Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery News Fall 2000 from the DIRECTOR

PROFILE Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery News Fall 2000 From the DIRECTOR

At every meeting of the National Portrait Gallery Commission, each candidate for inclusion in our collection is measured for the impact of his or her career on American society. There is only one category of American achievement in which every individual automatically qualifies for acceptance: the presidency.

By definition, an American President, whatever the extent of his (and, one day, her) achievement, has a profound effect on our society and our history as a people. That’s why the National Portrait Gallery has set aside its grandest space for our Hall of Presidents. And that’s why we take particular pleasure in launching our tour of the greatest treasures in our collection with the opening of the “Portraits of the Presidents” exhibition at the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas, on October 6.

By the time you read this, we will all be deep in our latest presidential season. What the Portrait Gallery offers the nation is historical perspective on this most fundamental of our activities as a nation. At the Bush Library, we are hosting a panel on the history of presidential campaigns, moderated by our Commissioner, the distinguished broadcaster Roger Mudd. This is the first activity we have undertaken with the generous support provided by the National Portrait Gallery’s Paul Peck Fund for Presidential Studies. Mr. Peck’s generosity will also allow us to contribute to an examina- tion of the presidency at our sister institution, the National Museum of American History. I have hopes (no guarantees yet) that I may have the opportunity to interview there one or more former Presi- dents as part of our “Living Self-portrait” series.

The Gallery has always made a contribution to the American understanding of the presidency by providing great images of the Presidents, which tell us not only what they looked like, but, perhaps more important, what each artist and each era thought they represented for the nation. Through portraits we can feel Washing- ton’s majesty, Lincoln’s tragedy, and the charm of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. We can also stare in perplexity at those who have faded from current memory, wonder about the varieties of presidential character, and wonder, too, whether it is the times that make for greatness. Anyone not able to visit these great portraits in Texas or later in Independence, Missouri, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Los Angeles, California, will still be able to see them in our improved presidential Web site, which enables visitors to see all the spaces in our Virtual Hall in 360 degrees. Take a look at www.npg.si.edu/ exh/hall/index-hall2.htm and see whether you can take the measure of presidential greatness. We’ll all be making our best guess this November at the polls.

2 PROFILE Contents Vol. 1 No. 3. Fall 2000

ELECTION SPECIAL 4 12 Presidents and Collecting the Presidents Q&A the Presidency Interview with Linda Thrift 6 of the Center for Electronic Then & Now Research and Outreach Presidents’ sons and Services Vice Presidents 14 8 NPG on the Road Historian’s Choice Smithsonian Affiliations Abraham Lincoln Program Cover: This image of Abraham Lincoln 9 15 was part of a series of pho- NPG Schedules & tographs taken at Alexander Curator’s Choice Gardner’s Washington studio Gertrude Vanderbilt Information on February 5, 1865, a month Whitney before his second inauguration. 16 Gardner shot the image using 10 Portrait Puzzlers a glass-plate negative, which Presidential wannabes cracked before it could be pro- Acquisitions cessed. Nevertheless, he man- Samuel Griffin: unraveling a aged to make one print from it. mistaken identity In the next issue 11 A special report from the George Bush Presidential Hard Hat News Library and Museum: the Skylight restoration opening of “Portraits of the Presidents” and the panel discussion “Presidential Cam- paigns: From the Trenches,” moderated by Roger Mudd.

PROFILE

National Portrait Gallery Marc Pachter Director Smithsonian Institution Carolyn K. Carr Deputy Director Eloise Baden Chief Administrative Officer Eighth and F Streets, NW Washington, DC 20560-0213 Editor Phone: (202) 357-2700 Brennan Rash Office of Public Affairs Fax: (202) 786-3098 E-mail: [email protected] Editorial Committee Web site: www.npg.si.edu Dru Dowdy Office of Publications Marianne Gurley Office of Photographic Services Sidney Hart The Charles Willson Peale Family Papers Readers’ comments are welcome. Leslie London Office of Design and Production Ellen G. Miles Department of Painting and Sculpture Frances Stevenson Office of Publications © 2000 Smithsonian Institution Available in alternative formats. Frederick Voss Department of History Printed on recycled paper. Carol Wyrick Office of Education

3 Collecting the Presidents

Frederick Voss Adams expressed doubt that Bingham’s portrait Senior Historian would turn out to be “either a strong likeness or Much as the presidency is the focal point of Ameri- a fine picture.” Bingham proved his subject wrong can politics, presidential likenesses occupy a place of on both counts. The resulting picture was a compel- eminence in American portraiture. Replications of ling testament to the subject’s stony New England presidential images are to be found everywhere in tenaciousness, and posterity is mightily grateful for our daily life, from our coined and paper currencies, Adams’s willingness to pose for a painter in whom to advertisements, to classrooms. It would, in fact, he had so little faith. be no overstatement to say that familiarity with When we think of presidential portraiture, the at least certain presidential likenesses—most nota- image that most readily comes to mind is a for- bly Washington’s and Lincoln’s—is one of the few mally posed three-quarter or full-length composi- aspects of our heterogeneous cultural heritage that tion, where the emphasis is on magisterial dignity. most Americans have in common almost from tod- The Gallery, of course, has that brand of portrai- dlerhood on. But from the Portrait Gallery vantage ture in ample supply, but also in its collections point, perhaps the most telling indication of the spe- are some fine examples of presidential imagery cial niche that presidential imagery holds in this where respectful gravitas is decidedly in short country’s portrait tradition is the lively interest that supply. Among them is a drawing by the famed visitors have invariably taken in the museum’s Hall nineteenth-century editorial cartoonist Thomas of Presidents. Since the Gallery’s opening in 1968, Nast, depicting his favorite White House target, no aspect of its permanent installations has been Andrew Johnson, as the mean-spirited “King Andy more frequented and generated more commentary. I” facing down an equally absurd donkey that In the face of this abiding interest in presiden- sports the laurel wreath of a Roman emperor. tial images, it should come as no surprise that Another image short on gravitas is a drawing one of the Gallery’s collecting priorities has long of Calvin Coolidge by caricaturist Miguel Covarru- been likenesses of the individuals who have occu- bias. To me, one of the most interesting things pied the White House. In addition to the more pre- about this wonderfully acerbic portrayal of the dictable formal portraits in oil, bronze, and stone, ascetic, taciturn “Silent Cal” is how closely it par- the museum’s presidential collections contain news allels a written portrait of Coolidge penned by a photographs, commemorative medals, campaign Harvard professor in a private letter. Coolidge, the prints, drawings, and caricatures. Today, the Gal- professor observed, was “a small hatchet-faced, col- lery’s presidential collections include more than orless man, with a tight-shut, thin-lipped mouth; twelve hundred pieces and are constantly growing. very chary of words, but with a gleam of under- Some of the Gallery’s presidential likenesses standing in his pretty keen eye.” Covarrubias was bespeak an effort to obtain the best in portraiture never privy to that comment, yet to look at his that a given era could offer. That certainly is intepretation of Coolidge, it is almost as if the the case with the museum’s unfinished portrait good professor had stood over the drawing board of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, which directing his pen. despite its unfinished state possesses a fleshlike A few of the Portrait Gallery’s most satisfying vitality that ranks it among the finest works by one presidential portraits, interestingly enough, were of the early republic’s most able artists. Another only preliminary studies for far more ambitious por- case is the portrait of Grover Cleveland by Swed- traits. One such likeness is Douglas Chandor’s por- ish artist Anders Zorn, where the loose brushwork, trait of Franklin D. Roosevelt, which was meant to relaxed pose, and natural lighting coalesce to make serve only as a template for a large, never-realized it a fine example of the impressionistic portraiture tableau depicting Roosevelt with Winston Churchill that was the height of fashion in the last years of and Joseph Stalin at Yalta in early 1945. As with the nineteenth century. most works of this sort, the picture looks obviously One President who sometimes did not worry unfinished. Still, when combined with the studies too much about the proven talents of his portrait- of FDR’s hands in the canvas’s lower portion, the ist was John Quincy Adams, who in his old age likeness has all the weight of a good finished por- seemed willing to sit for just about any painter trait, and one cannot help but think that if the sketch who asked him. One of those artists was George had been taken to a greater state of completion, its Caleb Bingham, and shortly after consenting to sit, impact would have been substantially diminished.

Page 5, left to right, top to bottom (details for all but Carter and Kennedy): Grover Cleveland by Anders Zorn, 1899; George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, 1796; Calvin Coolidge by Miguel Covarrubias, before 1925; Andrew Johnson by Thomas Nast, 1873; Jimmy Carter by Julian H. Harris, 1976;

4 NPG Presidents ©The New©The Times/George York Tames

Lyndon Johnson by Pietro Annigoni, 1966; Franklin Delano Roosevelt by Douglas Chandor, 1945; John Quincy Adams by George Caleb Bingham, circa 1844; Thomas Jefferson by Gilbert Stuart, 1805; Zachary Taylor at Walnut Springs by William Garl Brown Jr., 1847; John F. Kennedy by George Tames, 1963.

NPG Presidents 5 & NOW Presidents’ Sons and Vice Presidents

Sidney Hart John Quincy Adams men were on the ballot. When Editor, Peale Family Papers In late February 1825, ninety- the votes were counted, Jackson year-old former President John finished first and won 99 votes In November 2000 voters will Adams received a letter from the in the Electoral College, Adams choose either a sitting Vice Presi- aged Thomas Jefferson, congrat- was second with 84, and Craw- ulating him on the “high grati- ford and Clay were third and dent or the son of a former Presi- fication” he must feel from his fourth with 41 and 37, respec- dent as their chief executive. A son’s victory, imagining, with tively. Under the Twelfth Amend- President’s son has been elected perhaps a touch of envy, “the ment to the U.S. Constitution, ineffable feelings in the breast of President only once, in 1824, but if no candidate receives a major- a father to have lived to see a ity in the Electoral College, the the odds are much improved for son . . . so eminently distinguished House of Representatives chooses Vice Presidents. Four incumbent by the voice of his country.” the President from among the Vice Presidents (John Adams, John Quincy Adams (1767– three highest vote-getters. Clay 1848) became the nation’s sixth was eliminated, but as the pow- Thomas Jefferson, Martin Van President after one of the most erful Speaker of the House of Buren, and George Bush) have complex and competitive con- Representatives, he became an been elected, and ten more have tests in our history. The 1824 important force in the outcome succeeded to the office through election is the second, and last of the election. Crawford’s third- time to date, that a President has place finish and poor health left a President’s death or resigna- been chosen without receiving a the election a contest between tion, or through later election. majority in the Electoral College. Jackson and Adams. Here are the election stories of The election also ended a time in Clay viewed Jackson as a rival America often labeled the “Era in the West and as a potential George W. Bush’s and Al Gore’s of Good Feelings,” characterized opponent in the 1828 presiden- nineteenth-century counterparts, by a temporary cessation of the tial election, and the two men John Quincy Adams and Martin two-party system. also had real differences on such Van Buren. Early in James Monroe’s second issues as Indian policy. But on term, seven serious contenders issues such as internal improve- arose to succeed him, all claiming ments (roads, canals, and other to be members of the remaining public works), Clay felt close to Jeffersonian Republican Party. By Adams, and had written to a the fall of 1824, the field had friend that he would back the been reduced to four: William New Englander. At this point, the Harris Crawford of Georgia, rep- story becomes controversial. resenting the slave states of the In December a Clay supporter South; Kentuckian Henry Clay approached Adams, suggesting and political newcomer Andrew that Clay’s friends would be Jackson of Tennessee, speaking pleased if their man were prom- for the rapidly developing western ised a cabinet post. Adams did states; and John Quincy Adams not commit, but he dined with from Massachusetts, representing Clay on New Year’s Day. On New England and the Middle the evening of January 9, Adams Atlantic states. invited Clay to his home, and Although the congressional after a long conversation the two caucus was the established proce- men emerged as allies. In the dure for political parties to nomi- meantime, Jackson indignantly nate a presidential candidate, it rebuffed one of his own support- could not be effectively utilized, ers who offered to broker a deal because all candidates belonged making Clay secretary of state in John Quincy Adams by Eastman to the same party. So when voters return for his support. Johnson, 1846 went to the polls in 1824, all four On January 24, Clay support-

6 Then & Now ers in the Kentucky and Ohio the election of 1836 was pivotal were still in an incomplete stage congressional delegations pub- in the formation of America’s of development, fielding four licly announced their intention political parties. candidates. Not until late in to vote for Adams, bringing Van Buren’s personal charm, the campaign were the Whigs angry charges from the Jackson executive abilities, shrewd judg- sufficiently confident to stress the camp that a deal had been struck. ment of people, and extraordinary partisan nature of the election: The charge of “corrupt bargain” talent for political organization through most of the campaign would taint the Adams presi- propelled him to a position of they had acted merely as a dency and would follow Clay leadership of a group of highly minority party trying to split for the rest of his life. Never- influential New York political Democrats off. Van Buren in par- theless, the controversy did not figures, known as the “Albany ticular was attacked as a corrupt derail the Adams-Clay alliance, regency,” who ran a tightly knit officeholder—in the hyperbole of and on February 9 the House of political machine. Newspaper Davy Crockett, an “artful, cun- Representatives elected Adams editor and political figure Horace ning, intriguing, selfish, speculat- as the sixth President of the Greeley believed that Van Buren’s ing lawyer.” On the other hand, United States. Shortly afterward, strength “lay in his suavity” as a the Democrats and Van Buren the President-elect offered the “reconciler of the estranged, the emphasized what their party stood post of secretary of state to his harmonizer of those who were for under Jackson, and urged ally, Henry Clay, who accepted at feud.” In short, he was “an party loyalty among those who the position. Whether an actual adroit and subtle, rather than a had voted for them previously. bargain had been made, and if great man.” Notwithstanding a bitter and so, whether it should be consid- In 1821 the New York state intense campaign, voter turnout ered corrupt, remain intriguing legislature elected Van Buren to the averaged only about 55 percent; questions of the presidential elec- Senate. His early and continued recent local and state elections tion of 1824. opposition toward John Quincy had drawn larger turnouts. The Adams and his policies eventually close popular vote was in marked Martin Van Buren led him to support the presidential contrast with Jackson’s landslides In 1836, Martin Van Buren candidacy of Andrew Jackson, and would resemble the century’s (1782–1862) became the third who named him secretary of subsequent elections. sitting Vice President to win state during his first term. Historians agree that the elec- election to the presidency, a In 1832 Jackson selected Van tion of 1836 coalesced groups feat that would not be repeated Buren as his running mate in and factions, which had begun until George Bush’s win in 1988. his bid for a second term. forming during Jackson’s first Historians debate whether Van Van Buren’s loyalty was recipro- administration, into the Demo- Buren’s presidency was in effect cated by Jackson, leading to cratic and Whig parties. The a third Andrew Jackson term the Vice President’s widespread United States would again have or whether the “Little Magician” acceptance by Democrats as two organized political parties had an active role in shaping many the President’s political heir. An (until the onset of the Civil War), of the Jacksonian politics that he additional factor in Van Buren’s national in scope and competing subsequently pledged to defend rise was his skill in party-building in close contests in all sections during his own administration. during both of Jackson’s terms. of the country. Historians do agree, however, that Van Buren believed that in a large and expanding democratic Further reading on Adams: Instead of nation in which political partici- Paul C. Nagel’s unsatisfactory recent pation was growing, an efficient biography, John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, a Private Life (New York, party organization was necessary 1997), see Samuel Flagg Bemis, John to channel support for a govern- Quincy Adams and the Union (New ment that reflected the popular York, 1956); on the 1824 election, see will. Under his leadership, a James F. Hopkins, “Election of 1824,” loose affiliation of Jacksonian in History of American Presidential supporters, factions, and follow- Elections, 1789–1968, ed. Arthur M. ers was molded into a disciplined Schlesinger Jr. and Fred L. Israel political party. (New York, 1971), pp. 349–409. The election of 1836 can be On Van Buren: See John Niven, Martin Van Buren: The Romantic viewed as a campaign of two Age of American Politics (New York, parties in different stages of 1983); for the election of 1836, see development. The Democrats, uni- Joel H. Silbey, “Election of 1836,” Martin Van Buren by Mathew fied under Van Buren, campaigned in History of American Presidential Brady, circa 1856 as a national party; the Whigs Elections, pp. 577–640.

Then & Now 7 HISTORIAN’S CHOICE Abraham Lincoln Watercolor on ivory by John Henry Brown (1819–1891), 1860

James G. Barber of whether or not it was a credible likeness of him. Historian In August 1860, Brown traveled to Lincoln’s In the year 2000, we are in the midst of another hometown of Springfield, Illinois, and sought out presidential contest, and naturally, portraits of suc- the gangling candidate. After Lincoln consented to cessful candidates of the past come to mind. Fas- have his portrait painted, Brown suggested that he cination with Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) and should be photographed first. Lincoln sat for half the political circumstances of this splendid a dozen pictures, taken by Preston Brooks, miniature by John Henry Brown make before Brown saw one to his liking. it this historian’s choice for the fall “There are so many hard lines in his issue of Profile. face that it becomes a mask to Well before Abraham Lincoln the inner man,” Brown recorded became President, he had a in his diary. “His true charac- vision for the nation that had ter only shines out when in been stated in the Declaration an animated conversation, or of Independence and would when telling an amusing tale, extend far into the future. Its of which he is very fond.” fundamental idea was liberty, Brown was taken immedi- which Lincoln expressed in ately with Lincoln’s person- a personal way, as he was ality. “I like him much, and fond of doing. “As I would agree with him in all things not be a slave, so I would not but his politics.” Moreover, be a master,” he said. “This Brown was pleased with Lin- expresses my idea of democracy. coln’s appearance. He would Whatever differs from this, to the not have to create a flattering extent of the difference, is no democ- campaign image after all; he could racy.” In spite of his abhorrence of paint a true likeness instead. slavery, Lincoln was a realist. Slavery was Lincoln sat for Brown on five occa- protected by the Constitution, and no politi- sions inside the state capitol, where he had cal or social movement was going to eradicate it been given use of the governor’s office that summer instantly. Yet Lincoln drew the line when it came to to escape the throngs of visitors who descended upon the expansion of slavery into the western territories. his house. Brown’s results in capturing Lincoln on a He denounced slavery’s expansion in his famous piece of ivory with watercolors were roundly praised. debates with Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas, and Lincoln’s secretary, John G. Nicolay, declared it to be in his speeches he could never compromise on this “decidedly the best picture of him that I have seen.” issue. He described the miniature in a letter to his fiancée By the summer of 1860, having won the Repub- as being “about twice as large as a common quarter- lican Party’s nomination at the Chicago conven- size daguerreotype or ambrotype, that when magni- tion in May, Lincoln was quickly becoming a fied to life size one cannot discover any defects or national celebrity, and he responded to scores of brush marks on it at all.” The miniature was on requests for his signature, his biography, and his view at the state house, and apparently a magnifying picture. One special request produced a remark- glass was made available to viewers. The local paper able miniature portrait by a Pennsylvania artist called it “a splendid picture,” and noted that under named John Henry Brown. The portrait was com- magnification, “instead of presenting a more rugged missioned by Judge John M. Read of Philadelphia, appearance as it grows larger, the naturalness of a member of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. its expression is increased.” In a broader, historic Read had become annoyed with the unflattering sense, the same could be said of the man himself, caricatures of Lincoln that the presidential con- as the nation began scrutinizing him as a statesman. test was inevitably inspiring. With a view to pub- lishing a respectable lithograph of Lincoln for the Further reading: Biographies and books about Abraham campaign, Read instructed the artist to execute an Lincoln abound. For a concise, recent biography, see attractive picture of the “Railsplitter,” regardless David Herbert Donald, Lincoln (New York, 1995).

8 Historian’s Choice CURATOR’S CHOICE Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Bronze by Jo Davidson (1883–1952), 1968 cast from the 1916 original

Brandon Brame Fortune The portrait was produced in several versions. Associate Curator of Painting & Sculpture Whitney mentioned a plaster and a polychromed The National Portrait Gallery owns more than terra-cotta in her correspondence from 1916 and sixty of Jo Davidson’s portraits in bronze, marble, 1917. A marble is in the collection of the Whitney terra-cotta, and plaster, acquired over a number Museum of American Art. Davidson owned two of years. Born in New York to Russian immigrant plasters, and perhaps a version of the terra-cotta parents, Davidson struggled financially at bust. But no contemporary bronze is known. In the beginning of his career. But by the 1968, this particular bust was cast in bronze 1920s, his reputation as a leading por- for the National Portrait Gallery, using a traitist in France, England, and the plaster that had remained in the David- United States was secure, and later son family. It was cast by the Valsuani he became so well known that foundry in France, the foundry David- a photograph of his jovial, black- son used during his lifetime. That we bearded countenance served as a know this much about Davidson’s por- clue in a crossword puzzle! trait (and there is still much that we Jo Davidson’s charisma endeared do not know) is due to our ongoing him to many of his famous subjects. research into his sculptural produc- One of my favorites is our portrait of tion, initiated in 1993, when his contemporary, the sculptor and we examined Davidson’s per- heiress Gertrude Vanderbilt Whit- sonal papers at the Library ney (1875–1942), one of those of Congress. This research charmed by Davidson, and one brought us into contact with of his earliest patrons. Just Davidson’s surviving son, Jacques after she had been introduced Davidson, who is now ninety to Davidson in Paris in 1908, and lives in France, where Jo Whitney began to purchase his owned a house. Jacques, as work and to correspond with charming as his father, had been him, arranging visits when she in touch with the Gallery over was in France. In 1909 she the years. During a trip to Amer- wrote, “I hope you come to America. It’s good to go ica with his son, he visited the Gallery again and and look around there once in a while . . . come and examined many of our sculptures, offering opin- look at me! too.” ions and reminiscences, and adding to our knowl- During the years just after his marriage in 1909, edge of Jo’s work. Davidson and his wife Yvonne, a designer of fash- Jo Davidson and Whitney remained close until ionable dresses, did live in New York, where Whit- her death in 1942. They visited each other, trav- ney found studio space for him in MacDougal Alley, eled together, and corresponded. Whitney bought near her own studio and the new Whitney Studio heaps of Yvonne’s designer dresses for herself and Club on West Eighth Street. In 1917, she made a her daughters. In 1927, she wrote a long, philo- bronze portrait of Davidson. But Davidson’s 1916 sophical letter to Davidson, which began, “Life is portrait of Whitney was not a friendly gift; it was funny and you are wonderful.” Davidson’s sensi- commissioned in order to help Davidson financially. tive portrait of Whitney expresses his relationship The portrait is very like contemporary photo- with a woman who was not only a fellow artist graphs of Whitney, with her deep-set eyes, narrow and his patron, but also his friend. brow, and thick hair. Davidson was known for capturing a likeness quickly, and he imbued his sitters Further reading: Davidson’s autobiography, Between Sit- with a vivacity born from conversation. As he con- tings (New York, 1951), is full of anecdotes about his fessed, “I often wondered what it was that drove life and his sitters. For an account of Davidson’s work, see Janis Conner and Joel Rosenkranz, Rediscoveries in me to make busts of people. It wasn’t so much that American Sculpture: Studio Works, 1893–1939 (Austin, they had faces that suggested sculpture. . . . [It] was Tex., 1989). The standard biography of Whitney, with ref- the people themselves—to be with them, to hear erences to her friendship with Davidson, is B. H. Fried- them speak and watch their faces change.” man, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (New York, 1978).

Curator’s Choice 9 Unraveling a Mistaken Identity Samuel Griffin by Cosmo Alexander Samuel Griffin an aide-de-camp Oil on canvas, 1770; bequest of Alice Dulany Ball to General Charles Lee in July 1775, and the following year Con- gress made him adjutant general of the “flying camp,” with the rank of colonel. In command of two companies of Virginia troops and a force of New Jersey mili- tia, Griffin received a commenda- tion from General Joseph Reed for “his Zeal and Service.” But early in 1777 Griffin, who had his heart set on command of a “regi- ment of horse” and affronted (as Continental army officers were wont to be) because “among the many Promotions he had been overlook’d,” left the army. He set up a law office in Williams- burg, and on December 11, 1778, married Betsey Braxton, one of the eighteen children of Carter Margaret C.S. Christman collection was an exciting pros- Braxton, a signer of the Declara- Research Historian pect, particularly since Alexan- tion of Independence. Alice Dulany Ball, who died in der was the first to instruct a When it came time, in January 1999, bequeathed to the fourteen-year-old Newport boy November 1788, for Virginia Gallery a portrait believed from by the name of Gilbert Stuart. to choose its representatives to “family notes and memories” to Nonetheless, the Gallery’s first the First Federal Congress, Grif- be Cyrus Griffin (1748–1810), consideration must be the sitter, fin, a member of the Virginia the last president of Congress and Cyrus Griffin’s identity was House of Delegates since 1786, under the Articles of Confedera- immediately called into question announced his candidacy for the tion. Ball, whose family tree is by the color of his eyes, brown congressional district embracing replete with prominent Virginia rather than blue, as seen in two the nine counties lying between names, was descended from other portraits of Griffin. And the James and York Rivers. A Cyrus Griffin and Lady Chris- once the date on the stretcher supporter of the Constitution, tina, daughter of John Stuart, was deciphered as 1770, it was Griffin prevailed over two Anti- sixth Earl of Traquair, through obvious that Cyrus Griffin—in federalist opponents. their youngest child, Samuel Europe from 1766 until 1774, Despite Griffin’s reputation Stuart Griffin. studying at the University of Edin- for being “inattentive to Busi- An inscription on the stretcher burgh and the Middle Temple at ness, and being too fond of Plea- (likely copied when the canvas was London—was not our man. sure,” he was diligent in his relined in 1869) confirmed that Attention then focused on attendance at Congress. There the portrait had been painted by Samuel Griffin (1746–1810), is no record of him speaking on Cosmo Alexander (1724–1772), Cyrus’s elder brother by two the floor, but it may be said, in a practiced Scottish artist who years and twenty-four years old support of his claim to a place had come to America in 1765 and in 1770. Samuel, other portraits in the National Portrait Gallery, worked in New York, Newport, reveal, had brown eyes, and his that “Speeches may dazzle, but Providence, Philadelphia, and Wil- appearance in a miniature, exe- votes count.” As a member of liamsburg and vicinity before he cuted during or not long after the crucial First Federal Con- returned to Edinburgh in 1771. the American Revolution, pro- gress, the body that concluded Two dozen or so American por- vides substantial evidence that the American Revolution and traits have been attributed to he is indeed the subject of the gave life to the Constitution, Alexander, and the opportunity Alexander portrait. Samuel Griffin played a role in to include him in the Gallery’s George Washington appointed the birth of the nation.

10 Acquisitions HARD HAT NEWS New Skylights

Kristin Gray lights, framed in iron and cov- be damaging to art. The light Hartman-Cox Architects ered with hammered glass, for then hits a thin suspended film As part of the recently completed the south and north wings. The coated with precious metals. The roof replacement project, the skylight glass was set in place film blocks 99.5 percent of ultra- original skylights over the Old on tarred rope. In 1964 all of violet radiation, the type of light Patent Office Building’s Great the skylights except one were that is the most damaging to art. Hall and Library, located on replaced with concrete planks. In order to conserve energy, the the third floor of the south and film then reflects heat to the out- west wings, once again illumi- New Skylight Technology side in summer and keeps heat in nate these celebrated nineteenth- Many curators believe that natu- the building during winter. The century interiors. The result is ral light provides the best color light then hits a second ultravio- 340 linear feet of natural light spectrum in which to view the let screen. Before entering the enlivening the building’s grand- colors in paintings and art objects. gallery space, the light passes est public spaces. However, natural light contains through a cloth mesh that can be many rays that are harmful to changed to control light intensity History art objects. The new skylights as desired for the space below. The building has had a long have seven layers of films, coat- This is all accomplished without history with skylights. Architect ings, and filters that manipulate discoloring the natural light or Robert Mills’s original specifica- natural light to the standards eliminating its directional quality. tions of 1840 called for round required by artwork in the spaces With the addition of mechanical skylights in the east wing’s Lin- below. awnings, ultimate control is pos- coln Gallery (now part of the As light passes through the sible: the halls can be plunged National Museum of American filter system, white ceramic lines into total darkness simply by Art). After the fire of 1877, etched into the glass block infra- sealing off the skylights with the Adolph Cluss designed new sky- red rays from the sun that could touch of a button.

Scaffolding was erected immediately beneath the lay- In this picture, the old roof is being removed for instal- lights inside the Library to protect documents and lation of the skylight framing and glazing. The new people from dust, noise, and outside air during the skylight system was set upon the existing rafters of the opening of the roof and installation of the new sky- west wing roof, which are visible in the picture. Safety lights. The scaffolding spanned the open balcony space anchors, for use during routine roof maintenance, stick of the Library at the fourth-floor level. out from the walls’ skylight structure.

Hard Hat News 11 & 100,000 American Portraits An interview with Linda Thrift, Keeper, Center for Electronic Q Research and Outreach Services by Ellen G. Miles, Curator of Painting and Sculpture.

Ellen Miles: The name of your department—CEROS, the Center for Electronic Research and Outreach Services—is a recent change, isn’t it? You used to be known as the Catalog of American Portraits.

Linda Thrift: Yes; the idea of having an umbrella name that included all of the projects that we administer had been in the works since 1996. The projects under CEROS are: the Catalog of American Portraits, the oldest project, which is a national portrait archive containing images and documentation for about 100,000 portraits of Americans or by American artists; the Collections Information System, which records portraits in the Gallery’s collections; and the Gallery’s Web site, which was launched in 1996.

Photo: Chris Lands Miles: I remember that CAP began as a system of paper files.

Researchers and the general Thrift: I started in 1972. In 1966 we had already surveyed the Frick public alike have used the Art Reference Library’s American portrait records. resources of CEROS to find Miles: So that was the beginning, and the idea behind it was . . . information on American portraits and portrait artists. The Thrift: Daniel Reed, former Gallery historian, wrote an article called Catalog of American Portraits “The Catalogue of American Portraits,” published in the 1967 issue of American Archivist, in which he described what the Catalogue may be accessed on the Web by was and what he wanted it to be. He even talked about automated going to www.npg.si.edu and data processing equipment and techniques that would be employed clicking on Search. to index each portrait.

Miles: At what point did the Portrait Gallery start its field survey of unpublished collections?

Thrift: When I arrived, the Bicentennial Survey of the Southern States, funded by grants, was well under way. In 1978 we received a $325,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which was matched by Smithsonian trust funds. We also had to raise a matching third in the regions that we were surveying. It was an on-site survey. We would hire people from the region who had contacts with the staff and collections. Many times, especially in historical societies and certainly in private collections, the works had never been catalogued. We’d photograph the objects and catalogue them, and then provide cataloguing information and the photographs to the owners. Richard Doud, our survey coordinator, wrote detailed procedures for doing a portrait survey and for photographing portraits. So we had good standards right from the beginning. Our original automated system was very complex—very, very ahead of its time. This was under Wilford Cole, who had some fantastic ideas about automating all of this.

Miles: He dropped the “ue” from the name “Catalogue of Ameri- can Portraits.”

12 Interview Thrift: Very ahead of his time! At Thrift: After the Smithsonian any rate, the cataloguers couldn’t decided to launch its own Web keep up with the work, so we had site in 1994, we hired a con- to shorten the automated entries. tractor with grant money, and We are now finally getting more he set up the entire site, includ- of the in-depth information onto ing our first virtual exhibitions, the computer system. “Rebels: Painters and Poets of the 1950s” and “1846: Portrait Photo: Chris Lands Miles: At what point did your of the Nation,” based on Gal- involvement with the Collections lery exhibitions. We launched Institution Women’s Committee Information System begin? the site for the Smithsonian’s or the James Smithson Society, 150th anniversary celebration in to hire contractors for survey or Thrift: The big push came in 1996, but we couldn’t pay the data entry. We have more than 1979, after Congress mandated contractor forever. What were 80,000 portrait records on the that the Smithsonian inventory we going to do? database now. Our ultimate goal its collections. We did a lot is to get everything on the Web of data and functional analysis, Miles: So . . . ? so that people can use it. interviewed the Gallery staff, and worked with a number of auto- Thrift: So, staffer Deb Sisum lit- Miles: That eventually includes mated systems. Then the Gallery erally sat down and taught her- pictures? purchased a system that served self everything. She is the NPG as a prototype, paving the way Web manager, developer, and Thrift: Yes, for all of the NPG col- for the Smithsonian’s art muse- designer. lection. And we plan to ask per- ums to select a system that we mission from other owners to put all could use. Eight Smithsonian Miles: At that time wasn’t she the some images from the Catalog of museums are now using the same person who was focusing on the American Portraits on the Web. collections information system. Collections Information System? What we are working on now is Miles: Let me ask you a final ques- the Web interface of this system. Thrift: Yes. I moved everybody tion, which you’ve been answer- This information will be on the over. Sue Garton moved into the ing in a lot of different ways. How Web for everyone to use. Collections Information System long have you been head of the position, and Patricia Svoboda department, and what to you has Miles: How did you and your coordinates research and refer- been one of the most, if not the staff, probably not trained in ence. Hundreds of inquiries are most, interesting aspects of being any of this computer language, coming in through our Web site. in charge? make the adjustment? Miles: Now that we are so far Thrift: I have been head of the Thrift: We are a permanent staff into the computer world, and department since 1989. Defi- of five, and everyone here has the Internet, is it important to nitely the most exciting part has an M.A. in art history. No one still try to keep up with records been growing with the changes, had experience in computers; we of individual portraits? and at the same time trying to grew into it. One of the most keep the original mission in mind. important things Wil Cole ever Thrift: It is! The individual record When we became CEROS, we said to me—because I was saying, is still in there and often is a prior- wrote a mission statement out- “I love this job but it wasn’t ity. Patricia, Jennifer Maatta, vol- lining our goals and objectives. exactly what I was intending to unteers, and interns still do a lot of We still have the same goals that do with my life!”—he took me data entry on the Catalog of Amer- Wil had, and that Dan Reed had, for a walk and said, “You know, ican Portraits records. We have and yet they’ve been adjusted I think one of the most impor- relied heavily on grant funding, and expanded to meet the chal- tant things in life is to be adjust- either through the Smithsonian lenges of today. able.” And certainly I have been, and I think certainly this office has been. We’re all really into computer technology now.

Miles: This reminds me of another topic, which is the Web site. When did the Web site come about? Photo: Chris Lands

Interview 13 SI Affiliations Program and the Portrait Gallery

Beverly Cox First Ladies on Time.” Origins of the Southwest, Curator of Exhibitions an affiliate museum still in the planning stages, Just as the National Portrait Gallery was preparing borrowed a selection of portraits of baseball stars to close its doors to the public because of to exhibit in the Legends of the Game Museum at its building renovation project, the Smithsonian the Texas Rangers’ stadium to enlist support for Institution Affiliations Program—established to its venture. Another new museum, which opened create partnerships with museums across the in September 2000, The Women’s Museum: An country with which the Smithsonian could share its Institute for the Future, located in Dallas, took collections—was taking shape. This was auspicious advantage of our temporary closedown to organize timing for both of us: The affiliate museums wanted an inaugural exhibition that features nearly fifty objects, and the Gallery wanted opportunities to paintings and sculptures of women from our display its portraits rather than store them. Through collection. The Blackhawk Museum in Danville, the program—which now includes more than thirty California, is announcing its affiliation with the museums across the nation—the Gallery is going Smithsonian in October by displaying a group of to be able to exhibit approximately one hundred treasures from the Institution, including ten images images during the three years we are closed. from the National Portrait Gallery. Future affiliation The venues requesting works from the Gallery are loans are being discussed with Mount Vernon in broad-ranging. The Florida International Museum Alexandria, Virginia, the B&O Railroad Museum in in St. Petersburg has enlarged its exhibition space Baltimore, and the National Museum of Industrial and was therefore able to take a reconstituted and History in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. expanded exhibition drawn from our collection of For more information on the Affiliations Program, original Time magazine cover art, “Presidents and visit the Smithsonian Web site at www.si.edu. NPG on the Road

Dallas, Texas Arlington, Texas Long Island, New York The Women’s Museum: Legends of the Game Museum* Heckscher Museum An Institute for the Future* Twelve works, including a water- “Hans Namuth: Portraits.” The Some fifty paintings and sculp- color of Vida Blue, a casein first full exploration of Namuth’s tures of such figures as Jenny painting of Mickey Mantle and life and work begins with iconic Lind, Leontyne Price, Amelia Roger Maris, and a polychromed photographs of Jackson Pollock Earhart, and Susan B. Anthony bronze of Casey Stengel, will in the act of painting, made in comprise one of this museum’s remain on view until January 1950. Seventy-five of Namuth’s inaugural installations, which 2003. photographs are on view through opened on September 29. October 29, 2000. On December Richmond, Virginia 4, the exhibition opens at the St. Petersburg, Florida The Virginia Historical Society Philharmonic Center for the Arts The Florida International Thirty-three paintings, sculp- in Naples, Florida. Museum* tures, prints, drawings, and “Presidents and First Ladies on photographs of important Vir- Time.” On view are thirty-five ginians, including Arthur Ashe, pieces of original art made for Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee, covers of Time magazine, includ- Ella Fitzgerald, Robert E. Lee, ing several Man of the Year and Martha Washington, will portraits, portraying Presidents be on view from December 2000 from Harry S. Truman to Bill until January 2003. Clinton, as well as five first ladies. The exhibition, which is based on a show held at the Gallery in 1995–1996, will be on view through October 22. *Smithsonian Affiliate Museum

Jackson Pollock, 1950

14 NPG on the Road Portrait of a Nation: Tour Itinerary 2000–2003

Portraits of the Presidents A Brush with History Modern American Portrait Drawings George Bush Presidential North Carolina Museum of Library and Museum, History, Raleigh Amon Carter Museum, College Station, Texas Jan. 27–April 8, 2001 Fort Worth, Texas Oct. 6, 2000–Jan. 15, 2001 May 25–Aug. 25, 2002 Tennessee State Museum, Harry S. Truman Nashville Women of Our Time Library & Museum, May 4–July 1, 2001 Independence, Missouri Old State House, Feb. 16–May 20, 2001 The National Museum of Hartford, Connecticut Western Art, Tokyo, Japan Sept. 13–Nov. 11, 2002 Gerald R. Ford Aug. 6–Oct. 14, 2001 Presidential Museum, Speed Art Museum, The two exhibitions above begin Grand Rapids, Michigan touring in 2002. For more infor- Louisville, Kentucky June 22–Sept. 23, 2001 mation on booking, contact the Nov. 16, 2001–Jan. 27, 2002 Office of Exhibitions at (202) Ronald Reagan Presidential 357-2688, or fax: (202) 357-2790. Library and Museum, Montgomery Museum of Simi Valley, California Fine Arts, Alabama Oct. 26, 2001–Jan. 21, 2002 Feb. 22–May 5, 2002 New Orleans Museum of Art, “Portrait of a Nation” is the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, all-encompassing title (see logo Louisiana Memphis, Tennessee below) for the four National Feb. 22–May 19, 2002 May 31–Aug. 11, 2002 Portrait Gallery traveling National Portrait Gallery, exhibitions. Look for it when North Carolina Museum of you visit our exhibitions! History, Raleigh London, England Oct. 4, 2002–Jan. 5, 2003 June 21–Sept. 15, 2002 Virginia Historical Society, Richmond Oct. 18, 2002–Jan. 12, 2003 Useful Contacts Visit www.npg.si.edu today! CAP and Library Open Office of Rights and Office of Development Researchers are still welcome. Go to the Reproductions Regarding contributions to the Gallery, staff garage entrance at 9th and G Streets, For high-quality photographs of works membership, underwriting of programs, NW. An officer will issue a visitor’s pass in the Gallery’s collections: sponsorship of exhibitions, and general and call a staff member to escort you to support of Gallery activities: the proper office. Appointments are not Phone: (202) 357-2791 necessary, but staff would appreciate Web: www.npg.si.edu Phone: (202) 633-9004 an advance call. /inf/r&r E-mail: [email protected] Catalog of American Portraits /index-intro.htm Office of Education See interview on page 12. To keep abreast of upcoming public Phone: (202) 357-2578 programs, click on Calendar. Web: www.npg.si.edu and Phone: (202) 357-2920 click on Search Web: www.npg.si.edu E-mail: [email protected] /inf/edu/edu.htm E-mail: [email protected] Library For answers to questions about Ameri- Office of Publications can portraits, art, and biography: For a list of Portrait Gallery publica- Phone: (202) 357-1886 tions, click on Information. To place an Web: www.siris.si.edu Grover Cleveland (right), order, contact the National Museum of American History’s Shop: (for the library’s catalog) fishing on Long Island Sound E-mail: [email protected] by W. Kelly, 1897 Phone: (202) 357-1527

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

1. 2. 3. 4.

In 1920, when this In 1879, she became This former New York He gave currency to labor leader made his the first woman governor thought he the advice “Go west, fifth run for President allowed to practice had won the presidency young man!” and was on the Socialist ticket, before the Supreme in 1876, until questions one of the most influ- he was serving out Court, and in 1884, were raised about tam- ential newspapermen a term in a federal although she knew pering with the ballot of his time. But in prison. Despite the that neither she nor count. The deeply par- 1872, media influence crimp this put in his any other member of tisan investigation that was not enough to campaign style, he her sex could vote for ensued resulted in his get him elected Pres- managed to garner her, she became the loss by one electoral ident. Broken by the nearly a million votes. presidential candidate vote, and there is some attacks on him during of the National Equal justice to his support- the campaign, he died Rights Party. Most of ers’ claim that he had only weeks after his the nation’s all-male been cheated of the defeat at the polls. electorate found this office that was legiti- merely amusing, but in mately his. the final tally she gar-

nered 4,149 votes.

S. Grant. Grant. S.

(1811–1872), watercolor and pencil on paper by Thomas Nast, 1872. Greeley lost to Ulysses Ulysses to lost Greeley 1872. Nast, Thomas by paper on pencil and watercolor (1811–1872), Greeley Horace 4. Hayes.

(1814–1886), oil on canvas by Thomas Hicks, circa 1870. Tilden lost to Rutherford B. B. Rutherford to lost Tilden 1870. circa Hicks, Thomas by canvas on oil (1814–1886), Tilden J. Samuel 3. Cleveland.

(1830–1917), oil on canvas by Nellie Mathes Horne, 1913. The victor in 1884 was Grover Grover was 1884 in victor The 1913. Horne, Mathes Nellie by canvas on oil (1830–1917), Lockwood Ann Belva 2. ing.

(1855–1926), pencil on paper by Hugo Gellert, 1925. The winner of the election was Warren G. Hard- G. Warren was election the of winner The 1925. Gellert, Hugo by paper on pencil (1855–1926), Debs V. Eugene 1.

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