PROFILESmithsonian National Portrait Gallery News Spring 2004 From the DIRECTOR

For the most part, we devote each issue of Profile to a particular theme. But every now and then we give our lively quarterly magazine over to the many topics that describe our activities and collections without imposing thematic unity. And although this is just that sort of issue, I find that when I look at the collection of articles and reviews, something like a theme emerges. Not surprisingly, in a museum devoted to the story of Americans, that underlying theme is freedom. In fact, one way to describe American life is as an ongoing conversation, sometimes debate, about freedom. A central element of that debate, of course, has been the situation of African Americans. We have chosen to remember that great national concern in this issue by offering our account of the landmark Brown v. the Board of Education decision by the United States Supreme Court, in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of that decision on May 17. There is a bit of irony in this issue’s serendipity in that we also include a review of a recent publication on Jefferson Davis. Davis felt deeply that his struggle for states’ rights was in the end a struggle for freedom, but lived with the contradiction that one of the key rights that the Confederacy was struggling to secure was the right to maintain slavery. He was not alone in that dilemma, because the Constitution itself had allowed for the different treatment of African Americans. The struggle to guarantee freedom for all Americans has become in our time a core commitment of the America we believe in. Another manifestation of American freedom occurs in this issue—that of the artist to create. We discover that here in the persons of dancers Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov, captured by the photographer Max Waldman in photographs taken only months after their respective defec- tions (four years apart) from the Soviet Union. The article about those epoch-making decisions to “leap to the West” recalls Makarova’s state- ment, “I firmly believe that to develop as an artist it is essential to have a measure of freedom to choose what seems right.” The Portrait Gallery has the opportunity to celebrate these great performers who joined our national life through its recent acquisition of these vintage Waldman photographs. There’s another kind of American freedom, of course, the freedom to have fun. I won’t belabor that point, but you’ll enjoy the account of the career of a number of celebrity caricaturists, whose form of fun, it might be said, was the kind you poke at others. There’s also here a cheer- ful retelling of the time that Beatlemania struck America. That’s fun I personally remember. And even though the Beatles weren’t (and aren’t) American citizens, they still have a place in the American National Por- trait Gallery because of their impact on society, like the “Swedish Night- ingale” Jenny Lind more than a century before. And read here, too, of the discoveries of one of our staff members at our sister Portrait Gallery in London, and the discoveries provided by our first Edgar P. Richardson Symposium on Portraiture. The National Portrait Gallery, I hope you’ll agree, is as dynamic and open as the coun- try we represent.

2 PROFILE Contents Vol. 5. No. 1. Spring 2004

4 14 18 Miguel Covarrubias and NPG –London Portrait Puzzlers Celebrity Caricature A Reflection of the People Cover: 6 14 The Beatles (left to right)— Two Prominent Paintings George Harrison, Ringo Starr, We Love You, Yeah, Paul McCartney, and John Yeah, Yeah Much in Demand Lennon—by Gerald Scarfe, Beatlemania Hits America 15 1967, gift of Time magazine 7 Book Review Correction: Doing the Beatles for Jefferson Davis, In the winter 2003 issue, Max Time Confederate President by Waldman’s name was misspelled Herman Hattaway and on page 3. Also, the image of Roger Maris on page 14 was 8 Richard E. Beringer reversed during the printing Leaping to the West process. Max Waldman Photographs 16 Dancers Natalia Makarova Edgar P. Richardson and Mikhail Baryshnikov Symposium 12 16 In the next issue Brown v. Board of NPG on the Road • A special focus on Education 17 scientists in the NPG A Decision that Changed collection America NPG Schedules and Information

Marc Pachter Commission Director Daniel Okrent, Chair PROFILE Carolyn Carr Anthony C. Beilenson, Vice Chair Deputy Director and Chief Curator David M. Childs Eloise Baden Sally G. Chubb Associate Director for Administration Jeannine Smith Clark Editor Robert Dallek National Portrait Gallery Carol Wyrick Joan Kent Dillon Office of Education Ella Milbank Foshay Smithsonian Institution Manuel L. Ibáñez 750 Ninth Street, NW Review Editor Jill Krementz P.O. Box 37012, MRC 973 Sidney Hart Jon B. Lovelace The Charles Willson Peale Family Papers Washington, DC 20013-7012 Joan A. Mondale Robert B. Morgan Phone: (202) 275-1738 Editorial Committee Roger Mudd Fax: (202) 275-1887 Anne Christiansen Office of Public Affairs Constance Berry Newman E-mail: [email protected] V. Thanh Nguyen Website: www.npg.si.edu Dru Dowdy Office of Publications Barbara Novak Pie Friendly R. Theodore Steinbock Readers’ comments are welcome. Office of External Affairs Jack H. Watson Jr. To receive Profile, please send your Marianne Gurley Ex Officio Members name, home address, and e-mail address Office of Photographic Services Earl A. Powell III (if applicable) to [email protected] or Ellen G. Miles William H. Rehnquist Department of Painting and Sculpture Lawrence M. Small the post office box listed above. Frederick Voss Department of History Honorary Commissioners Unless otherwise noted, all images are from Julie Harris the National Portrait Gallery collection. Design David Levering Lewis ©2004 Smithsonian Institution. Leslie London, London Graphics Bette Bao Lord All rights reserved. Fred W. Smith

3 3 Miguel Covarrubias and Celebrity Caricature

Coolidge that is any of our busi- ness is the Calvin Coolidge that Covarrubias has drawn.” The caricaturist no longer needed to be penetrating, Barton concluded; it was his job “to put down the figure a man cuts before his fel- lows in his attempt to conceal the writhings of his soul.” Playfully spoofing the public image instead of probing beneath it, these portraits signal a cel- ebratory irreverence more than the searing criticism of tradi- tional caricature and editorial cartooning. Often the artist Radio Talent by Miguel Covarrubias, 1938 satirizes the celebrity system itself more than the individu- Wendy Wick Reaves als portrayed. Covarrubias’s Radio Talent, pub- Curator of Prints and Drawings lished in the pages of Fortune magazine, depicts By 1923, when Mexican-born caricaturist Miguel disembodied broadcast personalities, from FDR Covarrubias arrived in New York City, the nature to Donald Duck, wafting out over the evening of fame had switched from a nineteenth-century airwaves. Despite the liveliness of the recogniz- model of accomplishment to a twentieth-cen- able faces, the piece conveys a slightly nightmarish tury preoccupation with attracting an audience. quality, suggesting the unsettling effects of mass Covarrubias’s stylized portrayals of emerging communications. The article accompanying this Manhattan celebrities—from poets and politi- image addressed the spiraling costs of celebrity cians to baseball stars and dancing girls—struck voices, the indiscretions of the sponsors, and the a chord. Along with such contemporaries as Ralph industry’s controlling role as the “greatest maker Barton, Al Frueh, Will Cotton, and Al Hirschfeld, and taker of Names on earth.” the young Mexican artist defined a fashionable Ralph Barton’s caricature of his friend the pho- new form of satiric portraiture for the interwar tographer Nickolas Muray from our collection generation, inspired by modern design and the sounds a similar, unnerving note. The dilated eyes mass-media-generated celebrity industry. The and dark camera lens confront the viewer with an National Portrait Gallery owns one of the premier uncomfortable intensity. And as our gaze drops collections of caricature from this era, comprising to the oversized hand squeezing the shutter bulb, original watercolors, collages, and ink drawings, we are struck by the disquieting sensation that mostly acquired in preparation for the 1998 exhi- the photographer has surreptitiously captured our bition “Celebrity Caricature in America.” Sophis- own image. The underlying sense of menace relates ticated and witty, these distillations of personality more to the unrelenting demands of celebrity than capture the spirit of the age. the subject’s character, however; Barton often felt Covarrubias, drawing upon influences as diverse hounded by his own success and renown. as European modernism, native Mexican folk tradi- Despite this edge, the aesthetic sophistication tions, and Precolumbian art, had honed an incisive style that amazed the critics. Images of such figures as Irving Berlin, Mae West, or Will Rogers—to cite examples from our own collection—seemed unerr- ingly precise and monumental to the commentators of his day. “They are bald and crude and devoid of non- sense,” one wrote of his drawings, “like a mountain or a baby.” Fellow caricaturist Ralph Barton singled out Covarrubias’s Calvin Coolidge in his review.

The President, he pointed out, might dream of being ©Al Hirschfeld a satyr among a bevy of nymphs, “but the Calvin Luther (Bill) “Bojangles” Robinson by Al Hirschfeld, 1939

4 Miguel Covarrubias and Celebrity Caricature ing everyone of note, it eased the class, gender, and ethnic mixing that characterized urban soci- ety. Aspects of modern art, baf- fling to many in other pictures, became acceptable as clever dis- tortions of familiar faces. At the National Portrait Gallery, we also see celebrity caricature as a vibrant form of portraiture, richly evocative of its era and filled with telling information about the indi- viduals portrayed.

Further reading: Adriana Williams, Theodore Dreiser by Will Cotton, Calvin Coolidge by Miguel Covarrubias (Austin: University of 1931 Covarrubias, c. 1925 Texas Press, 1994); Bruce Kellner, The Last Dandy: Ralph Barton (Colum- bia: University of Missouri Press, of celebrity caricature capti- perpetual gloom and five-o’clock 1991); Wendy Wick Reaves, Celebrity vated viewers and victims alike. shadow. The Gallery’s fourteen Caricature in America (New Haven: Designed with eye-catching clar- Cotton portraits celebrate both Yale University Press, 1998) ity and style, it stood out on the the intensity and the subtlety of pages and covers of the periodical the pastel technique, which the press in contrast to stale, big head/ magazine’s new printing plant small body cartoon conventions could reproduce with remark- or grainy newsprint photos. The able accuracy for the first time. clean lines and dominant black, Color alone, in these dazzling white, and pink contrasts of Bar- full-page images, suggested to ton’s Muray, for instance, lent a Vanity Fair’s audience that zest- stylish, Art Deco elegance to the ful, theatrical personality that picture, while quiet modulations defined celebrity success. of more neutral tones added to Al Hirschfeld, the only artist of the subtle interplay of geometric that generation to continue the shapes. Al Frueh (pronounced tradition of celebrity caricature Nickolas Muray by Ralph Barton, “free”) abbreviated his images of throughout the second half of c. 1930, gift of Mimi and Nicholas theatrical stars with a noteworthy the twentieth century, captured C. Muray economy of means that reduced a the body language of his sub- figure like George M. Cohan to a jects, conveying a joyful sense of swing of the leg and a tilt of the movement. His 1939 ink drawing hat. The Gallery owns dozens of of tap dancer “Bojangles” Robin- Frueh’s drawings, once exhibited son reminds us how complex his at Alfred Stieglitz’s avant-garde black-and-white drawings could 291 Gallery because of their be, with all their loops, squiggles, innovative originality. cross-hatches, threads, and arcs Vanity Fair magazine preferred of ink. An enthusiastic drummer a caricature portrait to a photo- himself, Hirschfeld added, by way graph, its editors claimed, when of gracefully arching white seat- it sought a “vivid interpreta- backs, a strong percussive rhythm tion.” Pastelist Will Cotton used under Bojangles’s feet. The Gal- color with special brilliance lery’s many Hirschfeld draw- and humor in his caricatures ings, including works in color for for the magazine in the 1930s. magazine covers, all display an He set the contorted figure of intriguing tension between exu- his Theodore Dreiser against berance and control. a bright green background and Caricature of this era spoke then used a pale tint of lavender to a generation wrestling with a George M. Cohan by Al Frueh, c. 1911, gift of the children of Al to weigh down the flesh tones of new celebrity culture and rapidly Frueh: Barbara Frueh Bornemann, the face, implying the author’s expanding mass media. Spoof- Robert Frueh, Alfred Frueh Jr.

Miguel Covarrubias and Celebrity Caricature 5 We Love You, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah Beatlemania Hits America

Ed Sullivan (center), flanked by (left to right) Beatles Ringo Starr, George Harrison, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney, by an unidentified photographer, 1964

Frederick S. Voss the brouhaha impeded even the thousands. By the time the Bea- Senior Historian Queen Mother’s arrival from tles came on, some 73,900,000 In the fall of 1963, reports were Ireland, he knew the Beatles pairs of eyes were focused on making their way across the were an act worth having on his them, a number that earned Sul- Atlantic about a mopheaded show. So it was that forty years livan a viewer rating of 44.6, the foursome of British rock singers ago this past winter, Sullivan highest any television show had named the Beatles, whose music introduced Beatlemania to the achieved up to that time. and cheeky sense of humor were United States. As the Beatles consolidated driving the United Kingdom’s Booked to perform on Sulli- their transatlantic conquest youth into wailing fits of adora- van’s show on February 9, 1964, with two more appearances tion. At concerts, this idolizing the Beatles arrived two days on Sullivan and a succession expressed itself in a shrieking ahead of time at Kennedy Air- of sold-out live concerts, some that often drowned out the port, where they were greeted by music experts remained sin- Beatles’s own performance. “To three thousand raging teenagers. gularly unimpressed. Among see a Beatle is joy,” noted one The quartet headed in separate the naysayers was Sullivan’s observer, “to touch one, paradise limousines for Manhattan’s own musical director, who saw on earth.” Plaza Hotel, where special secu- them as strictly a passing fad. “I Beatlemania’s days as a strictly rity forces had been stationed to give them a year,” he said. But British disease, however, sud- protect them from the hordes of the Beatles stuck around a tad denly became numbered when screaming, mostly female, fans longer than that, and eventually CBS television’s Sunday-night milling on the sidewalks outside. claimed an impact on pop music variety-show host, Ed Sullivan, All the preshow attention that has rarely been matched. encountered the huge mob that doubtless heightened Sullivan’s Even today, the release of a Bea- had turned out at London’s air- hopes that the Beatles would tles recording is still a newsmak- port to welcome the Beatles home be good for his ratings, and he ing event in the music world. For from a tour of Sweden. Sullivan was not disappointed. As the a group of wisecracking, flash-in- knew next to nothing about the hour for his show neared, view- the-pan mop-heads, that really is group. But when he saw how all ers tuned in by the hundreds of not too bad.

6 We Love You, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah Doing the Beatles for Time

In 1967, in recognition of the delic lights spinning all over the Beatles’s mounting reputation ceiling. Another room he turned as one of the most important into an English pub. Anyway he creative forces in pop music, asked me to do a caricature of Time magazine made them the him for his living room, which I subject of a cover story. To do did straight on the wall. When I their likeness, it turned to Brit- visited Paul’s house in St. John’s ish caricaturist Gerald Scarfe, Wood he tried to explain the phi- whose gift for savaging public losophy of the Maharishi Mahesh faces with a few strokes of the Yogi, who they had been studying pen was becoming legendary. with in India. It had something to Following are excerpts from do with our all being the head of a recent interview where Mr. a rose and the stalk being some- Scarfe recalled his encounters thing else. At any rate I’ve forgot- with the “Fab Four,” which ten it all now. In my sessions with resulted in one of Time’s most John, I remember him saying to memorable and engaging covers me something like, “Ah, Gerald, (featured on our Profile cover). you’re a cynic like me. We’re two cynics.” Frederick Voss: When Time asked you to do a cover of the Voss: Time, as I understand it, Beatles in 1967, how did you feel was just expecting a more usual about it? two-dimensional drawing of the Beatles from you. What Gerald Scarfe: I was more thrilled, happened? I think, about doing a Time cover than I was about the Beatles. I Scarfe: When I was back in the wasn’t particularly an ardent fan studio with all my sketches, I sud- of theirs. You couldn’t miss them denly decided to make something back in the sixties; they were three-dimensional. I wanted to everywhere. But I didn’t par- make something memorable, and ticularly respond to their work. I I fashioned these papier-mâché now see that it was an historical models which stood about four moment in music, but it didn’t feet high. Then I went to an appeal to me much then. Asian store in London’s West End to find clothes for them that fit in Voss: In plotting out this portrait, with their current fascination with did you have much opportunity Indian music and the Maharishi. to study the Beatles firsthand? Voss: So much of your work has Scarfe: The Beatles were pretty a really merciless edge to it. Did exclusive by that point, but Time you intend that kind of an impact gained me access to them. And with the Beatles? I went out to Twickenham Stu- dios, just outside London, where Scarfe: Not really. I hadn’t any ax they were shooting a film. They to grind. I save my savage work were all very kind to me. Then for tyrants and world leaders who I went to some of their houses I think are leading us astray. Of to do more sketches. I remember course the Beatles did affect many Scarfe’s drawings for the Beatles that when I went to Ringo’s, I people, but I think it was a benign done for their Time cover. Top to bottom: John Lennon, Paul was surprised to see that he had effect. Besides, I quite liked them McCartney, George Harrison, bought this enormous mansion, personally as men, and my cari- Ringo Starr. All images are in and he didn’t quite know what to catures were meant as fond rep- the collection of the artist and do with it. One room had psyche- resentations of them. are ©Gerald Scarfe

7 Doing the Beatles for Time Max Waldman Photographs Dancers Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov Leaping to the West

Frank H. Goodyear III Assistant Curator of Photographs

Last year, the National Portrait Gallery acquired sixteen vintage photographs by Max Waldman (1919–1981), through a gift from Carol Greunke, archivist at the Max Waldman Archives. During the 1960s and 1970s, Waldman was widely known for his work interpreting celebrated figures from the world of contemporary theater and dance. His photo- graphs were “not mere records of theatrical performances,” one critic observed in 1972. “Instead they seem to be celebrations of theatricality itself by someone who clearly loves it and expects that we will love it too.” Included among these new acquisitions are striking photographs of ballet stars Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov, taken only months after their respective defections from the Soviet Union. These photographs chronicle their arrival in the West and remind us that the Cold War was as much a cultural contest as it was a political and military confrontation.

1974

8 Leaping to the West

Fold out Le Jeune Homme et La Mort, 1975

n the evening of September 4, 1970, Natalia claimed that her defection had little to do with Makarova was scheduled to dance the role politics, her statements following this decision O of Princess Florine in Pytor Tchaikovsky’s repeatedly focused on the suffocating conserva- The Sleeping Beauty at London’s Royal Festival tism affecting dance and artistic expression in the Hall. She and her fellow dancers from Leningrad’s Soviet Union. Like fellow dancer Rudolph Nureyev, Kirov Ballet troupe were in the final two days of whose defection in 1961 attracted similar attention, their highly acclaimed visit to Britain. That evening, Makarova longed for the opportunity to experi- Makarova failed to appear. When her whereabouts ment. As she stated at the time, “I firmly believe were finally reported, the world learned that she that to develop as an artist it is essential to have was seeking political asylum in the West. a measure of freedom to choose what seems right. Two months shy of her thirtieth birthday, It is sad that that was not possible in my previous Makarova was regarded as the outstanding bal- position.” lerina of the day. Earlier that year, she had been By November 1970, Makarova was in New York, awarded the prestigious Anna Pavlova Prize for having signed a one-year contract to dance with individual achievement in dance. Although she the American Ballet Theatre. The excitement cre-

99 Leaping to the West The Dying Swan, 1970

ated by her arrival transcended the world of dance. I let the opportunity of expanding my art in the She appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, conducted West slip by, it would haunt me always. What I have numerous interviews, and posed for a series of pho- done is called a crime in Russia. . . . But my life is tographs by Max Waldman, a selection of which my art and I realized it would be a greater crime would appear in a January 1971 issue of Life maga- to destroy that.” zine. In two images reproduced here, Makarova Once Baryshnikov’s request for political asylum performs movements from Camille Saint-Saëns’s was granted, Makarova proved instrumental in The Dying Swan. Taken in Waldman’s studio, assisting him with his transition to the West. Most these photographs showcase Makarova’s grace and important, she helped to arrange his guest appoint- power as a dancer, as well as Waldman’s own gift ment with the American Ballet Theatre. In a gesture for capturing the individuality of his subjects. whose symbolism was lost on no one, Makarova Makarova’s defection and the tremendous pub- asked her current partner, Ivan Nagy, to step aside licity it generated were a source of considerable for an evening, so that she could perform with concern to Soviet authorities. In the months and Baryshnikov during his American debut on July years that followed, cultural ministers and KGB 27. Dancing the lead roles in Théophile Gautier’s operatives were far more attentive to the activities Giselle at New York’s Lincoln Center, the two gave and movements of the USSR’s most prized perform- a riveting performance. At the conclusion of what ers. It is perhaps more than a historic footnote that the New York Times described as “an emotional twenty-two-year-old dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov occasion,” Makarova presented Baryshnikov with was on stage with Makarova during her last per- a bouquet of flowers. formance with the Kirov Ballet in London. Indeed, Not long afterward, the pair agreed to pose before Makarova’s defection and the success she achieved Waldman’s camera. The photographs reproduced in the West greatly influenced Baryshnikov’s own here show Makarova and Baryshnikov dancing decision to flee the Soviet Union four years later. excerpts from that memorable performance. Again, Baryshnikov was performing with Moscow’s Waldman’s photographs accentuate the style and Bolshoi Ballet in Toronto when he slipped away beauty of his subjects. Just as important, they bear on the evening of June 29, 1974. His motivation witness to a poignant moment in the history of for doing so was virtually identical to Makarova’s. ballet and provide insight into the cultural dimen- Baryshnikov explained: “I finally decided that if sion of the Cold War.

10 Leaping to the West The Dying Swan, 1970

Giselle, 1974 Giselle, 1975

All images are the gift of Carol Greunke, archivist at the Max Waldman Archive and are ©Max Waldman Archive

11 Leaping to the West 11 Brown v. Board of Education A Decision that Changed America

Frederick S. Voss At issue in this case (which was Senior Historian actually a collation of five similar cases) was the right of local juris- May 17 of this year marks the fiftieth anniversary of one of dictions to segregate their public the most momentous decisions ever issued by the United States school systems by race. In 1896, the Court had held in Plessy v. Supreme Court. At 12:52 p.m. on that day in 1954, in words Ferguson that racial separation carefully chosen to assure that any nonlawyer in the land would in public accommodations was legal so long as those facilities understand his meaning, the recently appointed Chief Justice were equal. Since then, “sepa- Earl Warren began the Court’s unanimous findings in Brown v. rate but equal” had been the legitimizing premise in many the Board of Education of the City of Topeka. jurisdictions, especially in the South, for a strict segregation of white and black students in education. That premise, however—which had for nearly six decades been rou- tinely invoked to justify often woefully inadequate schools for blacks—was shorn of its validity when Warren declared on behalf of his fellow justices: “in the field of public educa- tion the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Sepa- rate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” So saying, the Chief Justice had called for integration of all public ©Flip Schulke James Meredith (far right), accompanied by Justice Department official John schools, a change destined to Doar, was denied his right to enroll at the University of Mississippi by the radically transform the institu- state’s lieutenant governor, Paul Johnson. By Flip Schulke, 1963 tional arrangements that had long shaped America’s racial relationships. After Warren finished, a lawyer in the chamber turned to two colleagues and said, “We hit the jackpot.” The speaker of those jubilant words was Thurgood Marshall, head of the NAACP’s legal arm and the individual who, more than anyone, had tailored the arguments that had led the Court to its historic 9–0 decision. In the National Portrait Gallery’s likeness of him by Betsy Graves Reyneau, Marshall looks dapper, poised, and in control. But it was not always that way. During the ©Miriam Troop Chief Justice Earl Warren enhanced the credibility of the Supreme Court’s months of grueling preparation decision in Brown by making sure that it was unanimous. By Miriam Troop, that preceded the final court- 1955 room arguments in Brown, he

12 Brown v. Board of Education disorders on a scale so threaten- ing that the National Guard finally had to be called in. One of the lawyers defending segregation in Brown, J. Lindsay Almond, had said at a hearing on the decision’s implementation that “enforced integration” would never occur in the lifetime of anyone present. Following his inauguration as governor of Virginia in 1958, he did his best to assure that his pre- diction came true by closing nine schools that had been put under court order to integrate. Then there was Mississippi’s governor, J. Lindsay Almond Jr. by Boris Thurgood Marshall by Betsy Graves Ross Barnett, who orchestrated Chaliapin, 1958, gift of Time Reyneau, 1956, gift of the Harmon magazine Foundation the opposition to the admission of a young black G.I. named James was once heard grousing, “Isn’t has just begun.” Indeed, despite Meredith at the University of Mis- it nice—no one cares which a clear Supreme Court mandate, sissippi in 1962. With the backing twenty-three hours a day I it was soon apparent that in the of federal authorities, Meredith work?” That sarcastic allusion South, at least, the road to school was finally permitted to enroll, but to the length of days was not integration would be neither not before the campus had been wide of the mark. “It was noth- quick nor easy. Characterized by torn by rioting that left more than ing,” a colleague noted, “for some as a plot fomented by Com- 350 injured and two dead. him to say at one a.m., ‘How munists, the effort to implement Despite the obstacles, how- about a fifteen-minute break?’” Brown was denounced through- ever, school integration did take and Marshall’s constant lack of out the South, and the region’s place—sometimes more slowly sleep, along with an awareness politicians wasted no time in than its adherents hoped but of the sheer importance of his playing to the segregationist often much more rapidly than cause, took a severe toll on his instincts and racism of their con- its opponents expected. More- customary good humor. More stituents. While 101 members of over, the reasoning behind the troubling yet, on his first day of Congress, spearheaded by South Brown decision became a wedge final arguments before the Court Carolina Senator Strom Thur- for court actions that led to the in December 1953, despite the mond, signed on to the “Southern elimination of racial segregation months of ceaseless preparation, Manifesto” urging the use of “all in yet other areas of American life, his performance seemed clumsy lawful means” to prevent integra- such as public transit and some and unconvincing as he pleaded tion, Georgia’s governor, Herman restaurant facilities. But perhaps the case for integration. By the Talmadge, declared “There will even more important, the decision next day, however, Marshall never be mixed schools while I also became a powerful leavening had recomposed himself. In am governor.” Calling Brown a agent in the civil rights movement his refutation of the opposition, “monstrous crime,” Mississippi in general. In the story of the Afri- one bystander said, “he came on Senator James Eastland declared can American struggle for racial like a locomotive,” and another it the duty of all white southern- equality in the last half of the observer later told him that his ers to fight integration “every step twentieth century, it would be dif- rebuttal had been “the most of the way.” ficult indeed to find a single, more forceful argument” he had “ever And fight they did. Over the galvanizing event than Brown v. heard in any appellate court.” next several years, a good many Board of Education. But although Marshall took southern governors owed their great satisfaction in the central elections largely to promises that Further reading: Richard Kluger, role he had played in Brown’s they would block integration, and Simple Justice (New York: Vintage, 1975); Carl T. Rowan, outcome, he knew that the deci- their administrations were marked Dream Makers, Dream Breakers: sion did not in itself mark the end by prolonged and often violent The World of Justice Thurgood of the school integration struggle. confrontations over efforts to Marshall (Boston: Little, Brown, At a party celebrating the decision, enforce Brown. In Arkansas, Gov- 1993); Juan Williams, Thurgood he warned colleagues, “I don’t ernor Orville Faubus’s opposition Marshall: American Revolutionary want any of you to fool your- to the integration of Little Rock’s (New York: Random House, selves, it’s just begun, the fight Central High School inspired mob 1998)

Brown v. Board of Education 13 NPG – London: A Reflection of the People

Tia Powell Harris (usually from left to right, top to Outreach Program Manager bottom) for the visually impaired About a year ago, our director, visitor. These tours often allow Marc Pachter, and Sandy Nairne, the visitor to manipulate repro- director at the National Portrait ductions of objects related to or Gallery, London, conceived a found in the portrait. Highly ani- staff exchange program pre- mated and participatory discourse mised on the conviction that two between visitors and docents tends museums with the same mission to characterize these tours. But could learn much from each other. the greatest testament to their The program began last fall, and success is how visitors outside I was the individual who had the the group are enticed into con- pleasure of inaugurating it with a versation. As I observed this and four-week immersion into the life other diversity programs, perhaps

of NPG-London. Powell Harris Photograph by Tia the most important message that London’s culturally diverse diverse artists is being commis- I came away with was how excit- population rivals ours here in sioned, giving added breadth to ingly open-ended the potential is the United States. At NPG- the existing collections. for broadening the range of our London, the art strives to NPG-London understands that audience at our own National reflect this diversity. Portraits diversity issues involve more than Portrait Gallery. of people of color are displayed race. For example, to support what I left London with new friends, prominently, especially in the they call the “universal access new ideas, and new inspiration. more contemporary first-floor principle,” NPG-London reaches These valuable staff exchanges galleries. A brochure entitled out to visitors with visual disabili- open the door to understanding “Diversity” highlights images ties by providing live “descriptive and to future collaborations that of blacks and Asians in the col- talks.” During these tours, the will benefit Portrait Gallery visi- lections. Artwork by new and docent describes the portrait tors on both sides of the pond. Two Prominent Paintings Much in Demand will be on view at the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris from March 31 through August 22, 2004, and at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence from September 16, 2004, through January 9, 2005. Meanwhile, Edgar Degas’s pivotal portrait of Mary Cas- satt is featured on the cover of the exhibition catalogue Japan and Paris: Impressionism, Post- impressionism and the Modern Era. The exhibition examines the role of early-twentieth-century Japanese collectors in introduc- Mary Cassatt by Edgar Degas,

© Estate of Alice Neel, 1980 ing Western-style modernism to c. 1884, gift of the Morris and Alice Neel, self-portrait, 1980 Japan. NPG’s portrait of Cassatt Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation and the Regents’ Major Acquisition Fund Alice Neel’s self-portrait will was once owned by Matsukata travel with “Me! 20th-Century Kojirô, one of the most influen- Self-Portraits,” an exhibition tial of those enthusiasts, and will that examines the role the genre play a prominent role in the exhi- has played through the ages in bition, which is on view at the conceptualizing an artist’s status Honolulu Academy of Arts from and self-definition. The painting April 8 through June 6, 2004. �

14 NPG Around the World Book Review: Jefferson Davis, Confederate President by Herman Hattaway and Richard E. Beringer (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002)

Michael Fox eracy, Davis was widely (and loudly) Lansdowne Project Manager denounced by southern lawmak- Jefferson Davis was a man of ers, senior soldiers, newspaper many talents and accom- editors, and the population plishments. Elected to in general when the tide the United States House of the rebellion turned of Representatives in for the worse. The his home state of Mis- major difficulties of sissippi, he resigned his his presidency—most seat to lead a regiment notably the unwilling- at the Battle of Buena ness of governors to Vista in the war with enforce conscription Mexico, returned home and a chronic short- a war hero, and stepped age of funds—are all easily into the U.S. Senate. effectively presented here. As secretary of war under Along with his Herculean Franklin Pierce, Davis helped determination, the authors reform the armed forces, and put in high relief Davis’s unfor- following his reelection to the tunate propensity for placing his Senate he led the states’-rights faith in men unqualified for the Democrats in the country’s tasks he assigned them. escalating dispute over slavery. The question of slavery, of course, All of this happened before lies at the heart of both Davis’s and he took on the most challeng- Dixie’s story. As the thundering ing task of his life: leading the orator of the Senate, Jefferson Davis South in the forging of a new had, as much as any other southern nation through rebellion against politician, defended the legitimacy the United States of America. of slavery. But he recognized that In Jefferson Davis, Confed- the South’s “peculiar institution” erate President, Herman Hat- could in fact be a liability in the taway and Richard E. Beringer Confederacy’s efforts to gain reexamine Davis’s presidency international recognition. He of the Confederate States of therefore downplayed slavery’s America and provide a compel- role in the breakup of the Union, ling glimpse into the day-to-day holding that the split was owing workings of the short-lived south- to the Republicans’ victory in ern nation. This book is prob- the 1860 presidential election, ably not for the casual browser Jefferson Davis by an unidentified which threatened to trammel the of Civil War history, however. artist, after Mathew Brady Studio, southern states’ rights. In doing The authors conduct a minute 1861? (top) and by Columbus W. so, he conveniently overlooked the examination of Davis’s mul- Motes, c. 1886, gift of Douglas S. fact that the right the South most tiple roles in the Confederacy’s Jordan wanted to preserve was the right to birth and ultimate demise. For own slaves. It’s easy to imagine him those with an understanding of the conflict, how- cringing as his Vice President, Alexander Stephens, told ever, this volume is a rare opportunity to view the crowds that the cornerstone of the Confederacy “rests inner circle of the CSA at work. Readers will find upon the great truth, that the Negro is not the equal an excellent portrait of Davis as the conflicted ring- of the white man; that slavery—subordination to the master of a nation constantly in danger of flying superior race—is his natural and normal condition.” apart as arguments over the interpretations of the Overall, Jefferson Davis, Confederate President rights of individuals and the states roiled through succeeds in bringing this unusual American to southern capitals and the legislature in Richmond. life for contemporary readers. It is particularly Although recognized as the iron soul of the Confed- recommended for buffs of the Civil War.

Book Review 15 The Edgar P. Richardson Symposium on Portraiture

Wendy Wick Reaves Duchamp. David Ward, deputy Curator of Prints and editor of the Charles Willson Drawings Peale Family Papers, continued On November 19, 2003, the with a discussion of Peale’s life- National Portrait Gallery long self-fashioning, particularly launched an exciting new initia- in the self-portraits he painted tive, the Edgar P. Richardson Sym- during his long career. Profes- posium on Portraiture. Former sor Sarah Burns, from Indiana NPG Commissioner Robert L. University, examined Thomas McNeil Jr., whose recent gener- Eakins’s insertion of his own ous gift endowed the symposium, figure into his paintings and his

named it for his fellow commis- Photograph by Harold Dorwin fascination with the nude body. sioner, the pioneer American art Artist Philip Pearlstein gave one of Stanford University art histo- historian. The annual conference the papers at the first Richardson rian Wanda Corn charted Grant Symposium. will be dedicated to the exami- Wood’s comedic and dramatic nation of various dimensions of modes of self-imaging, which the portrait genre. Building on the at times reflected his wounded recent acquisition of the Bowman- pride at critical reversals. Finally, Kahn collection of twentieth-cen- Brian Wallis, from the Interna- tury American self-portraiture, tional Center for Photography, we chose as the theme for this discussed Cindy Sherman and year’s meeting “Self-Portraiture: other contemporary photogra- The Autobiographical Impulse in phers and artists who use new American Art.” approaches to exploring and After my brief overview of projecting their own identity. our own strong holdings in this The first Richardson Sym- area, five distinguished speak- posium offered us a stimulat- ers challenged the audience to ing opportunity to share our think broadly about the entire interests with artists, scholars, notion of self-representation. students, and portrait enthusi- Figural artist Philip Pearlstein asts. Judging by the gratifying gave a first-person analysis Philip Pearlstein self-portrait, response we received, it whet- of portrait-making, enriched 1966, the Ruth Bowman and ted everyone’s appetite for more. by allusions to such artists Harry Kahn Twentieth-Century We look forward to the portrait as Leonardo, Velázquez, and American Self-Portrait Collection symposia of the future. NPG on the Road

NATIONAL Showcasing the famous “Lans- August 22, 2004. The National Lansdowne downe” full-length portrait of Portrait Gallery was able to Tour George Washington by Gilbert purchase this major icon of the Stuart, “George Washington: A nation’s first President through Oklahoma City, Oklahoma National Treasure” appears at the generosity of the Donald W. Oklahoma City Museum of Art the Oklahoma City Museum of Reynolds Foundation, which also ------Art through April 11. The exhi- provided funding for its tour to Little Rock, Arkansas bition will open at its final tour museums across the country. Arkansas Arts Center venue—the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock—on April 23, See other exhibition-related web remaining on view there through pages at www.npg.si.edu.

16 Richardson Symposium NPG Schedules & Information Portrait of a Nation Useful Contacts

Tour Itinerary The Gallery’s mailing address is P.O. Box 37012, MRC 973, Portrait of a Nation encompasses a series of innovative Washington, DC 20013–7012. exhibitions organized by the National Portrait Gallery The main telephone number is while its building is under renovation. For further (202) 275-1738. information, contact the Department of Exhibitions and Catalog of American Portraits Collections Management at (202) 275-1777; fax: (202) phone: (202) 275-1840 275-1897, or e-mail: [email protected]. web: www.npg.si.edu and click on Search Women of Our Time: Twentieth-Century Photographs e-mail: [email protected] Long Beach Museum of Art, California Now through April 4, 2004 Office of Conservation Conservation consultations are available North Carolina Museum of History, Raleigh for the public on Thursdays from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. by appointment only. May 28–August 1, 2004 phone: CindyLou Molnar Final venue: George Bush Presidential Library & Museum, (301) 238-2006 (for paintings and sculpture) College Station, Texas e-mail: [email protected] phone: Rosemary Fallon American Women: (301) 238-2001 A Selection from the National Portrait Gallery (for art on paper) George Bush Presidential Library & Museum, e-mail: [email protected] College Station, Texas Now through April 4, 2004 Library phone: (202) 275-1912 Additional venues include: Naples Museum of Art, Florida; web: www.siris.si.edu (for the library’s catalog) Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina e-mail: [email protected] Office of External Affairs Perhaps it’s a bit selfish, but all of us at Farewell Fred! phone: (202) 275-1764 NPG are experiencing a bit of angst at the e-mail: [email protected] retirement of senior historian and Time collection curator Frederick S. Voss. As Office of Education a frequent contributor to Profile—and For information about school and commu- nity programs, teacher resources, intern- also recently unveiled as the “Portrait ships, and upcoming events: Puzzler”—Fred has eagerly taken on the phone: (202) 275-1811 challenge of writing about the wonderful web: www.npg.si.edu and variety in the collection. From Presidents click on Education and peacemakers, reformers and report- or Events & Programs ers to artists and athletes, divas and danc- e-mail: [email protected] Photograph by Harold Dorwin ers—all have been the recipients of his Office of Photographic Services sharp insights and ready pen. phone: (202) 275-1791 A member of the National Portrait web: www.npg.si.edu Gallery staff since 1971, Fred is as much and click on Rights & of a tradition as the Gallery itself. Even Reproductions though Fred’s retirement means he won’t e-mail: [email protected] be here every day, the impact of his legacy continues—in his research and exhibi- Office of Publications Visit the NPG website to order NPG tions, and his books, labels, and audio publications. tours. We will especially miss his ability phone: (202) 275-1870 to connect visitors with the essence of the web: www.npg.si.edu and personalities in our collection, using por- click on Publications traits as a springboard for biography. But e-mail: [email protected] most of all, we’ll just miss you, Fred. Photograph by Leslie London

17 Information 17 Portrait Puz z lers 1. 2. 3. 4.

He was the first Vice She was the first woman He sparked a revolu- Considered America’s President to succeed to to serve in a presidential tion in food production first important play- the presidency owing cabinet. and reaped a fortune. wright, he made his own to the death of his pre- family the focus of one

decessor. of his greatest plays.

All images are details. details. are images All

. Gelatin silver print by Carl Van Vechten, 1933. © Estate of Carl Van Vechten. Vechten. Van Carl of Estate © 1933. Vechten, Van Carl by print silver Gelatin . Night into Journey Day’s Long of author

(1888–1953), (1888–1953), O’Neill Eugene 4. Harrison. Gilbert Mrs. and Foundation McCormick Deering Marion and Chauncey of

(1809–1884), inventor of the mechanical reaper. Oil on canvas by Charles Loring Elliott, after 1846, gift gift 1846, after Elliott, Loring Charles by canvas on Oil reaper. mechanical the of inventor (1809–1884), McCormick

Cyrus Cyrus 3. 1952. Sipprell, E. Clara by print silver Gelatin labor. of secretary Roosevelt’s Franklin (1885–1965),

Frances Perkins Perkins Frances 2. 1859. Institute, National the of Friends of gift Museum, Art American Smithsonian from transfer

. A. Healy; Healy; A. . P George by canvas on Oil (1790–1862). States United the of President tenth , Tyler John 1. Answers:

Join and support the National Portrait Gallery at the following membership levels!

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