This is a portrait of Maj. Gist Blair completed by Ossip de Perelma in 1920. Gist Blair received his law degree from the George Washington University. In 1917 he volunteered for the United States Army and was assigned to Gen. John J. Pershing's legal staff. Gist Blair was a member of the Blair family whose eponymous Blair House is located across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. The house has been used as the president's guest house since the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration. Visiting diplomats and dignitaries stay at Blair House while on official visits with the White House and is historically where the president-elect and first family reside prior to taking the oath of office.