National Portrait Gallery
Weekend Events: Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and Gullah Culture
Friday, September 24: Performance: The Mexican Revolution2010 marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the Mexican Revolution and to mark the occasion, performance artist, activist and writer Guillermo Gómez Peña will perform a work inspired by the revolution that addresses the intersections of ...
September 24, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
One on One With Video Artist Lincoln Schatz
At the National Portrait Gallery's recently-opened exhibit "Americans Now," a work by video artist Lincoln Schatz entitled Esquire's Portrait of the 21st Century, re-envisions how to create a likeness of another human being. Placing a subject inside a 10-foot-by-10-foot cube, Schatz employs 24 came...
September 15, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Remembering Grandma Moses
Widowed farmer's wife Anna Mary Robertson Moses didn't take up oil painting as a hobby until she was 75—and it was a while before the talents of this Eagle Bridge, NY, native were acknowledged. She initially tried selling her paintings in local drugstores and at fairs, but public response was hardl...
September 07, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Events: FONZ Photo Club, Babe Ruth, Taiwanese Film and More!
Tuesday, September 7: FONZ Photo ClubIf you’re a shutterbug with a penchant for snapping shots of critters, come on out to the National Zoo and participate in the FONZ (that’s Friends Of the National Zoo for those of you who were thinking Henry Winkler) photo club’s monthly meeting. Share your phot...
September 06, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Hurry In! Exhibitions Closing in September
Don't miss out on these world-class exhibits, closing soon at the Smithsonian museums:Closing 9/06 - "Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2009," National Portrait GalleryThe National Portrait Gallery presents 49 of the finalists' works that were selected from the second triennial Outwin Boocheve...
September 02, 2010 |
By Jamie Simon
America's Who's-Who On Display in New Portrait Gallery Show
On the first floor of the National Portrait Gallery, a new exhibit examines who we are as a nation in the 21st century. Americans Now notes the notable people who are making an impact on our cultural landscape—be it in the form of entertainment, sports, the arts or business—and accentuates American...
August 19, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Celebrating 90 Years Since Women Won the Right to Vote
On this day in 1920, the ratification of the 19th amendment granted American women the right to vote. It's a freedom that many people—regardless of gender—seem to take for granted nowadays. (Especially after the 2000 election when a lot of voters began to question how much their ballot really matte...
August 18, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Elvis Dies, August 16, 1977
Although flashbulbs were going off constantly during the performance, I knew they wouldn't affect my still shots. Except for one... When I developed the film, I discovered a shot of Elvis with a magnificent spray of light in front of him. Not strong enough to reach the stage, the flash in t...
August 16, 2010 |
By Jess Righthand
"Portraits Alive" Closes Today at the National Portrait Gallery
The final performance in a three-week run of "Portraits Alive"—a program at the National Portrait Gallery that employs a group of teenagers to perform monologues as historical figures represented in the museum—will take place this afternoon at 2:15pm, concluding the program's fourth consecutive yea...
August 13, 2010 |
By Jess Righthand
Events: Elvis, Frank Capra, Hong Kong Film Fest and More!
Monday, August 9: Cultures in Motion Performance: Elvis HimselfWhat would it be like to sit and chat with Elvis had he lived to enjoy his 75th birthday? You have the option of hanging out in your local 7-11 in hopes of having an Elvis sighting OR you can come out to the National Portrait Gallery. I...
August 09, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Events: FONZ Photo Club, Portraits Alive, an African Art Drawing Session and More!
Monday, August 2: ExplorAsia: A Drop-in Art Adventure for FamiliesCome on down to Freer Gallery 5 and immerse yourself in the art of elaborately-decorated folding screens which will transport you back to 17th and 18th century Japan. Discover what life was like in the city and the country, act out w...
August 02, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
A New Portrait of Statesman Norman Mineta is Unveiled
“There are times when you think about your life in reflection.” Norman Y. Mineta stood before a group of family, friends, former colleagues and Smithsonian staffers Monday evening as his soft eyes gazed at his own likeness sitting across the podium in a regal gold frame. “I don’t know if you should...
July 28, 2010 |
By Jess Righthand
Events: The ADA Turns 20, Saving the Chesapeake, Caribbean Music and More!
Monday, July 26: The Americans with Disabilities Act Turns 20: Objects Out of StorageToday marks the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) being signed into law. To celebrate the occasion, curator Katherine Ott will show and discuss objects in the museum's collections that t...
July 26, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Wednesday Roundup: Protostars, Movie Stars, Maps of Stars and More
Spielberg and Lucas on Rockwell: In honor of the American Art Museum’s current exhibit entitled “Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg,” filmmaker Laurent Bouzereau interviewed both movie moguls about the 20th century painter and illus...
July 21, 2010 |
By Jess Righthand
Events: Caribbean Music, Animal Care, Thomas Jefferson and More!
Monday, July 19: ExplorAsia: A Drop-in Art Adventure for FamiliesCome on down to Freer Gallery 5 and immerse yourself in the art of elaborately-decorated folding screens which will transport you back to 17th and 18th century Japan. Discover what life was like in the city and the country, act out wh...
July 19, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Events: A Kung-Fu Film, An Art Workshop and the Music of John Williams
Friday, July 16: Made in Hong Kong Film Festival: Ip ManA hybrid kung-fu film and biopic, this movie explores the life of Ip Man—the man who later taught Bruce Lee his moves—during the Sino-Japanese War where he rose from a martial arts master to become a partisan fighter battling Japanese invaders...
July 16, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Happy Birthday, Ginger Rogers: The Original Dancing Queen
Ninety-nine years ago today, Virginia Katherine McMath was born in Independence, Missouri. At age 9, her mother married John Logan Rogers, after splitting with her husband shortly after Virginia's birth. Although she was never formally adopted, Virginia took her step-father's last name. Her cousin ...
July 16, 2010 |
By Katherine Purvis
Events: Peruvian Arts Festival, Japanese Screens, David Drake's Pottery and More!
Monday, July 12: ExplorAsia: A Drop-in Art Adventure for FamiliesCome on down to Freer Gallery 5 and immerse yourself in the art of elaborately-decorated folding screens which will transport you back to 17th and 18th century Japan. Discover what life was like in the city and the country, act out wh...
July 12, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Looking Back at Wimbledon: Althea Gibson Wins Big
From Isner and Mahut setting a new record for the longest professional tennis match to previous champions Venus Williams and Roger Federer crashing out in the quarter-finals, Wimbledon 2010 was an exhilarating tournament to watch. But this year’s competition is not the only one to have delivered sh...
July 06, 2010 |
By Katherine Purvis
Events: Roswell, The Pony Express, Andrew Jackson and More!
Tuesday, July 6: FONZ Photo ClubIf you’re a shutterbug with a penchant for snapping shots of critters, come on out to the National Zoo and participate in the FONZ (that’s Friends Of the National Zoo for those of you who were thinking Henry Winkler) photo club’s monthly meeting. Share your photos, h...
July 06, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
