J. E. Fechet inscribed photograph [unframed]

Photograph [unframed]. Very good. Matt outer measurement is approximately 9.5 inches by 11.5 inches. Inner measurement is approximately 7 inches by 8. inches. The black and white photograph is approximately 872.5 inches by 10 inches, taped at top to the back of the matt. Matt has minor soiling. The back of the photograph has "Major General Fechet First Chief of Air Corps" written in ink. There is a signature in the photograph at the bottom right corner indicating this is a reproduction of a painting by Thomas E. Stephens. The image is of the two-star general seated with a neutral background. He is facing to the front with a small angle to the side. At the bottom right corner in white ink is the inscription To my good friend Don Shepard J E. Fechet Maj. Gen. USA. Part of the inscription has faded a little. Donald D. Shepard was the personal counsel of Andrew Mellon, the executor of his estate, and a trustee of the Mellon endowment. He helped draft the legislation that established the National Gallery of Art and was a key negotiator with the architects during the design and construction of the main building. James Edmond Fechet (1877-1948).  The first chief of the Air Corps from 1927 to 1931, Major General James Edmond Fechet made a lasting mark on the nation's air arm. Men he had selected and worked with both on his staff and in other top Air Corps positions became key leaders of the Air Forces in World War II - and they, in turn, have served with and have influenced today's U.S. Air Force leaders.  Fechet was near or at the top of the air arm's leadership for more than a decade. Thomas Edgar Stephens (November 18, 1884 - January 4, 1966)[1][2] was a Welsh-American artist and portrait painter. Born in Cardiff, Wales in 1886, he studied at the Art School of Cardiff University, then at the Heatherly School in London, and then at the Académie Julian in Paris. One of the first portraits Stephens painted upon his arrival in the United States in 1929 was that of Abraham Lincoln. His portrait of Eisenhower hangs in the Smithsonian Institution's Gallery of Presidents in Washington, D.C. and his portrait of Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower at Gettysburg Battlefield home. His portrait of Eisenhower appeared on the front page of Time on April 4, 1969, the issue that carries Eisenhower's obituary. Stephens also painted portraits of George C. Marshall and Douglas MacArthur and many more of the Army's foremost generals of World War II on commission from the United States Military Academy. That of MacArthur appeared on a Life magazine cover on August 28, 1950. He also painted many judges such as Fred M. Vinson and Charles Davenport Lockwood. He painted Harry Truman and the entire Eisenhower cabinet such as George M. Humphrey, Secretary of the Treasury. He also painted the Duke of Windsor. Winston Churchill allowed him to paint his portrait at Eisenhower's request. Stephens' works can be found, among other places, in the White House, the National Gallery of Art, the U.S. Supreme Court, the Pentagon, Walter Reed Hospital, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the U. S. Naval Academy, the Eisenhower Museum in Abilene, Kansas, the Legion of Honor Gallery in Paris; the American Embassy in London, IBM corporate headquarters, Cornell University, Columbia University, Harvard University, the Harry Truman Library and others.