PROFILE Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery News Fall 2001 From the DIRECTOR

I can remember, vividly, the first time I saw the Patent Office Building. It was in the late summer of 1974, and I was enter- ing it to have my interview with the then- director of the National Portrait Gallery, Marvin Sadik, for the position of chief historian. It was, except during childhood, my first visit to Washington as well.

I was prepared for the grandeur of Washington itself, but no one had told me about this building of surpassing beauty which, long before the creation of the national Mall, already represented the highest aspirations of our nation. Although in a neighborhood then in decay, its splendor inside was both physical and spiritual. The building had been reborn only six years before, and each part of the Portrait Gallery competed for attention: the Hall of Presidents, cool and elegant; the Great Hall, multicolored and joyous from skylight to floor tiles; and the Courtyard, a serene, unexpected retreat from the outside. It was both ceremonial and inviting, perfect for a gallery devoted to remarkable Americans.

The process of leaving the Patent Office Building for its refurbishment has been an extraordinary experience for the Gallery’s staff, volunteers, and friends. We miss not only the building but the way it held—I almost want to say cradled—our collection. First the Hall of Presidents was emptied of its company of Chief Executives. Then, one of our monumen- tal works, Grant and His Generals, which had filled a great stairwell, was oh-so-carefully taken down for storage in an operation of almost surgical precision.

The building, however, is being readied for a vital existence in the twenty-first century, both restored and updated for new capabilities. The neighborhood around it is bursting with new projects, which will make the reopened Patent Office Building the centerpiece of a municipal renais- sance. We are producing many of our programs, from performances to lectures to school-based initiatives, in partnership with other cultural institutions around the city. And the treasures of our collection are making their journey around the nation and the world, as we would never be able to do if the building could now be visited.

If you want to recapture the NPG of the past and imagine with us its future, look to our Web site. There you will be able to visit up to twenty past exhibitions, to “travel” the Hall of Presidents in a 360-degree view photographed before its dismantling, and soon to see a new exhibition we are creating electronically to display the Smithsonian’s Civil War holdings. Through comments you might make on the site and in the reader survey in this Profile, please help us to think how the new Portrait Gallery might be refashioned to serve you and future generations. The sense of loss is temporary, the sense of opportunity endless.

2 PROFILE Contents Vol. 2 No. 3. Fall 2001

Cover: This 1925 image of Char- 4 12 lie Chaplin is one of the high- lights from National Portrait Book Review: Grant and His Generals Gallery’s recent acquisition of John Adams by Careful Removal twenty-one portraits by master David McCullough photographer Edward Steichen. 14 See “Vintage Celebrity Portrait 6 Hard Hat News Photographs by Edward Steichen” Acquisitions on page 6. Salvage and Demolition Edward Steichen Images Acquired in memory of Agnes and Eugene 15 Meyer through the generosity of Katharine 8 Graham and the New York Community NPG Schedules & Trust, The Island Fund. © Joanna T. Stei- Performing Portraits Information chen. Reproduced with permission. NPG Pilot Program at the Duke Ellington School of 16 the Arts Portrait Puzzlers 9 Beyond Our Borders NPG Goes International In the next issue • Preparations under way for 10 tour of the “Lansdowne” portrait of George Wash- Q&A ington by Gilbert Stuart Interview with • Writers and poets in the Douglas Evelyn collection • NPG launches Civil War@Smithsonian, a virtual tour of the Institution’s Civil War collections

PROFILE

National Portrait Gallery Commission National Portrait Gallery Marc Pachter Director Barbara Novak, Chair Smithsonian Institution Carolyn K. Carr Deputy Director and Chief Curator Anthony C. Beilenson Eloise Baden Chief Administrative Officer 750 Ninth Street, NW Jeannine Smith Clark Suite 8300 Editor Stephen Jay Gould Washington, DC 20560-0973 Carol Wyrick Office of Education David Levering Lewis Phone: (202) 275-1738 R. W. B. Lewis Fax: (202) 275-1887 Review Editor Joan A. Mondale E-mail: [email protected] Sidney Hart The Charles Willson Peale Robert B. Morgan Family Papers Web site: www.npg.si.edu Roger Mudd Editorial Committee Ex Officio Readers’ comments are welcome. Anne Christiansen Office of Public Affairs Earl A. Powell III Dru Dowdy Office of Publications William H. Rehnquist Marianne Gurley Office of PhotographicServices Lawrence M. Small Leslie London Office of Design andProduction Patrick Madden Office of ExternalAffairs Honorary Commission © 2001 Smithsonian Institution Available in alternative formats. Ellen G. Miles Department of Painting and Sculpture Julie Harris Printed on recycled paper. Frances Stevenson Office of Administration Bette Bao Lord Frederick Voss Department of History Fred W. Smith

3 Book Review: John Adams by David McCullough (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001)

Sidney Hart weakness is in ascribing little reason for Adams’s Editor, Charles Willson Peale Family Papers relative unpopularity among his contemporaries John Adams was a good man who accomplished and historians, other than his often irascible great deeds: courageous defense attorney for Brit- public persona and the more adroit political ish soldiers charged with murder in the Boston skills of his enemies, especially Jefferson. Along Massacre; staunch advocate for American inde- the way, McCullough provides an abundance pendence in the Continental Congress; author of of information on Adams’s personal life, espe- the Massachusetts Constitution; American negotia- cially his fascinating relationship with his wife tor in France, Holland, and Abigail. McCullough is right England; first Vice President; to conclude that Abigail and second President. Few provided the ballast that American historians would kept Adams on an even keel. exclude him from the trium- It is hard to imagine Adams’s virate with George Washing- commitment to public ton and service without Abigail’s as the three most important superb management of the men of the American Revolu- family farm and her skill tion. However, of the three, and devotion in raising their Adams received the least in children. An acute political the way of his country’s observer in her own right, adulation when he was alive, she helped sustain him and the least recognition by through his political crises posterity. Today, one looks and his dark moods, and in vain for an Adams monu- gave him the moral and intel- ment on the national Mall, lectual support he would his portrait on our currency, need to combat his numer- or his likeness on Mount ous enemies. Rushmore. In his lifetime John Adams by John Trumbull, 1793 McCullough is at his best Adams was described as when showing us how “obnoxious, suspected and Adams influenced the course unpopular,” living in “total neglect and contempt,” of events, such as how the strength and persistence “despised,” and but “an ordinary man.” And this of his arguments on the floor of the Continental was his own self-evaluation! Among his contem- Congress led that body to overcome resistance to poraries, described Adams as a declaration of independence on July 2, 1776. one who meant well for his country, “always an McCullough argues persuasively not that indepen- honest man, often a wise one, but sometimes and dence would not have come without Adams, but in some things, absolutely out of his senses.” The that it may well have come later. And given the Comte de Vergennes, a member of the French court, precariousness and the near misses for the patriot wrote that Adams had “a rigidity, an arrogance, cause before and after independence, the timing and an obstinacy that will cause him to foment might have made all the difference. It was that a thousand unfortunate incidents.” Adams’s reac- same forcefulness which led Congress to twice tion to such criticism was that of the rare man select Adams to join Franklin to negotiate treaties who knew himself, acknowledging that “popular- with France. Adams, who believed that “a man ity was never my mistress, nor was I ever, or shall may give offense and yet succeed,” offended many I ever be a popular man.” in the high-toned French court who preferred to David McCullough’s beautifully constructed deal with the amiable and worldly Franklin. But and elegantly crafted biography attempts to right it was Adams who conscientiously saw to the this imbalance, albeit at the expense of Thomas mission’s routine business and transactions. In Jefferson. The biography’s strength is in establish- Holland, without the endorsement of the French ing the historical context of Adams’s pivotal contri- ministry, which sought to direct American diplo- butions during the dangerous circumstances and macy to its own ends, and without waiting for fragile beginnings of the American republic. Its an invitation from the Dutch government, Adams

4 Book Review employed his “militia diplomacy,” demanding and John Adams’s initial faith in republicanism, as eventually winning recognition for himself and his for most American Revolutionaries, began with country, and successfully negotiating loans with the character of the American people. Unlike all the Dutch bankers so critical to the Revolutionary other peoples in history, who eventually became cause. And it was his character and honesty that corrupt—whose morality, honor, and sense of enabled Adams, as our second President, to keep public duty gave way to venality, ambition, and us out of a potentially ruinous war with France. selfishness—Americans would be able to sustain The easiest target for those who dislike Adams their freedom because of their “pure virtue.” This has been his unfortunate tenure as our first Vice faith helped secularize and sustain the myth of President. Adams later famously characterized the American exceptionalism. Adams, however, could office as “the most insignificant . . . that ever the not sustain his faith. Unlike Jefferson, whose invention of man contrived or his imagination experience in Europe reaffirmed his belief in the conceived,” but as Vice President he quickly became sharp contrast between Old World corruption and the center of unwelcome attention. In a seemingly simplicity and virtue in America, Adams became trivial Senate debate over the title to address convinced that Americans would develop the same the President, which never- corrupt ways as Europeans. theless went on for a month, They would need a govern- Adams strongly advocated ment with a strong execu- titles such as “His High- tive who would fulfill the ness” and quickly became role of the English monarch. an object of ridicule. Adams By his return to America in himself was given the title 1788, Adams had regressed “His Rotundity.” It was a to the older classical theory revealing episode to his coun- of republicanism, in which trymen, and may explain the people were merely one why Adams never became constituent in government, a full member of the as opposed to the repub- Revolutionary triumvirate. licanism of the American McCullough acknowledges Revolution, in which all that Adams was “woefully sovereignty rested in the out of step with the country,” people, and government suggesting that had he been was but a delegation of home a few years earlier, the people’s power. When he would have realized the Adams later wrote that the unpopularity of titles in the John Adams attributed to Raphaelle people represented “an young republic and might Peale, 1793 essential share of sover- not have made a fool of eignty,” his cousin Samuel himself. However, Adams’s Adams asked, “Is not the support of titles was not just a gaffe resulting from whole sovereignty, my friend, essentially in the his unfamiliarity with American trends, but was people?” Adams could not understand that Ameri- part of his predilection for a strong executive and cans viewed the President not as a modified king, stemmed from deeper beliefs about government but as the representative of the people. That is why and sovereignty. he was so concerned with grand titles for the In 1806, one of Adams’s dearest and oldest office, and why so many Americans viewed titles, friends, the playwright and poet Mercy Otis and him, as ridiculous. Jefferson, on the other Warren, published a history of the American Revo- hand, remained true to the original republican lution in which she singled out Adams for betray- faith. As we finally give honest John Adams credit ing the Revolution, for being corrupted by his for his great deeds, for which we owe a debt to stay in England into a fondness for monarchy, and David McCullough’s biography, it would be well for being seduced by the splendor of European to appreciate the irony, as McCullough does not, courts with their ranks and titles. For Adams, the that it was Jefferson, a slaveholder, and not Adams, attack—coming after his retirement from public the independent New England farmer, who main- life and from such a close friend and political tained his faith in the sovereignty of the people. ally—hit a nerve. He bombarded Warren with furious letters, which she described as “angry Further reading: For politics and theory in the era of and undigested”; and in turn she accused him of the American Revolution and John Adams, see Gordon S. “meanness” and “malignancy” in his attacks on Wood, “The Relevance and Irrelevance of John Adams,” her History. Adams won the epistolary war, but chapter fourteen in The Creation of the American Repub- lic, 1776–1787 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1969), pp. 567–93. Warren had made her point.

Book Review 5 Vintage Celebrity Portrait Photographs by Edward Steichen

Ann Shumard While there was no question that a significant Curator of Photographs group of Steichen’s celebrity portraits would be During his tenure as chief photographer for Condé a welcome addition to the National Portrait Nast Publications from 1923 to 1937, Edward Gallery’s collection, it was clear that such an acqui- Steichen created extraordinary portraits of many sition would require the support of benefactors of the era’s most celebrated personalities. In his who shared the Gallery’s enthusiasm for Steichen’s work for Vanity Fair and Vogue, Steichen aban- work. It was the Gallery’s supreme good fortune doned the soft-focus pictorialism that had char- to find such benefactors in the descendants of acterized his earlier portraiture and embraced a Agnes and Eugene Meyer, Edward Steichen’s long- new aesthetic informed by the clean geometry time friends and dedicated patrons. With the gener- of modern art. With their sharp focus, dramatic ous support of the Meyers’ daughter, Katharine lighting, and bold compositions, Steichen’s images Graham, and members of her family, the Portrait captured the public’s imagination and set a new Gallery purchased nineteen of Steichen’s portraits standard for photographic portraiture. dating from 1922 to 1935. Two additional photo- The National Portrait Gallery has long recog- graphs, including a charming group portrait of nized Edward Steichen’s importance as a portrait- Agnes and Eugene Meyer with their five children, ist and has actively sought to acquire outstanding were given to the Gallery by Joanna Steichen. examples of his work for its collection. Recently, the Edward Steichen’s skill as a portraitist is read- Gallery was given a unique opportunity to substan- ily apparent in these photographs. Many of the tially increase its representation of Steichen’s sophis- images, including the luminous double portrait of ticated portraiture when a number of rare vintage actors Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, were made prints from the photographer’s personal archive expressly for the pages of Vanity Fair. At the time were offered for sale by his widow, Joanna T. the Lunts posed for Steichen’s camera, they were Steichen. These photographs, which were remark- appearing in The Guardsman, the Broadway hit able for both their superb condition and impecca- that launched their celebrated acting partnership. ble provenance, included such memorable images Steichen photographed the couple in the guise of as Willa Cather, Miguel Covarrubias, and Martha Comedy and Tragedy, and evoked the effect of Graham, as well as Steichen’s 1929 self-portrait. footlights through his imaginative lighting scheme.

Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, 1925 Self-portrait with Photographic Paraphernalia, 1929

6 Acquisitions George Gershwin, 1927 Fred Astaire, 1927 In contrast to the many informal images of George Gershwin at the keyboard, Steichen’s Katharine Graham (1917–2001) forever changed newspaper publishing. When she assumed control formal portrait emphasized the composer’s emer- of the Washington Post in 1963, she revealed her gence as a bona fide concert pianist. With Carn- talent for running a newspaper. With the Post’s egie Hall performances of both Rhapsody in Blue publication of the Pentagon Papers and coverage and the Concerto in F to his credit and a new musi- of the Watergate scandal—and the 1998 publica- cal score in the works, Gershwin was hailed for tion of Mrs. Graham’s Pulitzer Prize–winning auto- his versatility by Vanity Fair when the magazine biography—she attained legendary status. published his portrait in its May 1927 issue. Steichen used the bold patterning of multiple Mrs. Graham was a friend to the National Portrait shadows to create the illusion of movement in his Gallery. She shared her knowledge by participating classic image of Fred Astaire. By transforming the in the Gallery’s Living Self-Portrait interview series. dancer’s signature top hat into a recurring motif, She gave of her resources by contributing funds to acquire vintage Steichen photographs, by helping Steichen enlivened the picture’s composition and to acquire literary portraits, and by bequeathing offered a clever visual reference to Astaire’s style her collection of caricatures by Marius de Zayas. and sophistication. We shall miss her participation in our museum as These photographs are just a few of the high- the nation will miss her courage and wisdom. lights from the acquisition that has so greatly enhanced the National Portrait Gallery’s collec- tion of celebrity portraits by Edward Steichen. We now look forward to sharing our Steichen hold- ings with the public through upcoming exhibitions and future publications.

Further reading: See Joanna Steichen, Steichen’s Legacy: Photographs, 1895–1973 (New York, 2000); Edward Stei- chen, A Life in Photography (New York, 1963); Barbara Haskell, Edward Steichen (New York, Whitney Museum of Art, 2000); Diana Edkins Richardson, ed., Vanity Fair: Photographs of an Age, 1914–1936 (New York, 1982).

Except as noted, all photographs were acquired in memory of Agnes and Eugene Meyer through the generosity of Katharine Graham and the New York Community Trust, The Island Fund. All images © Joanna T. Steichen. Reproduced with permission. The Meyer family, circa 1926; gift of Joanna T. Steichen

Acquisitions 7 Performing Portraits: NPG Pilot Program at Duke Ellington School of the Arts

Felice Pulles Office of Education On June 5, 2001, the lights dimmed and the curtain rose on a biographical journey of song, dance, and poetry at Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Northwest Washington, D.C. Students re-created the sounds of Billie Holiday and Miles Davis, the dance of Katherine Dunham and Josephine Baker, the inspiration of Martin Luther King Jr., and the vision of Jacob Lawrence. Interwoven with readings from novelists Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou, the program explored David Aaronson Tia Harris discusses the histor- the lives of significant African Americans and their contribu- ical significance of the blues tions to the performing arts and the American experience. with a student jazz trio. The performance celebrated the final step in a collaborative journey between the National Portrait Gallery and the Duke Ellington School of the Arts—a journey that began in early April. Two United States history classes participated in a pilot program developed to teach history through biography and portraiture. After perusing hundreds David Aaronson of images from the Portrait Gallery “I use art as my inspiration. For collection, students selected favorite I believe that art encourages Americans for individual study, and us to stand erect and stretch the work began. upward toward higher ground.”

David Aaronson Led by Tia Powell Harris, out- —Maya Angelou Norma Porter captures the reach program manager, and other spirit and grace of Katherine Portrait Gallery staff, students began Dunham’s style of dance. with self-exploration. They looked inward and created masks that mirrored their own personalities. Then, using the same tech- niques, students turned to the vast resources of the National Portrait Gallery and strove to uncover the true personalities beneath their chosen portraits. Through research, writing, and role-playing, students examined their subjects’ lives;

next they identified and researched a contemporary Ameri- David Aaronson can whose life paralleled that historical figure. From her The genius of Jacob Lawrence place in history, dancer Katherine Dunham guides the feet guides the hand of Ellington of Judith Jamison; and trumpeter Louis Armstrong, the artist Brian Douglass. fingers of Miles Davis. This insight and historical perspec- tive helped students bring these important figures to life, based on the belief that artists from the past are the founda- tion on which we build and improve ourselves and our art. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch tells his children, “If you want to understand a man, you’ve got to get inside his skin and walk around for awhile.” We hope that the students of Duke Ellington did just that. And we hope that this unique approach to teach- ing history has left them better for the journey. David Aaronson Self-portrait

8 Performing Portraits Beyond Our Borders: NPG Goes International

Claire Kelly Exhibitions and Loans Coordinator As the National Portrait Gallery has traveled exhibitions over the last two decades, we have primarily focused on domestic venues. During the next two years, we open wide the door and make our way to Europe and Asia with three of our touring shows. In May 2001, the photography exhi- bition “Philippe Halsman: A Retrospective” opened at our sister institution, the National Portrait Gallery in London. Twice before, NPG London has traveled exhibitions to the Patent Office Building, and we are delighted to now send some of our works for display in its galleries. Having completed its successful domes-

Courtesy National Portrait Gallery, London Gallery, Portrait National Courtesy tic tour between fall 1998 and Installation view of “Philippe spring 2000, the Halsman show Halsman: A Retrospective” at has also proved to be popular the National Portrait Gallery, with the British audience. On London view in London through early September, it then moved to its first non-English–speaking city—Paris, France. In the city of lights, “Halsman” has been joined by another traveling photography exhibition, “Hans Namuth: Portraits.” The Patri- moine Photographique hosts these wonderfully complemen- Courtesy Patrimoine Photographique John McMahon John tary shows, displaying them Exterior, National Museum of side by side at the Hôtel du Exterior, Hôtel du Sully, Patri- Western Art, Tokyo Sully from October 4, 2001, moine Photographique, Paris through January 6, 2002. NPG is simultaneously taking an excursion to Asia with “A Brush with History: Paintings from the National Portrait Gallery,” on view until October 14, 2001, at the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo. Many of the treasured works in this exhibition have never before left the United States, and we are pleased to send them to two foreign cities. The final venue, in October 2002, is NPG London, where we will share these treasures with our newfound British audi-

John McMahon John ence. As we continue to develop new traveling exhibitions Installation in progress, National during our renovation, you may see familiar American faces Museum of Western Art, Tokyo from NPG in museums around the world.

NPG Stateside

Additional works from the collection are on view in “Virginians from the National Portrait Gallery” at the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond; at the Legends of the Game Museum in Arlington, Texas; and in “Nobel Prize Winners from the Smithsonian” and “Red, Hot & Blue!” at the Black- hawk Museum, Danville, California.

NPG Goes International 9 Q& A Building for the Ages Douglas E. Evelyn, deputy director of the National Museum of the American Indian, discusses the Old Patent Office Building with Anne Christiansen, the National Portrait Gallery’s public affairs specialist.

Anne Christiansen: How did you become interested in the building in which the Gallery was housed?

Douglas Evelyn: I began working at the Portrait Gallery in 1969 as the administrative officer. By the early 1970s, people started asking questions about the building, and I was also curious about the Patent Office’s history. I went to the National Archives and began research- ing the building’s architecture and the work of its original supervis- ing architect, Robert Mills, architect of the Washington Monument.

Christiansen: Tell me about the Patent Office Building’s construction.

Evelyn: Well, it was built in response to an urgent need for fireproof federal offices. Numerous fires—the torching of the White House and the Capitol by the British in 1814 and the destruction of the

RickVargas Treasury Department in 1833—highlighted the need for permanent Douglas E. Evelyn has worked protection of federal records and property. Instead of brick buildings for various museums at the with wood floors and partitions, Congress mandated a new gener- Smithsonian Institution since ation of stone buildings with fireproof materials throughout. The 1969, holding positions at the Patent Office, with its sandstone, marble, and granite walls, and use National Portrait Gallery and of brick and iron-supported vaulting systems, exemplifies this new the National Museum of Ameri- approach to fireproof construction in the mid-nineteenth century. can History. Since 1992, he has The building also has a contentious architectural history. Robert served as deputy director of the Mills, the leading architect in Washington, competed for the design National Museum of the Ameri- against William P. Elliot, Washington agent for the New York firm of can Indian. In 1997, he received Ithiel Town and Alexander J. Davis. Elliot’s submission, for a Greek his doctorate from George Wash- Revival–style building, was accepted over Mills’s design. However, ington University. His disserta- Mills was renowned as an architect of fireproof buildings, and in tion is titled “A Public Building 1836 President appointed him, over Elliot’s bitter for a New Democracy: The objections, to design the building’s interior spaces and vaulting Patent Office Building in the systems. Mills was again selected to extend the building in 1849 but 19th Century.” was replaced in 1852 by Thomas U. Walter, the architect of the exten- sion of the Capitol.

Christiansen: If the building was fireproof, isn’t it ironic that it burned in 1877? What happened?

Evelyn: Fire broke out in the west wing attic, which by then was stuffed with papers and discarded models. Propelled by high winds, the fire raced through the attic and melted the iron beams supporting the ceiling and the roof, which collapsed onto the third floor. The fire was confined to the upper floors and the west and north wings, but even so, more than 87,000 patent models and 40,000 sets of patent drawings were lost. During the renovation completed in 1885, the south wing was refurbished to provide improved office accommoda- tions. Thus, the only original portion of the third floor remaining is the east wing’s Lincoln Gallery.

10 Interview Christiansen: Tell me about the this time the building was nearly gural ball, held in the Patent unique uses of the Patent Office torn down—during the 1920s Office Building, was a spectacle. Building through its history. and the 1950s. Of course, in Guests promenaded through the 1968, following a major reno- south and east wings, danced in Evelyn: From the start it was vation, the building reopened the large and still unoccupied primarily an exhibition build- as the National Portrait Gallery north hall of the upper level, ing, intended to display patent and the National Collection of and ate in the west wing. Unfor- models and other government Fine Arts (now the Smithsonian tunately, food for three hundred collections. When the United American Art Museum). was woefully inadequate for the States received James Smith- one thousand attendants, who son’s $500,000 bequest in the Christiansen: ravished the food and virtually late 1830s, a group of local called the Patent Office Building destroyed the place after Lincoln and national leaders intent on “the noblest of Washington build- departed. using this money for a national ings.” Why did Whitman write I also think Clara Barton’s museum used the building as a about the building, and how is role there in the late 1850s demonstration project. It housed his characterization true? was groundbreaking for women patent models, examples of in the government. She was manufactures, specimens from Evelyn: Whitman visited all the an administrative clerk for the government exploring expedi- Civil War hospital locations in Commissioner of Patents. Other tions, and objects such as the Washington in his efforts to clerks opposed her confidential Declaration of Independence, comfort the sick and wounded. role and the fact that she was treaties, and George Washing- He spoke so fondly of the build- paid equally to men. ton’s military gear. After the ing because it was erected on relocation of collections to the a square halfway between the Christiansen: What are you most Smithsonian in the late 1850s, Capitol and the White House, excited about seeing when the and the 1877 fire and subsequent which was reserved, in L’Enfant’s building reopens? renovations, the building was original plan for Washington, as used increasingly for offices. a shrine to America’s heroes. Evelyn: I hope its grand interior The building has also been spaces are preserved and used for non-traditional pur- Christiansen: With such a diverse respected and that we don’t poses. During the Civil War, it history, I’m sure there are many lose any aspect of the building’s was a barracks for the troops. interesting stories about the dignity and elegance. I also hope Within a week of the onset of the building. that the courtyard continues war, troops from Rhode Island to provide the tranquillity of were sleeping amid the patent Evelyn: Before wings were added, its traditional setting. I would models. Later, the space was there was a greenhouse in the like to see the building be prac- used as a hospital. back with many botanical spec- tical and serviceable, as Mills Throughout the 1900s, the imens. Congressmen would get intended. It is a building for the Patent Office Building continued samples to take to their constitu- ages, and it can be made adapt- its role as home to various gov- ents or for their offices. able for many uses. ernment agencies. Twice during ’s 1865 inau-

Clara Barton (detail) by Under- Patent Office Building exterior, Walt Whitman (detail) by wood and Underwood, circa by Bell Brothers, circa 1866 Mathew Brady, 1837; gift of Mr. 1904 and Mrs. Charles Feinberg

Interview 11 Grant and His Generals: Careful Removal

John McMahon Associate Registrar, Collections In August 1968, Grant and His Generals, with the aid of ten men, entered the National Portrait Gallery via its steep granite steps on Seventh Street. The 10 x 16-foot painting by Ole Peter Hansen Balling had been commissioned by a New York merchant who wanted a portrait of the twenty-seven men who led the Union ground forces during the Civil War. Balling made life studies of the subjects, many during the Richmond campaign in the autumn of 1864, and completed the painting in Wash- 1. A workman assembles scaf- 2. Gallery and contract workers ington. A gift of Mrs. Harry folding in preparation for the cover the painting to protect its Newton Blue, the painting painting’s removal. The size and surface during the move. arrived in time for the Gallery’s placement of Grant and His opening in October 1968. Generals against a curved wall The painting had just been presented a special challenge to restored by Geoffrey Michael moving it. Lemmer, who attached the canvas to a laminated alumi- num support so that it could be installed on the curved wall of the second-floor stairwell. The 450-pound work and its specially made frame were then secured to the wall. Planning for the painting’s deinstallation began in late 2000. Magnitudes of weight and volume joined with spatial limi- tations to present a very chal- 3. A frame conservator removes lenging task. Records were decorative stars from the frame reviewed to discern the methods to expose the bolts securing it to employed to install the painting the wall. and affix it to the wall. There was concern that the aluminum support might want to rebound, causing the paint layer to crack once the painting was removed from the wall, but the painting 4. and 5. NPG staff and contrac- was successfully flattened. tors remove part of the frame On May 25, 2001, Grant (above), revealing the aluminum and His Generals, once again strips that held it to the wall aided by ten men, traveled safely (left). down the freight elevator and onto a waiting vehicle at the loading dock to go into storage during the Patent Office Build- ing’s renovation.

12 Careful Removal 6. Wooden strips create a support structure that 7. The braced painting is removed from the wall maintains the painting’s curve until it can be moved. and taken to the second floor.

8. The support structure is removed in preparation 9. Grant and His Generals is successfully flattened. for flattening the painting.

10. The painting is wrapped and crated. 11. Grant and His Generals is loaded onto a truck.

Careful Removal 13 HARD HAT NEWS Salvage and Demolition

Kristin Gray turn must provide all building procedures on each material. Hartman-Cox Architects services to these areas, including The tests are subject to inspec- In front of the Old Patent Office temporary power, and lighting tion, review, and approval by Building on F Street, a construc- and environmental control. Phase the Smithsonian and the design tion trailer and painted fencing Two defines areas in the building team. Testing is now under way signal the beginning of the selec- isolated from the construction on the encaustic tile floor of tive demolition phase of the work, where staff offices and the Great Hall and the original Physical Plant Renewal Project. museum materials are located. A marble floors in the east wing. Both the Smithsonian’s Office small staff monitors and expe- These floor tiles will be care- of Physical Plant and Davis dites the ongoing move. The fully removed with hand tools, Construction have been on site building’s climate control system, labeled, and catalogued in order since mid-spring, preparing for power, lighting, and security in to preserve and protect them this phase of work to begin. these areas are fully operable. for re-use in the same locations. There is much to do in prep- Before any selective demoli- For materials that are not origi- aration for the total facelift of tion can begin, the contractor nal to the building and are not a national historic landmark. is required to provide a compre- planned for salvage and re-use, Throughout the past year, the hensive record of existing condi- the contractor sets up all neces- staffs of the museums have been tions inside and outside the sary protection around columns packing and moving to new building by means of narrated and pilasters in the work area offices just a short distance away. videotapes and labeled photo- and proceeds with demolition. Upon the contractor’s arrival at graphs. This record is an impor- General demolition of the the site, separate work areas tant starting point for the terrazzo floor tiles, installed as were defined so that construc- protection of the Smithsonian part of the 1964 renovation, is tion could begin while the last and the contractor, as well as now under way in the Lincoln elements of the museums’ move for future reference. Addition- Gallery. are completed. Phase One allows ally, the contractor must protect Throughout the entire project, the contractor access to areas the important features of the two time-lapse video cameras of the building that have been building. Outside, this consists will be positioned in areas where completely vacated by the muse- of fencing around the work site work is taking place, and these ums. This portion of the building and protection of stairs, historic will move with the progress of is officially under the contrac- railings, and fences around the the work. tor’s control. The contractor in perimeter. Inside, balcony rail- ings in the Great Hall and the Library, handrails on the south wing grand staircase, and the columns and pilasters in the Lincoln Gallery have been covered with layers of plastic, rigid insulation, and plywood. Several areas are off-limits to the contractor for the duration of the project, such as the east wing round staircases and the small staircases in the Great Hall. These areas have been secured and isolated with tempo- In the Lincoln Gallery, the ter- rary plywood walls. As work razzo floor has been removed, progresses, additional protection revealing the top side of the will be erected in affected areas. second-floor brick ceiling vaults. In preparation for the salvage Thick slabs of terrazzo are Plywood protects the columns of historic materials, the contrac- broken up, gallery by gallery. and pilasters. tor is required to test removal

14 Hard Hat News Staff Spotlight Jewell Robinson, public program about a well-to-do African Amer- manager for the Portrait Gallery, ican family. She has been on received a Helen Hayes Award leave from the Portrait Gallery in May 2001 for her role in since early May to reprise her Blue, a new play written by role in New York at the Gra- Charles Randolph-Wright, which mercy Theatre, where she shares premiered at Washington, D.C.’s the stage with her son, Randall Arena Stage in April 2000. Robin- Shepperd, and Phylicia Rashad. son performed the role of the Blue is expected to run until

William Harris William matriarch Tillie in this comedy mid-Fall.

Portrait of a Nation Useful Contacts Tour Itinerary We’ve moved! Because of the Old Patent Office Building renovation, the staff has moved to its new location at 750 Ninth Street, NW, Suite 8300, Washington, DC 20560-0973. Our new main telephone number is (202) Portraits of the Presidents 275-1738; our e-mail addresses remain the same. New Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum contact information is also posted on our Web site. Simi Valley, California October 26, 2001–January 21, 2002 Catalog of American Portraits Phone: (202) 275-1840 Additional venues include: Memphis Brooks Web: www.npg.si.edu and click on Search Museum of Art, Tennessee; North Carolina E-mail: [email protected] Museum of History, Raleigh; Virginia Historical Society, Richmond Library A Brush with History Phone: (202) 275-1912 Web: www.siris.si.edu (for the library’s catalog) The Speed Art Museum E-mail: [email protected] Louisville, Kentucky November 20, 2001–January 27, 2002 Office of External Affairs Additional venues include: Montgomery Museum of Phone: (202) 275-1764 Fine Arts, Alabama; New Orleans Museum of Art, E-mail: [email protected] Louisiana; National Portrait Gallery, London Eye Contact: Office of Education For information about school and community programs, teacher Modern American Portrait Drawings resources, internships, and upcoming events: Exhibition venues, beginning in May 2002, include: Phone: (202) 275-1811 Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas; Elmhurst Web: www.npg.si.edu and click on Education Art Museum, Illinois E-mail: [email protected] Women of Our Time: Photographs from Office of Rights andReproductions the National Portrait Gallery Phone: (202) 275-1791 Exhibition venues, beginning in September 2002, Web: www.npg.si.edu/inf/r&r/index-intro.htm include: Old State House, Hartford, Connecticut; E-mail: [email protected] Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma; Mobile Museum of Art, Alabama; Sioux City Art Office of Publications Center, Iowa To order an NPG publication, contact the National Museum of American History’s Shop. For information on available bookings, contact the Phone: (202) 357-1527 Department of Exhibitions and Collections Manage- Web: www.npg.si.edu and click on Information ment at (202) 275-1777; fax: (202) 275-1897.

Visit www.npg.si.edu today!

Information 15 Portrait Puz z lers Using these clues, can you connect names to these faces? Answers below.

1. 2. 3. 4.

The second-oldest He presided over the At age twenty-two, she Tennis fans called her person to be elected Supreme Court for got a late start in danc- “Little Miss Poker Face,” to the presidency, he thirty-four years, ing but did not stop and she was so self- became the first Pres- longer than any other performing until she contained and consis- ident to die in office, Chief Justice. It is was in her mid-seven- tent on the court that a month after his widely agreed that no ties. Her role in the she was sometimes inauguration. Despite American jurist has evolution of modern boring to watch. The his aristocratic birth, done more than he to dance was central. number-one-ranked supporters were fond define the Constitution. What Picasso did for women’s tennis player of casting him as a twentieth-century for eight years, she homespun rustic with painting, some say, she eventually won thirty- a preference for hard did for the dance. one grand-slam titles.

cider.

Newspictures, Inc., 1933. All images are details. are images All 1933. Inc., Newspictures,

(1905–1998), gelatin silver print by an unidentified photographer for Acme Acme for photographer unidentified an by print silver gelatin (1905–1998), Moody Wills Helen 4. 1940; circa Meltsner,

(1894–1991), oil on canvas by Paul R. R. Paul by canvas on oil (1894–1991), Graham Martha 3. 1832; circa Hubard, James William by canvas on oil

(1755–1835), (1755–1835), Marshall John 2. 1840; Hoit, Gallatin Albert by canvas on oil (1773–1841), Harrison Henry William 1.

Remembrance The National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian Institution join the rest of the nation in mourn- ing the tragic events of September 11. As Secretary Small said, “Throughout the Smithsonian’s history, we have, and will continue to perform, an invaluable service for the American people. Stew- ardship of the treasured objects and stories of the struggle for democracy is a responsibility we accept at the Smithsonian with a sense of enormous seriousness, even awe. We recognize now how justified that sense of commitment is. The doors of the Smithsonian remain open to the American people, and all peace-loving people, so that they can explore our past struggles and successes. The treasured icons of our past remind us of the values we hold dear—and give us hope for the future.”

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