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LITTLE ROCK—Conservative-leaning artist Chas Fagan set out 10 years ago to portray the U.S. presidency in an apolitical light and inspire patriotism when he was commissioned for a national television series to paint each of the nation’s chief executives since George Washington.

Fagan, whose father was a diplomat for the Commerce Department under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, says he tried to capture some quality about each leader that would convey the dignity of the office and spark pride in the democratic tradition of handing off executive power every few years.

“We have this continuing passing of power from one person to the next,” said Fagan, who grew up in Brussels and now lives in North Carolina. “It’s one of those things in the world that’s unique. We have a lot to be grateful for here.”

A traveling exhibit that features Fagan’s miniature oil paintings of the 43 presidents, along with archival photographs and audio recordings of presidential speeches, opened Tuesday at the state Capitol.

“American Presidents: Life Portraits” is the only complete collection of American presidential oil portraits by a single artist, exhibit creators C-SPAN and the White House Historical Association say.

Besides the visual and audio features, the exhibit relies heavily on short biographical sketches, uncluttered with scholarly detail, to humanize those who have been among the country’s most powerful citizens.

Washington was the only president ever to be elected unanimously. He did have false teeth, but they were made out of hippopotamus tusk, not wood. William Henry Harrison wanted to be a doctor and attended medical school, but died of pneumonia after only a month in office. Harrison gave an inaugural speech of almost two hours in the cold without a hat, coat or gloves and, shortly afterward, he got caught in a downpour.

When farmer, inventor, architect, statesman and writer Thomas Jefferson retired, he was alone — his wife had died years earlier — and was $24,000 in debt. James Madison was the first president to lead the country in battle with the War of 1812. John Tyler, the father of 15 children, was the first vice president to assume the presidency through the death of a president. His political foes called Tyler’s ascent “His Accidency.”

Abraham Lincoln, whose rise from poverty and leadership during the Civil War are legendary, was an avid reader as a boy. One of his favorite books was “Robinson Crusoe,” the tale of a resourceful castaway who lives on an island for 28 years before being rescued.