National Portrait Gallery

The Ten Best Children's Books of 2019

This year's top titles deliver strange animals, mouth-watering foods and biographies of unsung heroes

Students and teachers can download 3-D print-ready files of the Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops skulls.

Ten Smithsonian Artifacts You Can 3-D Print

The list includes Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit, an Abraham Lincoln life mask and a coral skeleton

Bass player Verdine White of Earth, Wind & Fire performed the group's iconic song "September."

Here’s What NPG Gala Honorees Have to Say About Their Portraits

Likenesses of six American icons including Jeff Bezos, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Frances Arnold join the collections

Artist Amy Sherald, photographed at the Hauser & Wirth gallery in New York City.

How Amy Sherald's Revelatory Portraits Challenge Expectations

The artist who garnered fame at the Smithsonian and then painted the official portrait of Michelle Obama brings her unique style to ordinary people

A Portrait of Berenice Sarmiento Chávez

This Year's Outwin Winners Challenge the Norms of Portraiture

First prize recipient is Hugo Crosthwaite for his stop-motion animation portraying migrant Berenice Sarmiento Chávez

The late journalist Cokie Roberts recently visited the Smithsonian to discuss some of the presidents' wives in a new podcast "Portraits." If only, she remarked the First Ladies had been painted when they were young and vivacious, before they had gray hair.

Why Cokie Roberts Admired Dolley Madison

The legendary newswoman, who died at 75, appeared on a Smithsonian podcast earlier this summer to speak about a favorite topic, the first ladies

The exceedingly private and humble Marian Anderson (Above: by Beauford Delaney, 1965, detail) would become a worldwide phenom.

How Marian Anderson Became an Iconic Symbol for Equality

Her beautiful voice famously rang out from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial; a new show takes a look at the highs and lows of her global acclaim

Actress Pauline Cushman (1833-1893) was a Union spy and became a major celebrity.

The Actress Who Left the Stage to Become a Civil War Spy

Pauline Cushman, now featured in a Smithsonian photography exhibition, unexpectedly found herself spying for the Union after accepting a dare

Mary Ann Brown Patten, photographed by an unidentified artist, 1857

How the Camera Introduced Americans to Their Heroines

A new show at the National Portrait Gallery spotlights figures including Harriet Beecher Stowe, Lucretia Mott and Margaret Fuller

“As the times have become increasingly more political, people have begun projecting more politicalness into the work,” notes artist Jeffrey Gibson, who is a featured artist this week at the National Portrait Gallery's "Identify" program.

Artist Jeffrey Gibson’s Artwork Activates Overlooked Histories and Marginalized Identities

The National Portrait Gallery’s “Identify” performance showcases the multimedia artist’s masterful 50-person drumming event

Julie Packard (detail) by Hope Gangloff

Fishes Were Julie Packard’s Wishes for Her New Smithsonian Portrait

National Portrait Gallery unveils a painting honoring the renowned ocean conservationist and director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium

In 1917 when it was highly unusual for women to protest, a suffrage procession walked the streets of Washington, D.C. towards the White House carrying purple, white and gold banners.

How Women Got the Vote Is a Far More Complex Story Than the History Textbooks Reveal

An immersive story about the bold and diverse women who helped secure the right to vote is on view at the National Portrait Gallery

The Italian poster was created for Lamarr's 1946 World War II film, I Conspiratori (The Conspirators). Her image reflects the allure that led to her being called the “most beautiful woman in the world.”

Thank This World War II-Era Film Star for Your Wi-Fi

As the National Portrait Gallery acquires a film poster of Hedy Lamarr, it’s worth reflecting on her double life as an actress and a pioneering inventor

Beyoncé and Jay-Z filmed their "Apeshit" music video at the Louvre, further publicizing the already iconic museum

These Were 2018’s Most Popular Art Exhibitions and Museums

Celebrities including Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Rihanna and the Obamas helped galleries achieve record-breaking visitor numbers

The humor magazine Puck—a pre-TV version of “The Daily Show”—published this illustration in 1915, five years before the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

The Long Battle for Women's Suffrage

With the centennial anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment approaching, a look back at the surprising history of giving women the vote

Sojourner Truth, Randall Studio, c. 1870

The Bold Accomplishments of Women of Color Need to Be a Bigger Part of Suffrage History

An upcoming Smithsonian exhibition, “Votes For Women,” delves into the complexities and biases of the nature of persistence

Nine African American women gather for the Banner State Woman's National Baptist Convention in 1915

How the Daughters and Granddaughters of Former Slaves Secured Voting Rights for All

Historian Martha S. Jones takes a look at the question of race versus gender in the quest for universal suffrage

Michelle Obama is the 14th consecutive First Lady to have a cattleya orchid named in her honor (above). Last year, the Melania Trump orchid was earning acclaim in the plant world.

Here’s How Horticulturalists Made the Michelle Obama Orchid

This year’s orchid show takes over the cavernous naturally-lit Kogod Courtyard with thousands on view

Mother III (detail) by Yun Suknam, (2013 version), 1993

Breakthrough Korean Feminist Artist Yun Suknam in Her First U.S. Museum Exhibition

With an assemblage portrait of her mother as the focal piece, the artist’s work is surrounded by the works of those who inspired her

Mary Oliver, a Poet Whose Simple Turns of Phrase Held Mass Appeal, Dies at 83

The Pulitzer Prize-winning writer was known for her straightforward meditations on nature, spirituality and the human experience

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