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New: Presidents in Waiting
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Upcoming: January 20, 2009 - January 3, 2010
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John Adams, perhaps our most cantankerous founding father, viewed the office of the vice president as the "most insignificant office" ever invented by man. He would never have guessed that 14 vice presidents, almost one-third of America's vice presidents, either by the death or resignation of an incumbent president or by winning an election on their own, became presidents. If some still remain unconvinced about the significance of the vice president and those who occupied it, this exhibition shows that most of the vice presidents who succeeded to the presidency were highly capable political figures with the experience and aptitude to be president.
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New: Portraiture Now: Feature Photography
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November 26, 2008 - September 27, 2009
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This exhibition features six photographers -- Katy Grannan, Jocelyn Lee, Ryan McGinley, Steve Pyke, Martin Schoeller, and Alec Soth -- who, by working on assignment for publications such as the New Yorker, Esquire, and the New York Times Magazine, each bring their distinctive "take" on contemporary portraiture to a broad audience. Critically acclaimed for their independent fine art work, these photographers have also pursued a variety of editorial projects, taking advantage of both the opportunities and the parameters that these assignments introduce. The resulting work builds upon a longstanding tradition of photographic portraiture for the popular press and highlights creative possibilities for 21st-century portrayal.
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New: Tokens of Affection and Regard: Photographic Jewelry and Its Makers
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October 24, 2008 - June 21, 2009
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This poignant exhibition, drawn primarily from the collection of Larry J. West, features rare and exquisite jewelry containing portraits in the 19th century's four main photographic processes -- daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, and paper prints. Produced, exchanged and treasured as "tokens of affection and regard", these relics of loving attachments speak to the deepest of human sentiments and flourished throughout the period from 1840 to 1875 and beyond. They are complemented in the exhibition by portraits (a gift from Mr. West) of some of the pioneering American photographers who created and marketed photographic jewelry, including Mathew Brady, Jeremiah Gurney, Albert Sands Southworth, Jeremiah Gurney, Josiah Johnson Hawes.
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New: Women of Our Time: Twentieth-Century Photographs
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October 10, 2008 - February 1, 2009
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Women of Our Time is a photographic celebration of 91 women who have challenged and changed America. These revealing portraits show women who have reached the summit of achievement in politics, business, arts, sports, performance, music, humanitarianism, and science. Included are rarely seen photographs of such women as Margaret Wise Brown, Amelia Earhart, Althea Gibson, Billie Holiday, Helen Keller, Marilyn Monroe, Georgia O'Keeffe, Gertrude Stein, Gloria Steinem, and Wendy Wasserstein. In addition, this exhibition features works of the most distinquished 20th-century photographers, including Philippe Halsman, Lotte Jacobi, Lisette Model, Irving Penn, and Edward Steichen. Two companion publications: $18.95 (condensed version), $35 (cloth)
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New: Four Indian Kings (special installation)
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September 12, 2008 - January 25, 2009
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The year 2008 marks the 225th anniversary of the Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolution. To commemorate this event, on view are the earliest surviving full-length oil portraits of North American aboriginal people painted from life. In 1710, four men were chosen to represent the Iroquoian Confederacy of the Mohawk River Valley before Queen Anne to highlight the plight of the colonies in the English military offensive against the French. The men were presented to the Royal court as "kings." John Verelst was commissioned to paint a portrait of each of the visitors and he did so with all the decorum appropriate to royalty and to heads of state.
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New: Ballyhoo! Posters as Portraiture
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May 9, 2008 - February 8, 2009
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Featuring 61 pieces from the late 19th century to the present, this exhibition demonstrates how posters function as portraiture. Subjects as diverse as General Pershing, "Buffalo Bill" Cody, Joe Louis, Judy Garland, aviator Jimmy Doolittle, and labor leader Lane Kirkland all enhance the poster's mission to attract attention and persuade. Dramatic, colorful, and often enormous, these likenesses hardly seem subtle. But what a poster communicates about an individual is usually secondary to its principal message -- selling war bonds, announcing the arrival of the circus, advertising a product, or publicizing a concert or film. Posters invariably project the public image, enhancing, promoting, exploiting, or upgrading the information we subconsciously absorb about celebrity figures. Catalogue: $19.95
Web: www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/ballyhoo
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March 21, 2008 - January 25, 2009
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This rotating exhibition highlights newly acquired objects in the National Portrait Gallery collection. New Arrivals displays paintings, drawings, sculptures, posters, prints, and photographs featuring such subjects as Henry Kirke Brown by Louis Lang, Louis and Annette Kaufman by Lawrence Lebduska, Judy Garland by Andy Warhol, Cunne Shote by James McArdell (copied after Francis Parsons), Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein by Alfred Eisenstaedt, and Carolina Herrera by Robert Mapplethorpe.
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- Permanent
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This exhibition displays multiple images of the 43 presidents of the United States, including the greatest historical painting in our nation's history, Gilbert Stuart's "Lansdowne" portrait of George Washington. Also included are whimisical sculptures of Presidents Johnson, Carter, and Nixon by caricaturist Pat Oliphant. Five presidents are given expanded attention because of their significant impact on the office: Washington, Andrew Jackson, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Audio and video interpretive materials augment the exhibition.
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Jo Davidson: Biographer in Bronze
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- Permanent
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On view are 14 bronze and terra-cotta portraits made by renowned American sculptor Jo Davidson between 1908 and 1946, including depictions of Gertrude Stein, Franklin D. Roosevelt, artist John Marin, and Lincoln Steffens.
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Lunder Conservation Center
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- Permanent
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The Lunder Conservation Center -- shared with the Smithsonian American Art Museum -- is the first facility that provides a unique opportunity for the public to view through glass walls conservators at work in several labs examining, treating, and preserving art.
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Twentieth-Century Americans
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- Permanent
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Six galleries focus on 20th-century Americans: 3rd Floor, south side: Four galleries showcase the major cultural and political figures of the 20th century. The exhibition also traces the unceasing struggle to achieve the American goal of justice for all from the reform movement of the first two decades to the social justice and civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s, and from World War I through the Persian Gulf War. 3rd Floor, mezzanines: Two additional exhibitions relating to the 20th century are featured:
• BRAVO! showcases individuals who have brought the performing arts to life, beginning with P.T. Barnum, who raised the curtain on modern entertainment in the late 19th century and continuing to the present.
• Champions showcases American sports figures whose impact has extended beyond the ring, the court, and the field to become a part of the larger story of the life and culture of our nation.
Note: A lively combination of portraits, artifacts, memorabilia, and videos enhances both exhibitions.
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Last update: January 13, 2009, 19:24
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