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National Portrait Gallery

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National Portrait Gallery Announces Winners of the Seventh Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition and Opening of “The Outwin 2025: American Portraiture"

Kameron Neal Receives $25,000 and New Commission as First-Prize Winner of the National Triennial

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National Portrait Gallery Honors Former President James Earl Carter Jr.

Oct. 1, 1924–Dec. 29, 2024

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National Portrait Gallery Premieres Season Six of PORTRAITS Podcast

Hosted by the museum’s director, Kim Sajet, PORTRAITS explores art, biography, history and identity.

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National Portrait Gallery Announces Winner of the 2024 Director’s Essay Prize for Scholars in the Field of Portraiture

Laura Katzman Receives $3,000 and Will Present Lecture Oct. 15

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National Portrait Gallery Announces Michael S. Hollander as New Board Chair

The new chair of its 25-person commission

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National Portrait Gallery Announces Jurors and Call for Entries for Next Triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition

Selected Artworks Will Be Exhibited in Major Exhibition and Tour

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Silhouette Sleuthing

How a curator unlocked the secrets in an arsenic-laced portrait album

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Celebrate Women's History Month with "Women of a Certain Age"

A digital exhibition on Google Arts & Culture

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Historic Lincoln Portrait Goes on View in February

Created from life in 1865, this nine-foot-tall oil on canvas is one of three known, life-size paintings of the 16th president

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National Portrait Gallery Announces Michael Hussey as Its New Director of History

Restorative History and Research

Peter Cooper and Family, unidentified daguerreotypist, three-quarter-plate daguerreotype with applied color, c. 1850. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

“Family Ties: Daguerreotype Portraits” and “Powerful Partnerships: Civil War-Era Couples”

Two Exhibitions of Early American Photography on View in July

Septima Poinsette Clark by Brian Lanker, gelatin silver print, 1987. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Partial gift of Lynda Lanker, and museum purchase with the support of Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker, Agnes Gund, Kate Kelly and George Schweitzer, Lyndon J. Barrois and Janine Sherman Barrois, and Mark and Cindy Aron. Copyright Brian Lanker Archive.

“I Dream a World: Selections From Brian Lanker’s Portraits of Remarkable Black Women”

An exhibition of portraits by the late Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Brian Lanker.

National Portrait Gallery Announces Season Four of Its PORTRAITS Podcast

PORTRAITS creates a space for listeners to explore the layers of the human experience—both within and outside of the museum’s walls.

“Birthright” (still) by Maren Hassinger, 2005. Single-channel video (color, sound), 12:12 mins. Edition of 5 plus 2 artist’s proofs. Courtesy of Susan Inglett Gallery, NYC.

National Portrait Gallery Announces Premiere of “Birthright” by Artist Maren Hassinger

Long-Awaited Performance Is a Commission of the Portrait Gallery’s “IDENTIFY” series

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Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company to Debut Two New Performances

“El Muro/The Wall” premieres May 17, 18 and 19 followed by the debut of “A Tribute to Maya Lin” Oct. 16, 23 and 30

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National Portrait Gallery Extends 'The Obama Portraits Tour' to San Francisco and Boston

Multi-City Tour Featuring Artworks by Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald Extended Through October

Triennial Teen Portrait Competition

National Portrait Gallery Announces National Teen Portrait Competition

Teen competition to coincide with "The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today" featuring the latest in contemporary portraiture from across the U.S.

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National Portrait Gallery Announces 2022 Portrait of a Nation Honorees

Awards recognizing honorees’ work championing transformational impact and change will be presented at Portrait of a Nation Gala November 12

Credit: “Left Side Right Side” (still) by Joan Jonas, 1972. Single-channel video (black-and-white, sound), 8:50 min. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. © 2020 Joan Jonas / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy the artist and Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels (left). Alice Walker by Bernard Gotfryd, gelatin silver print, 1976. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. © The Bernard Gotfryd Revocable Living Trust (center). Louis Armstrong (detail) by Philippe Halsman, gelatin silver print, 1966 (printed 1998). National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift from the Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Gift of Betsy Karel). The Corcoran Gallery of Art, one of the country’s first private museums, was established in 1869 to promote art and American genius. In 2014, the works from the Corcoran Collection were distributed to institutions in Washington, D.C. © Philippe Halsman Archive (right).

Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery Announces Virtual Programs for January and February

The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery is rolling out dozens of virtual programs this winter so visitors and families can enjoy all the museum has to offer from the comfort of their own homes.

Portraits from finalists of the 2019 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. Courtesy Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery

National Portrait Gallery Accepting Entries for Sixth Triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery is seeking submissions now through Jan. 29, 2021, to its sixth triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition.

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