National Portrait Gallery

10/18/2021

The Portrait Gallery remembers the life and legacy of Colin Powell.

One of the greatest modern influencers of foreign policy, Colin L. Powell, the son of Jamaican immigrants, decided on a military career while attending the City College of New York. He served in Vietnam, earning a Purple Heart and Bronze Star, and eventually retired as a four-star general. A White House Fellowship in 1972 paved the way for Powell’s career in politics.

In 1986, while working as an aide for President Reagan’s secretary of defense, Powell assisted with coordinating the invasion of Grenada and the bombing of Libya. Soon after, he worked as a national security advisor and as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1991, helping to plan Operation Desert Storm.

In 2001, under President George W. Bush, Powell became the first Black secretary of state. While first skeptical of invading Iraq, in 2003, he spoke favorably about initiating the war to the Security Council chamber of the United Nations. Powell was favored by American presidents and was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom twice. Although fully vaccinated, Powell died from complications of Covid-19.

🎨: Ronald N. Sherr, 2012. Supported by a grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation and by the Marc Pachter Commissioning Fund

The Portrait Gallery remembers the life and legacy of Colin Powell.

One of the greatest modern influencers of foreign policy, Colin L. Powell, the son of Jamaican immigrants, decided on a military career while attending the City College of New York. He served in Vietnam, earning a Purple Heart and Bronze Star, and eventually retired as a four-star general. A White House Fellowship in 1972 paved the way for Powell’s career in politics.

In 1986, while working as an aide for President Reagan’s secretary of defense, Powell assisted with coordinating the invasion of Grenada and the bombing of Libya. Soon after, he worked as a national security advisor and as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1991, helping to plan Operation Desert Storm.

In 2001, under President George W. Bush, Powell became the first Black secretary of state. While first skeptical of invading Iraq, in 2003, he spoke favorably about initiating the war to the Security Council chamber of the United Nations. Powell was favored by American presidents and was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom twice. Although fully vaccinated, Powell died from complications of Covid-19.

🎨: Ronald N. Sherr, 2012. Supported by a grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation and by the Marc Pachter Commissioning Fund

10/11/2021

Zitkála-Šá was a pioneer in a generation of Indian rights activists who had graduated from mission and government schools, where children were forbidden from speaking their indigenous native languages. Working together, they used their formal educations and flawless English to fight U.S. federal Indian policy and demand social justice.

At ease in mainstream and urban (i.e., white) society, these intellectual activists representing various tribal backgrounds formed professional organizations. For example, the Society of American Indians, founded in 1907, was the first national all-Indian organization to advocate for Indian rights. As one of its leaders, Zitkála-Šá tirelessly fought for Native American citizenship rights, and she was described as “a Jeanne D’Arc to lead her people into citizenship.” Zitkála-Šá later founded one of the most important Native rights organizations, the National Council of American Indians.

#IndigenousPeoplesDay

📷: Joseph Turner Keiley, 1898.

Zitkála-Šá was a pioneer in a generation of Indian rights activists who had graduated from mission and government schools, where children were forbidden from speaking their indigenous native languages. Working together, they used their formal educations and flawless English to fight U.S. federal Indian policy and demand social justice.

At ease in mainstream and urban (i.e., white) society, these intellectual activists representing various tribal backgrounds formed professional organizations. For example, the Society of American Indians, founded in 1907, was the first national all-Indian organization to advocate for Indian rights. As one of its leaders, Zitkála-Šá tirelessly fought for Native American citizenship rights, and she was described as “a Jeanne D’Arc to lead her people into citizenship.” Zitkála-Šá later founded one of the most important Native rights organizations, the National Council of American Indians.

#IndigenousPeoplesDay

📷: Joseph Turner Keiley, 1898.

10/07/2021

Congratulations to the finalists of the 2022 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition! 🏆✨

Our triennial portrait competition celebrates excellence in contemporary portraiture across mediums. This year’s 42 finalists were selected from over 2,700 entries.

An exhibition of finalists’ work, “The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today” will open in April 2022.

FULL LIST OF FINALISTS: https://npg.si.edu/exhibition/outwin-2022-american-portraiture-today

#Outwin2022 #myNPG

09/15/2021

Afro-Latinx: Crossing Cultures, Identities, and Experiences - Google Arts & Culture

Today is the first day of #HispanicHeritageMonth!

Discover stories of Afro-Latinx sitters in our collection with Google Arts & Culture, and follow along this month as we explore the amazing individuals who have shaped Latinx culture in America.

#HHM

https://bit.ly/3lltQyI

Discover how Afro-Latinx activists, educators, writers, artists, musicians, and athletes represented at the National Portrait Gallery have contributed to U.S. culture and history.

09/11/2021

Today, we remember the 20th anniversary of the events of September 11, 2001.

The Portrait Gallery obtained this remnant of that tragic day, a piece of twisted metal taken from the wreckage of the World Trade Center, from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which has ownership of the World Trade Center site. As the site’s custodian, the Port Authority made grants of the debris to locales and institutions wishing to commemorate and memorialize 9/11.

About the grant of this small piece of history to the National Portrait Gallery, the Port Authority’s executive director Chris Ward said: “In our effort to find appropriate, permanent sites for artifacts recovered from the World Trade Center following the attacks on September 11, 2001, we are honored that the National Portrait Gallery... agreed to display an artifact from the WTC. Its presence at the Smithsonian Institution will serve as a powerful reminder of the unspeakable losses suffered that day and be a simple yet moving memorial.”

More: https://s.si.edu/2YCua4i

Today, we remember the 20th anniversary of the events of September 11, 2001.

The Portrait Gallery obtained this remnant of that tragic day, a piece of twisted metal taken from the wreckage of the World Trade Center, from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which has ownership of the World Trade Center site. As the site’s custodian, the Port Authority made grants of the debris to locales and institutions wishing to commemorate and memorialize 9/11.

About the grant of this small piece of history to the National Portrait Gallery, the Port Authority’s executive director Chris Ward said: “In our effort to find appropriate, permanent sites for artifacts recovered from the World Trade Center following the attacks on September 11, 2001, we are honored that the National Portrait Gallery... agreed to display an artifact from the WTC. Its presence at the Smithsonian Institution will serve as a powerful reminder of the unspeakable losses suffered that day and be a simple yet moving memorial.”

More: https://s.si.edu/2YCua4i

08/25/2021

Duke Kahanamoku transformed the Hawaiian pastime of surfing into a worldwide competitive sport. He first made headlines as a record-breaking swimmer who introduced the flutter kick to the sport. Having won gold medals at the 1912 and 1920 Olympics, he was arguably the best swimmer of his era, described by the press as a "human fish." When he traveled away from Hawaii, he often brought his surfboard and guitar; surfing and music were two pursuits that provided him a sense of escape. In 1912 he introduced surfing to California, and two years later he awed crowds in Australia with his board skills. Kahanamoku developed his own line of surf clothing and experimented with smaller, lighter boards, an example of which appears in this early photograph. An easygoing, modest man, he later served thirteen consecutive terms as sheriff of Honolulu and became a revered icon during a transitional period in Hawaiian history.

📷: By an unidentified artist, c. 1915.

Duke Kahanamoku transformed the Hawaiian pastime of surfing into a worldwide competitive sport. He first made headlines as a record-breaking swimmer who introduced the flutter kick to the sport. Having won gold medals at the 1912 and 1920 Olympics, he was arguably the best swimmer of his era, described by the press as a "human fish." When he traveled away from Hawaii, he often brought his surfboard and guitar; surfing and music were two pursuits that provided him a sense of escape. In 1912 he introduced surfing to California, and two years later he awed crowds in Australia with his board skills. Kahanamoku developed his own line of surf clothing and experimented with smaller, lighter boards, an example of which appears in this early photograph. An easygoing, modest man, he later served thirteen consecutive terms as sheriff of Honolulu and became a revered icon during a transitional period in Hawaiian history.

📷: By an unidentified artist, c. 1915.

08/13/2021

Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past

Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past

07/19/2021

In 1929, Pauline Morton Smith Sabin (later Davis) founded the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform. She was the powerhouse behind this energetic and effective organization, and her efforts on behalf of the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment merited a Time magazine cover portrait on July 18, 1932, accompanied by a profile detailing her background and political savvy. Her career also included founding the New York-based Women's National Republican Club in 1921 and serving as its president until 1926; becoming the first female member of the Republican National Committee (1924-28); co-chairing Fiorello LaGuardia's 1933 mayoral campaign; and directing volunteer forces for the American Red Cross during World War II.

Philip Alexius de László was on his third visit to the United States when the vivacious and charismatic Sabin sat for him, signing his sitter's book on April 2, 1926.

🎨 : Philip Alexius de László, 1926. Gift of her granddaughter, Sheila Morton Smith Cochran.

In 1929, Pauline Morton Smith Sabin (later Davis) founded the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform. She was the powerhouse behind this energetic and effective organization, and her efforts on behalf of the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment merited a Time magazine cover portrait on July 18, 1932, accompanied by a profile detailing her background and political savvy. Her career also included founding the New York-based Women's National Republican Club in 1921 and serving as its president until 1926; becoming the first female member of the Republican National Committee (1924-28); co-chairing Fiorello LaGuardia's 1933 mayoral campaign; and directing volunteer forces for the American Red Cross during World War II.

Philip Alexius de László was on his third visit to the United States when the vivacious and charismatic Sabin sat for him, signing his sitter's book on April 2, 1926.

🎨 : Philip Alexius de László, 1926. Gift of her granddaughter, Sheila Morton Smith Cochran.

07/06/2021

Happy birthday, Frida Kahlo! 🌺 ✨

Since the late 1970s Frida Kahlo has emerged as one of the foremost twentieth-century practitioners of the art of portraiture. Mexican artist Diego Rivera was an early supporter of her work, and the couple married in 1929. While Rivera worked on large-scale history murals, Kahlo’s work was both intimate in scale and subject matter. These qualities stemmed partly from her lifelong health challenges after a streetcar accident that occurred when she was eighteen. Through her self-portraits she expressed her physical and emotional pain, as well as her fluid identity as a politically engaged, modern, cosmopolitan woman and heir to Mexico’s indigenous traditions. For her championing of personal experience and identity as valid art subjects, Kahlo is a cultural icon for feminists, g**s, and U.S. Latinos, among others.

📷: Imogen Cunningham, 1937 © Imogen Cunningham

Happy birthday, Frida Kahlo! 🌺 ✨

Since the late 1970s Frida Kahlo has emerged as one of the foremost twentieth-century practitioners of the art of portraiture. Mexican artist Diego Rivera was an early supporter of her work, and the couple married in 1929. While Rivera worked on large-scale history murals, Kahlo’s work was both intimate in scale and subject matter. These qualities stemmed partly from her lifelong health challenges after a streetcar accident that occurred when she was eighteen. Through her self-portraits she expressed her physical and emotional pain, as well as her fluid identity as a politically engaged, modern, cosmopolitan woman and heir to Mexico’s indigenous traditions. For her championing of personal experience and identity as valid art subjects, Kahlo is a cultural icon for feminists, g**s, and U.S. Latinos, among others.

📷: Imogen Cunningham, 1937 © Imogen Cunningham

06/25/2021

🏛️ OUR LATEST EXHIBITION, "ONE LIFE: WILL ROGERS," OPENS ONLINE TODAY 🏛️

A prolific political commentator whose comedic wit crossed social divides, Will Rogers' career spanned vaudeville, silent films, “talkies,” radio, and newspaper. He lifted the nation’s spirits during some of its most trying times—World War I, the recession that followed, and the Great Depression.

Throughout his evolving career, Rogers remained plainspoken, honest, and humorous. This genuine personality helped him forge a vast social network, which included presidents and foreign dignitaries. The precursor to Mickey Rooney, or today’s Stephen Colbert, Rogers voiced a perspective with broad appeal to the masses in the first half of the twentieth century.

You can visit the online-only exhibition here: https://s.si.edu/2Sq4q8A

This exhibition has been funded by the Guenther and Siewchin Yong Sommer Endowment Fund and a grant from the Smithsonian Women’s Committee.

🏛️ OUR LATEST EXHIBITION, "ONE LIFE: WILL ROGERS," OPENS ONLINE TODAY 🏛️

A prolific political commentator whose comedic wit crossed social divides, Will Rogers' career spanned vaudeville, silent films, “talkies,” radio, and newspaper. He lifted the nation’s spirits during some of its most trying times—World War I, the recession that followed, and the Great Depression.

Throughout his evolving career, Rogers remained plainspoken, honest, and humorous. This genuine personality helped him forge a vast social network, which included presidents and foreign dignitaries. The precursor to Mickey Rooney, or today’s Stephen Colbert, Rogers voiced a perspective with broad appeal to the masses in the first half of the twentieth century.

You can visit the online-only exhibition here: https://s.si.edu/2Sq4q8A

This exhibition has been funded by the Guenther and Siewchin Yong Sommer Endowment Fund and a grant from the Smithsonian Women’s Committee.

06/19/2021

Do you know the story of #Juneteenth? Learn more and join in the celebration with @NMAAHC: https://s.si.edu/3zyK6mi

Do you know the story of #Juneteenth? Learn more and join in the celebration with @NMAAHC: https://s.si.edu/3zyK6mi

06/14/2021

The Obamas are going home to Chicago — in portrait form, at least

See you soon, Chicago!

The Art Institute of Chicago #ObamaPortraitsTour

https://wapo.st/3cF1w6V

The landmark paintings that brought millions to the National Portrait Gallery will also travel to Brooklyn, L.A., Atlanta and Houston.

06/08/2021

🎧 "Portraits" Season 3, Episode 6 is now available!

Phillis Wheatley was a literary superstar around the time of the American Revolutionary War— a distinction she notched up while writing in bo***ge. But she never wrote an account of her own experiences, and there are gaps in her story. The Portrait Gallery’s Ashleigh Coren and writer Honorée Jeffers ask us to re-imagine her life, drawn in poetry, in this week's episode of our podcast.

LISTEN NOW: https://s.si.edu/3gmKRWE

✏️ : "Phillis Wheatley" by an unidentified artist, engraving on paper, c. 1753-1784.

06/08/2021

Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past

Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past

06/04/2021

Born in Washington, D.C., Helen Hayes won international esteem for a career that spanned eight decades on stage and in films, radio, and television. She won an Academy Award for best actress for her first film, The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931), and went on to appear in such major pictures as A Farewell to Arms (1932) and Anastasia (1956). Yet she always considered the stage her real home: after debuting on Broadway at the age of nine in Old Dutch (1909), she starred in hit productions of Caesar and Cleopatra (1925) and Mary of Scotland (1933). Victoria Regina (1935), which ran for 969 performances, was probably her most famous role. The Sunday Herald Tribune published this likeness of Hayes by Eric Pape when she appeared in the Irish drama Mr. Gilhooley (1930). The Helen Hayes Award for theater in Washington, D.C., is named in her honor.

Image Credit: Eric Pape, 1930. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

Born in Washington, D.C., Helen Hayes won international esteem for a career that spanned eight decades on stage and in films, radio, and television. She won an Academy Award for best actress for her first film, The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931), and went on to appear in such major pictures as A Farewell to Arms (1932) and Anastasia (1956). Yet she always considered the stage her real home: after debuting on Broadway at the age of nine in Old Dutch (1909), she starred in hit productions of Caesar and Cleopatra (1925) and Mary of Scotland (1933). Victoria Regina (1935), which ran for 969 performances, was probably her most famous role. The Sunday Herald Tribune published this likeness of Hayes by Eric Pape when she appeared in the Irish drama Mr. Gilhooley (1930). The Helen Hayes Award for theater in Washington, D.C., is named in her honor.

Image Credit: Eric Pape, 1930. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.