ladies.

If you want to see what's been missing in about 90% of Neo-Expressionism, visit Llyn Foulkes' show of "Portraits," at the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum through March 16. His horrific faces--bloody, masked or mangled--cut straight to the heart of contemporary terror as they rise from starched collars or military uniforms. Rather like automatons, these mostly anonymous men smile through the gore as they remain ever faithful to their official images.

Audiences have always been fascinated with the art of portraiture, whether it's Leonardo's "Mona Lisa" or Andy Warhol's turquoise painting of Marilyn Monroe. It's a staple in most museums' exhibition schedules. The Hammer Museum has dug into its own collections for an interesting view of the art in "Other People," 75 works drawn from the historical collections of the UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts and the Hammer Contemporary Collection.

In case anybody is wondering about the $20,000 Gov. George Deukmejian is asking the Legislature to authorize for his portrait to be painted, the governor has an explanation. "Listen," he quipped to reporters Thursday, "to paint me they're going to need $20,000." If the funding is approved as part of Deukmejian's $53.

A Sir Alfred James Munnings portrait of Edward, Prince of Wales, on horseback sold for more than $2.3 million Monday on the fifth day of a marathon auction of items from the Duke and Duchess of Windsor's Paris home. The 1921 signed oil on canvas depicts Edward attired in riding clothes astride his chestnut hunter Forest Witch. It commemorated the prince's 1920 Northamptonshire season of hunting, an activity his parents, King George V and Queen Mary, persuaded him to give up in 1929.

The first thing you notice when you step into Glenn von Kickel's West Hollywood cake shop is the mellow mood. The lighting is dim, classical music plays softly, there are clay sculptures on the counter tops, and paintings line the walls. The place seems more like an art gallery than a bakery. Indeed, a sign in the window describes the bakery as an "edible art experience." Von Kickel, 68, has owned Cake and Art in West Hollywood since 1976.

With a series of 32 1/4-by-32 1/2-inch photographs, photographer Rosalind Solomon has cut through the grim medical reality of AIDS to dip into the soothing strength of the human spirit. As in her India portraits, nursing-home portraits of Mexico and Peru, and a series on the homeless in San Diego and New York, Solomon's subject is humanity caught in inhumane circumstances. For "Portraits in the Time of AIDS," which originated at the Grey Art Gallery in New York and continues through Saturday at UC San Diego's Grove Gallery, Solomon avoided a photojournalistic style and chose instead a classical portrait approach.

Derek and Cynthia Dobarian decided even before Paige Ashley Dobarian was born to keep an extensive photographic record of her life. They planned to shoot some pictures themselves but they also wanted periodic professional photos taken of their daughter. So when Paige was 3 months old, the Long Beach couple, both doctors, and their baby--all attired in their favorite Boston Celtic warm-up suits--posed for their first family portrait with photographer Nomi Wagner of Westwood.