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PROFILE Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery News Spring 2001 From the DIRECTOR

When the first National Portrait Gallery was created, in England in the 1850s, there was a general assumption that this place of national honor for Great Britain would have collections overwhelmingly composed of men. “Let us now praise famous men” would have easily served as its motto. Moreover, the famous men likely came from certain fields of achievement: politics, the military, and the high arts. The Victorians would have seen no irony in the fact that their age took its and derived its highest ceremonial authority from a woman. That was the exception that proved the rule: women might inherit authority or station, but they were not likely to acquire it.

By the time our own National Portrait Gallery was created, in the late 1960s, some progress had been made. When the first director and staff put together the inaugural exhibition, there were a number of remarkable women represented: , Gertrude Stein, , Doro- thea Dix, Charlotte Cushman, , , Lillian Russell, among others from across nearly two centuries of our nation’s existence. But the exhibition title—“This New Man”—carried its own irony. Included as well were the African Americans Frederick Douglass, George Washington Carver, and Charles Drew, and the Native Americans Sitting Bull, Osceola, Jim Thorpe, and Will Rogers. However, those who were either nonwhite or female constituted only 10 percent of those on view in the exhibition. We still had some distance to go in the creation of a Portrait Gallery that looked like America.

We still do; but I think we’re on the right track. In the more than a quar- ter century that I have known the Portrait Gallery, I have seen a concerted effort by our staff and Commission to locate images in a wide variety of media that capture every field of American achievement and the full range of Americans who have contributed to our national heritage. With the representation of women, and of African American men and women, we have begun to see some real progress not only in the range of individuals included in our permanent collection but in the presentation of portrait artists, such as , Annie Leibovitz, James VanDerZee, and most recently in a widely acclaimed exhibition of the nineteenth-century daguerreotypist Augustus Washington. We have a way to go in the range of Latino and Asian American subjects and portraitists represented, but we can at least point to excellent exhibitions of the work of caricaturist Miguel Covarrubias and sculptor Isamu Noguchi. I have hopes, as well, that our presentation of Native Americans will become as strong in twen- tieth-century history as it is in nineteenth.

The excitement of our twenty-first century nation is that it is begin- ning to benefit from the opening up of opportunities for all Americans. The nation we are becoming is the nation we were always meant to be. And the National Portrait Gallery will bear witness to that progress.

2 PROFILE Contents Vol. 2 No. 1. Spring 2001

Cover: by Harry 11 Warnecke, 1945. Gift of Elsie M. Hard Hat News Warnecke © copyright restricted. Window and Stone See “Making Paper Picture Per- fect” on page 10. Restoration 4 12 Collection Highlights Portrait of an Artist Celebrating Women Peale 6 13 Q&A NPG on the Road In the next issue Interview with Barbara Portraits of Virginians on As we go to press, we are Novak View in Richmond able to report that the National Portrait Gallery 8 has received a private 14 donation from the Donald Historian’s Choice NPG News W. Reynolds Foundation, Maria Callas “A Brush with History” enabling us to purchase Exhibition Debuts Gilbert Stuart’s great 9 “Lansdowne” painting of 15 George Washington, which Curator’s Choice has been on long-term Jesse Owens NPG Schedules & loan to the museum. A full Information story on this American icon 10 will appear in our summer Making Paper 16 issue, which will be devoted to the Gallery’s acquisitions Picture Perfect Portrait Puzzlers and to the many generous A Look at the NPG donors who have contribut- Conservation Lab ed to our success.

PROFILE

National Portrait Gallery Marc Pachter Director National Portrait Gallery Smithsonian Institution Carolyn K. Carr Deputy Director and Chief Curator Commission Eloise Baden Chief Administrative Officer Barbara Novak, Chair Eighth and F Streets, NW Anthony C. Beilenson Washington, DC 20560-0213 Editor Jeannine Smith Clark Phone: (202) 357-2700 Carol Wyrick of Education Stephen Jay Gould Fax: (202) 786-3098 Julie Harris E-mail: [email protected] Review Editor Sidney Hart The Levering Lewis Web site: www.npg.si.edu Family Papers R. W. B. Lewis Bette Bao Lord Readers’ comments are welcome. Editorial Committee Joan A. Mondale Dru Dowdy Office of Publications Robert B. Morgan Marianne Gurley Office of PhotographicServices Roger Mudd Leslie Office of Design andProduction Patrick Madden Office of ExternalAffairs Ex Officio Ellen G. Miles Department of Painting and Sculpture Earl A. Powell III © 2001 Smithsonian Institution Available in alternative formats. Frances Stevenson Office of Publications William H. Rehnquist Printed on recycled paper. Frederick Voss Department of History Lawrence M. Small

3 Collection Highlights: Celebrating Women

Brandon Brame Fortune By contrast, Nettie Fowler Associate Curator of McCormick, wife of inventor Painting and Sculpture Cyrus McCormick, is repre- There are nearly two thousand sented in the Gallery’s col- likenesses of American women lections by a pristine marble in the collections of the National sculpture that highlights her Portrait Gallery. Unlike many of beauty. Created in 1866 by Eras- the portraits of men collected by tus Dow Palmer, it was praised the Gallery, very few are conven- at the time by a leading art critic tional head-and-shoulders por- as being “so gracefully poised, traits. On the contrary, our the features so regular, the head portraits of women, ranging from so naive, and the expression so Pocahontas to , are feminine and sweet, that most as varied, fascinating, and color- persons would take the portrait ful as their subjects. for an ideal.” Her business Some make use of imagery acumen enabled her to make developed for portraits of men, important contributions to the Nettie Fowler McCormick by Erastus Dow Palmer, 1866 as seen in Charles Willson Peale’s profitability of the McCormick somber 1769 likeness of Anne Harvesting Machine Company. Green, who holds a copy of the The Gallery’s collections also the work of portraitist and fash- Maryland Gazette, the Annapolis include drawings and photo- ion illustrator René Bouché—a newspaper that she published after graphs of women, ranging from biting portrayal of society host- her husband’s death. Frank Her- Wallace Morgan’s precise and ess Elsa Maxwell. ring’s painting of efficiency expert quick sketch of reformer Belva Often the Gallery is fortunate Lillian Moller Gilbreth portrays Ann Lockwood, drawn at the to acquire portraits of women her with quiet, scholarly dignity, annual convention of the Ameri- from the time of their greatest pro- dressed in an academic gown. The can Woman Suffrage Association ductivity or fame. Such was the likeness of African American poet in 1912, to glamorous images of case with actress Tallulah Bank- Phillis Wheatley, published as the important stars of the screen and head, a formidable character who frontispiece to her Poems on Vari- stage, such as Baron De Meyer’s sat for the equally flamboyant ous Subjects, Religious and Moral luminous photograph of actress English painter Augustus John in in 1773, shows her writing at a Mary Pickford. One of the most London in 1930. John painted table, actively involved in creative arresting mid-twentieth-century her in the pink negligée that she and intellectual pursuits. paintings in the collection is wore in the theatrical farce He’s Mine. Bankhead loved this ethe- real, evanescent likeness and dis- played it in her bedroom. To an admirer of the painting and its subject, she remarked: “Even though I get down to living in a hall bedroom and cooking on a Sterno, I’ll never part with that picture.” She did not give up the painting, and when it was auc- tioned after her death, John Hay Whitney, an admirer, purchased it and gave it to the Gallery. Sculptor Jo Davidson was well known as a portraitist of emi- nent Americans of the interwar years. One of his most famous subjects was the modernist author Gertrude Stein, whose impassive, almost Buddha-like portrait is a Tallulah Bankhead (detail) by Augus- Elsa Maxwell (detail) by René Bouché, highlight of the Gallery’s collec- tus John, circa 1930; gift of the Hon. 1959 tions. Widely praised at the time, and Mrs. John Hay Whitney

4 Celebrating Women Anne Green by Charles Willson Lillian Moller Gilbreth by Frank Phillis Wheatley by an uniden- Peale, 1769; partial gift from the Herring, 1929–1930; gift of tified artist, after Scipio Moor- Governor’s Mansion Foundation of and Lillian head, 1773 Maryland Carey Barley

Mary Pickford by Baron Adolph Gertrude Stein by Jo Davidson, by Wal- De Meyer, 1920 1922–1923; gift of Dr. Maury lace Morgan, 1912 Leibovitz

it was illustrated in the February 1923 issue of Vanity Fair, which also published Stein’s prose por- trait of Davidson. When the por- trait was complete, Stein circled it, announcing in characteristic fashion, “that’s Gertrude Stein, that’s all of Gertrude Stein, that’s all of Gertrude Stein there is.” Other portraits represent important women in a more pri- vate context. One example is Marianne Moore and her mother by Marguerite Zorach’s painting of by Marguerite Zorach, 1925 , before 1880 poet Marianne Moore, with the shadowy figure of her mother in the background. Nor was Ellen Day Hale’s small oil sketch of her cousin, author and feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman, intended for public view. Ginny Stanford’s 1991 portrait of M. F. K. Fisher, painted the year before the author’s death, also shows her in a contemplative pose. These are tantalizing highlights of the deep reserves that make up the Gallery’s collections of portraits of important American women. The Gal- lery will continue to acquire such portraits, in tra- ditional and new media, in order to document the

evolving roles of women in public life and to cele- Stanford ©Ginny brate their accomplishments. M. F. K. Fisher by Ginny Stanford, 1991

Celebrating Women 5 & Mirroring America An interview with Barbara Novak, chair of the National Portrait Q Gallery Commission and Altschul of Art History Emerita at Barnard College and Columbia, by Wendy Wick Reaves, curator of prints and drawings.

Wendy Wick Reaves: You were appointed a commissioner in 1981 and then chair of the acquisitions committee. Now you are commis- sion chair. Given your own distinguished career as a professor and author, what has kept you so involved for so long?

Barbara Novak: My chief interest has always been American art as a manifestation—a diagnostic tool actually, for understanding Ameri- can culture. I’ve always felt that we could read American culture through its art, and the recognition and definition of that cultural identity has always intrigued me profoundly. The NPG is for me a magical place. Its collections and exhibitions offer just that—an Stanley Seligson Stanley opportunity to read and understand American culture. It’s the only Barbara Novak is the author of place in America where American culture can be read through the American Painting in the Nine- faces of its people—the men and women who contributed to and teenth Century and and wove the fabric of the culture. The biographical aspect is what Culture. She is presently work- makes it so unique. It is the narrative, the story, of America—poised ing on a book on the self in Amer- between history and art and centered on individual life experience. ican art and culture. She has also written a novel, Alice’s Neck, Reaves: You have been active in our acquisition process. Have our and a theater work, The Ape priorities changed over time? and the , which is a dia- logue between Charles Darwin Novak: The acquisitions have changed over the years to reflect more and Herman Melville in their clearly the racial and ethnic diversity of America. The Gallery has own words. made an increased effort to include figures not only from the arts, but also scientists, politicians, business people, and others who have made major contributions to our nation. I think it’s important to emphasize that the NPG collections are not just a bunch of oil portraits hung on the wall, like stuff from grand- ma’s attic—though many of those are wonderful in and of them- selves. The collections and exhibitions comprise a variety of media, including sculpture. The photographic and graphic collections are also splendid, sometimes overshadowing the paintings and sculpture and giving the collection great variety and interest. The photographs are dazzling—from early daguerreotypes through Hollywood stills and into masters like Man Ray and Stieglitz. And the graphic arts— prints and drawings—range from rare eighteenth-century engravings, such as the image of Quaker abolitionist Lay, to contem- porary caricatures. The story of America’s people is told so vividly through this diverse material. I’ll never forget my first introduction to the collection. I was strolling through the gallery and was stopped in my tracks by a daguerreotype of Thomas Eakins at around age seven. I know Eakins’s work as a mature artist intimately. But to see him suddenly as a child, as a person, before he became a great artist, gave my knowledge of him a totally different dimension. I knew him in a different way, and that knowing emphasized somehow a human link between us.

Reaves: We look at art through the lens of history or . What opportunities does this give us?

6 Interview ©Estate of Alice Neel Thomas and Frances Eakins by an Benjamin Lay by Henry Dawkins, Virgil Thomson by Alice Neel, unidentified photographer, circa circa 1760 1971 1851

Novak: The NPG’s emphasis on I can make it the next. I can museums of art or history? How biography is especially impor- build on it. I also know what can we enhance our strengths? tant. The images of America’s is already in the student’s mind, citizens are sewn into the fabric because through lectures and Novak: Nothing is more interest- of our history, and speak to reading assignments I helped put ing than people. At NPG you larger historical movements. But it there. That gives me a base of meet the people who made Amer- biography creates the human understanding to build on. But ica’s history face to face. The link—it personalizes history, as I’m obliged to use slides—what I Portrait Gallery presents a vast well as universalizing it. The art call vicarious little bits of glass— composite self-portrait, warts aspect is, of course, also impor- and that is always frustrating. and all, and we can trace the tant. Sometimes acquisition deci- The museum has the object— lineaments of its physiognomy sions are difficult, because the the real thing, the artifact—with through a variety of disciplines. person portrayed in a not-so- all the power of its genuine phys- Each individual face is a person, good portrait deserves to be ical presence. But the museum a story, a social and political in the Portrait Gallery, and we has a tougher educational : context, a historical moment, an would do better just to have how to make the point through individualized unit that contrib- a photograph. The art of paint- the object and the exhibition and utes to our national narrative ing portraits has suffered deeply text and catalogue, and possibly in the most intimate way. It since the advent of photography a docent or lecture, in what is is because of our biographical anyway, and that’s one of our often a onetime encounter with content—our national story told acquisition problems. There aren’t the viewer. This puts a tremen- through the physical personae of enough really fine artists—of Alice dous educational burden on the our citizens—that the NPG is Neel’s caliber—painting portraits curator, who must select and lay unique. It has been recognized today. Fortunately NPG now out and present the material to globally as one of the world’s owns ten Neel portraits. a diverse audience without any greatest portrait galleries. In our understanding of their prepara- new situation, properly sited and Reaves: In 1998 you received the tion or basic familiarity with it. presented in ways that empha- College Art Association’s Distin- The curator has to pitch to a size the richness and diversity of guished Teaching Award. How heterogeneous group, and do so our collections and exhibitions, does our educational mission without lowering the intellectual the NPG could and should be compare to classroom teaching? level. There should never be any first on the list of museums idea of “popularizing” at a lower for any citizen who visits Wash- Novak: The mission of a museum common denominator. But it all ington and wants to meet the is very different. The university has to be so clear that everyone other citizens who built this great classroom has the advantage in the audience is reached. And nation. What I love about the of one-on-one repeated contact, not only reached but moved, visu- Gallery is precisely that it is the which puts both teacher and stu- ally and intellectually. National Portrait Gallery. It is dent in a position to make ideas the nation’s mirror. We don’t grow. If I, as a professor, don’t Reaves: How do you see our mis- only need it. We require it. It make a point at one meeting, sion as different from that of other helps us to see who we are.

Interview 7 HISTORIAN’S CHOICE Maria Callas Oil on canvas by Henry Koerner (1915–1991), 1956 gift of Time magazine

Frederick Voss New York career girl.” When he asked about the Senior Historian whereabouts of a piano in the house, she betrayed It was the summer of 1956. In this presidential impatience. Then, the shortness of manner eased. election year, Adlai Stevenson was girding He asked her to pose for a preliminary drawing, himself for his fall effort to unseat White and she complied, fetching at the artist’s request House incumbent Dwight Eisenhower. But for a red wrap to drape around her shoulders. A dedicated opera aficio- few days later Koerner nados of New York saw her at her most City, the approaching entrancing, as she lis- autumn held something tened to a not-yet- in store that interested released recording of them far more than La Bohème with her the contest between Ste- in the role of Mimi. venson and Ike. Maria “Callas, oblivious to Callas, reigning queen her surroundings, her of the international face transfigured in opera world, was finally bliss,” he noted, sat going to appear at there silently mouth- New York’s Metropol- ing the tender phrases itan Opera. Although of Mimi, and as she few ranked Callas’s did, “love poured out voice among the sweet- toward you, caressing, est or most beautiful, overwhelming you.” her overall performances could be exquisite, and Meanwhile, however, the sittings were not expectations were running high that her debut at going quite so caressingly. Unexpected house- the Met would be unforgettable. hold sounds were apt to send Callas into a rage. Among those succumbing to the frisson of Conversation at a luncheon break proved brittle. expectation were the editors at Time magazine. Finally, two days before the portrait’s completion, The moment had come, they concluded, for a fea- Koerner said, “I had the unmistakable feeling ture story on Callas, and they were soon arrang- that I was getting on Maria’s nerves. I hated her, ing for the painting of her cover portrait, which yet enjoyed painting her face, and I paid her back would run in tandem with it in late October. For by making her pose harder.” But Callas had the that task, they turned to the Austrian-born artist last word, when in “a screaming tantrum” she Henry Koerner. threw Koerner out of the house. Still, the story Most artists hired to paint Time’s cover por- had a happy ending. When the picture was finally traits were willing to rely on photographs in cre- finished, the artist was pleased. More important, ating their likenesses. But Koerner accepted the so was his subject. At their parting, Callas apolo- magazine’s commissions only if he was assured gized for her irritability and affectionately kissed that he would be able to paint his subjects from Koerner good-bye. life, and Time liked his work well enough to As for the event that occasioned this encounter accept that condition and the extra expense that it between artist and diva, Callas’s debut at the Met entailed. As a result, in August of 1956, Koerner did indeed prove memorable. Admittedly, her voice was flying to Italy to paint the great Callas at her had not been flawless, particularly in the upper reg- home in Milan. isters. Nevertheless, Time reported, she possessed Tempestuous and difficult were two of the “a swordlike power that is already legend.” adjectives most frequently applied to Callas. But she could also be cooperative and even irresist- Further reading: David A. Lowe, Callas: As They Saw Her ibly alluring. As Koerner later recalled his encoun- (New York, 1986); Stelios Galatopoulos, Maria Callas: ters with her over ten days, he became privy to Sacred Monster (New York, 1999); Arianna Stassinopou- both these sides of her personality. At their first los, Maria Callas: The Woman Behind the Legend (New meeting in Milan, “she was forbidding, like a York, 1981).

8 Historian’s Choice CURATOR’S CHOICE Jesse Owens Gelatin silver print by Leni Riefenstahl (born 1902), 1936

Ann Shumard During the first three days of Olympic com- Acting Curator of Photographs petition, Owens extinguished Hitler’s hopes for This photograph of Jesse Owens (1913–1980) by Aryan domination of the games. Capturing four German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl documents a - gold medals, he won his first in the 100-meter gular moment in the career of the track and field star sprint. With Riefenstahl’s cameras positioned to who emerged as the undisputed hero of the 1936 record that race, Owens assumed his classic “tight” Summer Olympics in . stance and awaited the start- The games of the XI Olym- er’s gun. He later recalled piad were held under extraor- his thoughts at that instant, dinary circumstances. Hosted noting: When I lined up in by Nazi , the Olym- my lane for the finals of pics were envisioned by Adolf the 100 meters, I was look- Hitler as the ultimate vehicle ing only at the finish line, for glorifying the Nazi state and realizing that five of and showcasing its doctrine the world’s fastest humans of Aryan supremacy. Hitler’s wanted to beat me to it. eagerness to exploit the games There were six of us finalists, for propaganda purposes led all with a gold medal ambi- him to warmly endorse plans tion. Yet there could be only to produce a film that would one winner. I thought of all capture the Olympic spectacle the years of practice and

in its entirety. The choice of Riefenstahl Leni © competition, of all who had Leni Riefenstahl to undertake believed in me. . . . I saw this project was not surprising. Dubbed “Hitler’s the finish line and knew that 10 seconds would favorite filmmaker,” Riefenstahl won the Führer’s climax the work of eight years. Moments later, unqualified admiration through feature films and Jesse Owens equaled the world’s record with a skillfully crafted quasi-documentaries such as Tri- winning time of 10.3 seconds. umph of the Will (1935), which deified Hitler and As track and field competition continued, Riefen- the Nazi leadership. To ensure the success of the stahl amassed considerable footage of Owens that Olympics film, German officials accorded Riefen- captured his concentration, poise, and athletic stahl unprecedented access and placed uncommon grace. It is to her credit that she later resisted resources at her disposal. Riefenstahl also secured pressure from Germany’s minister of propaganda, personal assurances from Hitler that she alone Goebbels, to eliminate all footage of the would have ultimate control over the content and stellar black athlete from the final cut of her film. artistic form of the film she produced. Riefenstahl prevailed, and Owens was featured While Riefenstahl assembled her production prominently in the early portion of Olympia. team and began to shoot footage that would serve This rare vintage still from Riefenstahl’s Olym- as the prologue to Olympia, preparations of a dif- pics film is a significant acquisition for the National ferent sort were under way in the . Portrait Gallery. The first representation of Jesse Despite calls by American Jewish organizations Owens to enter the Gallery’s collection, this dynamic and many others for American athletes to boycott photograph shows him just seconds away from his the “Nazi Olympics,” U.S. participation in the gold medal victory in the 100-meter sprint. games was assured when both the American Ath- letic Union and the American Olympic Commit- tee approved sending a U.S. team to Berlin. In Further reading: See William J. Baker, Jesse Owens: An trials held to determine the makeup of the Ameri- American Life (New York, 1986); for Leni Riefenstahl’s can squad, Jesse Owens proved unbeatable. With unique perspective on the Berlin games and the making of Olympia, see Leni Riefenstahl: A Memoir (New York, first-place finishes in the 100-meter and 200-meter 1992); the 1936 Olympics are examined in depth in Rich- sprints as well as the long jump, the Ohio State ard D. Mandell, The Nazi Olympics (New York, 1971) University star easily secured a berth on the team and Duff Hart-Davis, Hitler’s Games: The 1936 Olym- bound for the summer games. pics (New York, 1986).

Curator’s Choice 9 Making Paper Picture Perfect

Rosemary Fallon of the illustration-board backing Emily Jacobson revealed the date of the image— Paper Conservators 1945—written on the back of As paper conservators for the the photograph. National Portrait Gallery, we are Conservators also monitor responsible for the conservation light levels, temperature, and and preservation of the thou- humidity in the galleries. Works sands of prints, drawings, and of art on paper and photographs photographs in the museum’s col- are especially susceptible to expo- lection. Other members of the sure to light, which can cause conservation staff include depart- A de-ionized water bath removes paper to discolor and pigments ment head and painting conser- stains from a print of Thomas to fade. Damage such as this is vator CindyLou Molnar and mat Jefferson by Michel Sokolnicki. irreversible, which is why light cutter Ed Myers. levels are very low wherever We examine every photo- a humidity chamber to relax these items are on view. When graphic image and work of art the paper and then drying it a particularly fragile work of on paper that enters the National between blotters and felts under art has been loaned to another Portrait Gallery. To assess the weight. Conservation treatment museum, the conservator may condition of an artwork, we first of artworks in poor condition visit that museum to check on the examine it visually, sometimes improves not only their appear- condition after transport. Occa- using a stereomicroscope. Fibers ance but also their physical stabil- sionally, the conservator may and pigments can then be tested ity, allowing them to be displayed even accompany a crated art- to determine their composition. and loaned. Factors that con- work during travel to oversee The artwork may then be viewed tribute to choosing a specific proper handling. under ultraviolet or infrared light, treatment plan can include min- While the museum building is which sometimes reveals under- imizing risk to the object and closed, the conservators will drawings or inscriptions that are time constraints because of the proceed with treatments of Por- faded or worn away. impending display of the object. trait Gallery objects and will also Based on this physical exam- From the conservator’s perspec- continue to advise members of ination, we make recommenda- tive, the value of the object never the public on the care, condition, tions to the appropriate curator has any bearing on its treatment. and storage of artworks, either about possible treatments. A New information about works over the telephone or during con- torn drawing may be carefully on paper in the Portrait Gallery’s servation clinics held on Thurs- mended using Japanese paper collection sometimes emerges as day mornings by appointment. and wheat-starch paste. A stained a result of work done in the labo- To bring your print, drawing, print may sometimes be washed ratory. Prior to its conservation, or photograph for consultation, in a bath of de-ionized water or for example, the photograph please call Emily Jacobson or treated with chemicals to reduce of actress Lucille Ball featured Rosemary Fallon; for paintings, the damage. Distortions in a pho- on this issue’s cover had been call CindyLou Molnar. All may tograph can be flattened using dated circa 1943. The removal be reached at (202) 357-2685.

Emily Jacobson removes adhesive residue from a Rosemary Fallon brushes off dust particles from the caricature drawing of Lillian Russell by Al Frueh. photograph of Lucille Ball by Harry Warnecke.

10 NPG Conservation HARD HAT NEWS Window and Stone Restoration

Kristin Gray lost material. The same Hartman-Cox local stone that was Architects quarried for the origi- As the renovation of nal building has been the Old Patent Office located for the repairs, Building progresses, the in order to get the clos- first stage of new work est match possible. will entail window and Currently, the win- stone repair and resto- dows of the building ration. After the build- are made of a single Original hardware, such as this bronze sash lift, will be ing is vacated and the salvaged, restored, and reused on the new windows. layer of glass in wood demolition process has sashes, set in wood or been completed, work cast-iron frames. Over will begin on the outside. The granite, marble, and the years, heat, ultraviolet rays, and condensation sandstone exteriors will be cleaned and repaired, have caused extensive deterioration of all parts and the building’s 584 windows will have their of the windows. Nearly all of the window sashes frames repaired and sashes replaced. were installed during the 1960s renovation and The first indication of work visible to the public will be replaced. The sash replacement will elimi- will be scaffolding rising around the building’s exte- nate much of the environmental deterioration by rior. Because the 150-year-old stone is fragile, the using insulated glass in new wood sashes. A thin, scaffolding is designed as a freestanding structure invisible film called a heat mirror will be sand- that will not touch the building at any point. Crews wiched between two layers of glass and will screen will work on stone repair and cleaning, and repair out 99 percent of the heat and ultraviolet rays of the window frames, from platforms within the from the sun. With the new glass assembly, the scaffolding. Inside the building, more crews will insulating quality of the windows will be higher remove the window sashes and install plywood than that of the walls. Additionally, the exterior panels to temporarily protect the window openings. layer of the new glass assembly will be a nine- The building’s facades are made of granite, teenth-century-style “restoration glass,” which re- marble, and sandstone. The south wing, built in creates the dimpled look of old glass and will 1836, is clad in sandstone quarried in Aquia, Vir- enliven the building’s facade. The building also ginia. The east, north, and west wings of the build- boasts a number of stained-glass windows, of ing have Texas, Maryland, marble facades with which all but three have been restored. These Woodstock, Maryland, granite bases. Over the remaining stained-glass windows will be removed, years, acid rain has worn away much of the soft restored by an expert, and reinstalled on the south marble at the column capitals and at all corners wall of the Great Hall. of the building. Because of the fragile nature Originally, the windows of the Old Patent Office of the stone facades, a Building were operable very mild cleaning solu- and provided the only tion will be used with means of ventilation in steam to remove dirt. the building. Awnings The cleaning crews will on the south and west use the lowest amount facades were the only of steam pressure pos- protection from the heat sible in order to treat of the sun. Now the the stone gently while windows will be sealed removing a century’s shut, and the technol- worth of grime. A stron- ogy of the glass will help ger cleanser will remove to preserve the museum- several iron stains, and quality environment for repairs will seal cracks Postcard of the Old Patent Office Building, dated 1916, the artwork inside the and fissures and replace showing window awnings on the south and west wings. building.

Hard Hat News 11 Portrait of an Artist: “First Attempt”

Tess Mann simple color system dom- Editorial Assistant, inant in warm tones Peale Family Papers such as yellow, brown, In a letter of April 1818, and orange. Likewise, portraitist Charles Will- Sully recommended a pal- son Peale observed that ette, later recorded in his nieces’ artistic tal- his Hints to Young Paint- ents would be a great ers (1873), that included benefit to his brother, two reds, three browns, painter James Peale, yellow ochre, and “ivory noting, “they probably black,” but only one cool will each of them give tone, ultramarine. The him a lift towards only cool colors in Sarah supporting the family.” Miriam Peale’s self-por- Though there was vir- trait are the blue in her tually no precedent of eyes and the flash of women pursuing art pro- white light in her pupils. fessionally in the United The brown-toned shad- States, Charles Willson ows, creamy pink skin, Peale had acknowledged and deep crimson drape the careers of female suggest Sully’s or Rem- European artists in brandt’s hand in her naming his own daugh- artistic education. ters after painters— Self-portrait by Sarah Miriam Peale, oil on canvas, Sarah Miriam’s deci- Angelica Kauffmann, circa 1818 sion to finish her self-por- Sophonisba Angusciola, trait with only an artist’s and Rosalba Carriera—just as he had named his drape around her shoulders, when she could have sons after the artists , Rembrandt, and Titian. chosen to demonstrate her experience painting the Ironically, only James’s daughters, Anna Claypoole, fabrics and lace of women’s clothing, is unusual. Margaretta, and Sarah Miriam Peale, chose to put There is a sort of gleeful symbolism in the choice, off or forgo in favor of artistic careers. suggesting a nod to the tradition of using decora- Sarah Miriam Peale (1800–1885), like her sis- tive red drapery in portraits, or possibly a theatrical ters, began drawing and painting at a young age gesture. Like Rembrandt and Sully, Sarah Miriam and lent a hand in her father’s studio, finishing had a taste for “fancy pictures,” in which sitters por- details such as lacework and flowers. In June of trayed mythical and allegorical figures. Wrapped 1818, Charles Willson Peale wrote his son Rapha- in a prop that was standard in artists’ studios, she elle that the eighteen-year-old Sarah Miriam was seems to cloak herself in the guise of Painting. earning praise in the newspapers for her work Certainly Sarah Miriam’s is a self-portrait of an and had made her public debut as an artist with artist-in-training—an artist attempting to assimi- the exhibition of two portraits at the Pennsyl- late and apply the advice of her mentors. Though vania Academy of the Fine Arts. One of those she demonstrates an understanding of light and works was the self-portrait now in the collection shadow, her features still have a strongly linear defi- of the National Portrait Gallery, exhibited with nition, and the structure of her face and neck is inex- the title Portrait of a Lady (First Attempt). pertly constructed. In his Hints, Sully encouraged The simple, intimate self-portrait is striking for its all serious artists to study human anatomy, and he warmth and the eye-catching, luminous red of the saw to it personally that Sarah Miriam received the artist’s drape wrapped around Sarah Miriam’s shoul- instruction she required. In April 1819, Anna Clay- ders. The distinctive coloring of the portrait prob- poole Peale would write her cousin Titian, “Mr. ably owes less to the influence of Sarah Miriam’s Sully came down to give us tickets and an invitation father and uncle than to her cousin, Rembrandt from Dr. Calhoun to attend his anatomical lectures Peale, and his friend, American portraitist Thomas as relateing to the arts—Sally [Sarah] and Myself Sully. In several letters to his children and friends went—accompanied by Mr. Sully and three other in 1818, Charles Willson Peale reported enthu- ladies—we were much interested in a lecture on siastically that Rembrandt had taught him to the human Scull—if nothing unforeseen prevents improve his formerly “gloomy” paintings with a Continued on page 14

12 Sarah Miriam Peale Portraits of Virginians on View in Richmond

According to the Richmond Times- Dispatch, for the next three years, “the National Portrait Gallery’s loss is the Historical Soci- ety’s gain.” When James Kelly, assistant director of the Histori- cal Society, learned that the Gal- lery was closing for renovation, he quickly made up a list of por- traits in our collection with Vir- ginia connections. He then called Beverly Cox, director of exhi- bitions and collections manage- ment, to see if any of those objects would be available for loan. Some weren’t because of their condi- Robert “King” Carter by an uniden- Douglas Wilder by Loryn Brazier, tified artist, circa 1720 1999 (detail); gift of Virginia Com- tion—for instance, the Gallery’s monwealth University highly prized portrait of Pocahon- tas was deemed too fragile—and Treasures from the National Por- owner, and continuing to a paint- others were committed for trav- trait Gallery,” opened in Decem- ing of former Governor Douglas eling exhibitions, but ultimately ber in the upper lobby of the Wilder, by Richmond portraitist thirty-three paintings, sculptures, Historical Society and will remain Loryn Brazier, the exhibition has photographs, and prints were on view until 2003. Beginning been described as a “limited but approved. An exhibition featuring with a portrait of Robert “King” elegant who’s who of the com- those works, entitled “Virginia Carter, a wealthy colonial land- monwealth’s storied past.” NPG on the Road

Dallas, Texas Washington, D.C. Richmond, Virginia The Women’s Museum: The Smithsonian Castle, The Virginia Historical Society An Institute for the Future* Schermer Hall Thirty-three paintings, sculptures, Fifty painted and sculpted por- “Indian Peace Medals from the prints, drawings, and photo- traits of nationally significant Schermer Collection, National graphs of important Virginians, women from the collection will Portrait Gallery.” This collection including Arthur Ashe, Ella be on view through early 2003. of eighteen U.S. peace medals and Fitzgerald, Robert E. Lee, and one British medal, along with a Washington, are on view Arlington, Texas rare volume of Thomas McKen- through January 2003. Legends of the Game Museum* ney and James Hall’s book The Twelve portraits of baseball History of the Indian Tribes of London, England immortals will remain on view North America, are on display National Portrait Gallery through January 2003. through June 3, 2001. This exhi- From the 1940s through the bition is made possible through 1970s, Philippe Halsman’s por- the generous gift of Betty and traits appeared on the covers and New York Public Library Lloyd Schermer. in the pages of major picture “Celebrity Caricature in America” magazines, such as the Saturday contains more than two hundred Evening Post and Life. Opened objects featuring drawings and in D.C. in 1999, “Philippe Hals- artifacts ranging from a puppet man: A Retrospective” begins its to a silk frock. Early twentieth international tour at the NPG century figures such as Martha in London on May 23. On view Graham, Irving Berlin, Mae West, through September 2, the exhi- and Babe are illustrated in bition then travels to Paris. The works by such artists as Miguel more than seventy original Hals- Covarrubias, Will Cotton, and man portraits include Marilyn Paolo Garretto. On view June 23 Thomas Jefferson peace medal Monroe, Marlon Brando, and the through August 31, 2001. (reverse) by John Reich Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

*Smithsonian Affiliate Museum NPG on the Road 13 NPG News: “A Brush with History” Debuts! Opening events in Raleigh, North Carolina

Left: Special guests at the opening gala included directors Marc Pachter (National Portrait Gallery) and (National Portrait Gallery, London)

Right: Leon D. Jones, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, standing beside the por- trait of Cherokee leader Sequoyah by Henry Inman N.C. Museum of History N.C. Museum of History

“A Brush with History: Paintings Associates on January 27. • “The Great History Mys- from the National Portrait Gal- Other education programs tery”—a Flash version of lery” opened with great fanfare at rounded out the menu of opening an interactive game devel- the North Carolina Museum of events. A professional museum oped for use with the History in Raleigh on January 27. staff in-service day, sponsored by exhibition—is available at The event was covered by local both musuems, provided forty- http://www.npg.si.edu/edu/ television stations as well as sev- five participants with a tour of brush/mystery/index.html. eral regional newspapers, led by the exhibition by co-curators Test your knowledge of the Raleigh News & Observer. Carolyn Kinder Carr and Ellen American history by match- This exhibition of seventy-five G. Miles, and a demonstration of ing clues about the contri- paintings of remarkable Ameri- video, print, and Web resources butions of many of those cans—including works by some of developed for use with “A Brush portrayed in the exhibition the most important portrait paint- with History.” NPG’s curators with their portraits. ers the nation has produced— also provided training for sixty • Telling Lives: The Art of the even merited a mention in the arts docents, followed by a public Painted Portrait is featured as listings of lecture, “Familiar Faces,” which part of the exhibition. Nar- national edition. A private recep- examined how artists have cap- rated by National Portrait tion preceded the event, hosted tured American likenesses and Gallery director Marc Pachter, by Smithsonian National Board how portraiture functions as his- the video includes portraits member Frank A. Daniels Jr. and torical commentary. of George Bush, John C. Cal- National Portrait Gallery commis- A unique feature of the North houn, Lincoln, Lena sioner the Honorable Robert B. Carolina Musuem of History’s Horne, and John Updike and Morgan. Other events included installation is the addition of contains interview clips with a January 25 press preview, a supplementary labels highlight- former President George Bush, black-tie gala on January 26, and ing the state’s connections to ten artists Ron Sherr and Alex a dinner hosted by the North individuals whose portraits are Katz, and curators Carolyn Carolina Museum of History in the exhibition. Carr and Ellen Miles.

Continued from page 12 we shall attend the whole course and in her still lifes of apples, ber- our city the approaching fall, for which will contain 15 lectures.” ries, and watermelon. Ultimately, the purpose of painting several Over what proved to be a Sarah Miriam’s pursuit of inde- portraits. Four specimens from long artistic career, Sarah Miri- pendence led her away from her the pencil of this lady are now am’s work never lost the flair and family’s home in Philadelphia, in the Missouri bank, and they lively spirit demonstrated in this first to , where she kept clearly prove her title to rank first attempt, particularly in her a studio at the Peale Museum among the first of American art- predilection for brilliant coloring during the 1820s, and then to ists.” Although Sarah Miriam did and a notable allegiance to deep, St. Louis. Anticipating her arrival, not reach St. Louis until the fol- glowing reds. Time and again, the St. Louis Weekly Reveille lowing year, the studio she opened reds beam forth from clothing announced in 1846 that Miss in 1847 did not close until 1878. and drapery in her portraits, Sarah M. Peale “intends visiting The artist had indeed arrived.

14 NPG News Portrait of a Nation: Tour Itinerary 2001–2003

Portraits of the Presidents A Brush with History Modern American Portrait Drawings Harry S. Truman Library, Tennessee State Museum, Independence, Missouri Nashville Amon Carter Museum, March 1–May 20, 2001 May 4–July 1, 2001 Fort Worth, Texas May 25–Aug. 25, 2002 Gerald R. Ford The National Museum of Presidential Museum, Western Art, Tokyo, Japan Grand Rapids, Michigan Aug. 6–Oct. 14, 2001 June 22–Sept. 23, 2001 Women of Our Time The Speed Art Museum, Old State House, Ronald Reagan Presidential Louisville, Kentucky Nov. 20, 2001–Jan. 27, 2002 Hartford, Connecticut Library and Museum, Sept. 13–Nov. 11, 2002 Simi Valley, California Montgomery Museum of Oct. 26, 2001–Jan. 21, 2002 Fine Arts, Alabama Washington State Historical Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Feb. 23–May 5, 2002 Society, Tacoma Dec. 13, 2002–Feb. 19, 2003 Memphis, Tennessee New Orleans Museum of Art, Feb. 22–May 19, 2002 Louisiana May 31–Aug. 11, 2002 For information on available North Carolina Museum of bookings, contact the History, Raleigh National Portrait Gallery, Office of Exhibitions at June 21–Sept. 15, 2002 London, England (202) 357-2688, or Oct. 4, 2002–Jan. 5, 2003 fax: (202) 357-2790. Virginia Historical Society, Richmond Oct. 18, 2002–Jan. 12, 2003 Useful Contacts Visit www.npg.si.edu today!

While the Old Patent Office Build- Office of Conservation Office of External Affairs ing is being renovated, the staff Conservation consultations are available Phone: (202) 633-9004 has moved to its new location in Thursdays, 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m., by the Victor Building at 750 9th appointment only. For painting and E-mail: [email protected] Street, NW, Eighth Floor, Wash- sculpture ask for CindyLou Molnar; for art on paper and photographs ask for Office of Education ington, DC 20560-0973. E-mail Rosemary Fallon or Emily Jacobson. addresses remain the same; new For information about school and telephone numbers will be given Phone: (202) 357-2685 community programs, teacher resources, internships, and upcoming events: upon dialing the old number. New contact information is also posted Phone: (202) 357-2920 on our Web site. Web: www.npg.si.edu and click on Education Catalog of American Portraits E-mail: [email protected] Phone: (202) 357-2578 Web: www.npg.si.edu and Office of Rights and click on Search Reproductions E-mail: [email protected] Phone: (202) 357-2791 Web: www.npg.si.edu Library /inf/r&r/index-intro.htm Phone: (202) 357-1886 Web: www.siris.si.edu Office of Publications (for the library’s catalog) To order an NPG publication, contact the E-mail: [email protected] National Museum of American History’s Shop. Casey Stengel by Rhoda Sherbell, Phone: (202) 357-1527 1981 cast from 1965 plaster Web: www.npg.si.edu and ©Rhoda Sherbell click on Information

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

1. 2. 3. 4.

She became the first A marine biologist by This writer of fiction In the final years of woman to marry a profession, she had a was born into New struggle to gain the President in the White great gift for writing York City’s social elite, vote for women, she is House in 1886, and about nature. The pub- and much of her fame credited with develop- the press hounded the lication of her book rested on novels and ing the strategy that couple mercilessly on Silent Spring in 1962 stories chronicling resulted in the ratifica- their honeymoon. She provided the spark for their manners and tion of the Nineteenth added substantially to the modern-day envi- mores. One of her Amendment in 1920. her husband’s popu- ronmental movement. novels—made into a She later went on to larity. hit movie in the found the League of 1990s—earned her the Women Voters.

Pulitzer Prize in 1920.

Museum of American History; gift of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1939. Association, Suffrage Woman American National the of gift History; American of Museum

(1859–1947), oil on canvas by Mary Foote, 1927 (detail); transfer from the National National the from transfer (detail); 1927 Foote, Mary by canvas on oil (1859–1947), Catt Chapman Carrie 4. (detail). 1870

(1862–1937), oil on canvas by Edward H. May, May, H. Edward by canvas on oil (1862–1937), Wharton Edith 3. (detail). 1965 Hanbury, Una by bronze (1907–1964),

2. Carson Carson Rachel 2. Payne. Frances Mrs. of gift (detail); 1899 Zorn, Anders by canvas on oil (1864–1947), Cleveland Frances 1.

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