National Portrait Gallery
Events: Harry Truman, Upton Sinclair, Typewriters and More!
Monday, June 28: Cultures in Motion Performance Series: Harry S Truman: The Man from IndependenceIn this theatrical piece, learn more about the man who went from a being a haberdasher to president of the United States. During his term in office Truman, among other things, made controversial decisio...
June 28, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Events: Indigenous Artists, Early Aircraft, Human Origins and Bill Clinton!
Monday, June 21:Sorry kids, no special events today. But be sure to check out this site for regularly-scheduled daily events at the Smithsonian.Tuesday, June 22: 5-Day Festival: Country of the Clouds: Indigenous Artists of the Oaxaca-Mixtec RegionThis week-long celebration of the arts and culture o...
June 21, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Weekend Events: Movies and a Juneteenth Celebration!
Friday, June 18: Made in Hong Kong Film Festival: Red Cliff—Part 1Tonight at the Freer, take this opportunity to see John Woo’s uncut cinematic epic depicting the Han dynasty-era Battle of Red Cliff. (When originally released in the U.S., audiences only saw it in a severely shortened version.) Feat...
June 18, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
A Look at Europe's Latest and Greatest Video Art
This week, Washingtonians have been taking a tour, country by country, through Europe's video art scene. "In the Loop: Contemporary Video Art from the European Union," a survey of some of the best contemporary video art to come out of the EU's 27 member states since 2007, has made stops at the Phil...
June 11, 2010 |
By Megan Gambino
Events: Human Origins, Simon Schama, Mark Twain and More!
Monday, May 24: James T. Demetrion Lecture: Simon SchamaColumbia University professor of art history and history Simon Schama will be offering today's lecture, "The Beast in Contemporary Art." Some of you may be familiar with his work by way of his most recent PBS television series The Power of Art...
May 24, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Events: Glorious Gardens, Early Humans, Stonewall Jackson and More!
Monday, May 17: Sissinghurst Garden and Farm: Back to the FutureThe 260-plus acre Sissinghurst estate in England is home to extraordinarily lush gardens which surround a Tudor mansion. In this illustrated lecture led by its current owner, Adam Nicolson, learn about the history of this home and how ...
May 17, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Events: Children's Day, Digital Art, Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter and More!
Sorry kids, nothing special is happening today. But be sure to check out this site for the long list of events and activities always happening at the Smithsonian.Tuesday, May 4: Collectors' Roundtable: Collecting for the Long HaulWere you bitten by the collecting bug after watching last night's epi...
May 03, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Who Wouldn't Want Some Face Time With Lena Horne?
The National Portrait Gallery wraps up their nod to Jazz Appreciation Month this Thursday at 6:00 in gorgeous fashion, with a Face-To-Face Portrait Talk featuring multi-racial beauty Lena Horne (b. 1917). Curator Ann Shumard will be hosting the third and final event in front of American portraitist...
April 28, 2010 |
By Jeff Campagna
Weekend Events: Jazz, Craft, and Afro-Native American Culture
Friday, April 23: Native Theater: Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers by William S. Yellow Robe Jr.William S. Yellow Robe Jr.'s Grandchildren of the Buffalo Soldiers examines the culture clash between the Native American and African American communities during post-Civil War westward expansion as...
April 23, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Get Face-To-Face With Ella...Ella...Ella...
Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996), that is. The First Lady of Song. Lady Ella. Mama Jazz. The legendary jazz singer with swing who "sang like she felt."Thursday the National Portrait Gallery continues its participation in Jazz Appreciation Month with the second of their Face-To-Face Portrait Talks, this ...
April 19, 2010 |
By Jeff Campagna
Weekend Events: Jules Feiffer, Korean Film Festival and the Music of Memphis
Friday, April 16: Korean Film Festival DC 2010: "With a Girl of Black Soil"The critically-acclaimed film follows a miner who suffers an accident and loses his job and how he and his children cope with life's hardships that follow. Free. Freer, 7:00 PM.Saturday, April 17: American Pictures: Jules Fe...
April 16, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Memphis Movie Marathon at National Portrait Gallery
For four years as a child, from age four to eight, I lived in Memphis. Most of my memories revolve around the street that my family lived on. But there are also certain things I remember about the city at large: the famous ducks at the Peabody Hotel, the muddy Mississippi, the mouth-watering BBQ an...
April 15, 2010 |
By Megan Gambino
Five Ways to Learn More About Jules Feiffer
Jules Feiffer is a creative tour-de-force who has enriched our cultural landscape through his drawings, books, plays and screenplays. Insightfully snarky, always observant and wonderfully whimsical, I "discovered" Feiffer in middle school by way of two of his children's books—The Man in the Ceiling...
April 14, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Face-To-Face With The Big, Brash Voice of Ethel Merman
Ethel Merman (1908-1984) was one of the biggest, baddest belters in musical theatre, and had there been an American Idol back in her heyday, she surely would have blown little Ryan Seacrest's house down. This Thursday, in the first of a series of three Jazz Appreciation Month Face-to-Face Portrait ...
April 13, 2010 |
By Jeff Campagna
Events: Ethel Merman, Musical Theater, Apollo 13 Memorabilia and More!
Monday, April 12: The Music in the Musical: The Light in the Piazza and Sophisticated LadiesThe Smithsonian heads out to DC's Arena Stage in a panel discussion that will explore how the sounds of opera and jazz spring up in Broadway musical theater—specifically in pieces like The Light in the Piazz...
April 12, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Events: Honoring Elvis, a Kimono Fashion Show, Fun with Nanotechnology and More!
Monday, March 29: Words Between Two Reformers: Mary McLeod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt: Cultures in Motion PerformanceIn this theatrical piece, learn about the friendship between Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary McLeod Bethune who was a member of the Black Cabinet, a collective of representatives worki...
March 29, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Earth Hour: Lights Out at the Castle and Reynolds Center
This Saturday, promptly at 8:30 p.m., all the lights at the Smithsonian Castle will be turned off. Half a mile north of the Castle, at the very same moment, the Reynolds Center, which houses the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum, will go completely dark.George Washington...
March 24, 2010 |
By Megan Gambino
Famous Irish-Americans at National Portrait Gallery
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, we plumbed the National Portrait Gallery’s collection for famous Irish-Americans. Take a look at these fabulous portraits, and read about the sitters’ lives.1. F. Scott FitzgeraldThe famous author of The Great Gatsby, among other works, was born into an upper-middle c...
March 17, 2010 |
By Megan Gambino
Time-ly Presidents at the Portrait Gallery
Here's something that few people might be unaware of. The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery is a major repository of original artworks that once graced the covers of Time magazine. Since its founding in 1923, the publication has relied an extensive network of artists to produce a bevy of eye...
February 25, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Events: Founding Fathers, Civil Rights Activists and Gershwin's Porgy
Monday, February 22: Words Between Two Reformers: Mary McLeod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt: Cultures in Motion PerformanceIn this theatrical piece, learn about the friendship between Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary McLeod Bethune who was a member of the Black Cabinet, a collective of representatives wo...
February 22, 2010 |
By Jesse Rhodes
