PROFILE Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery News Winter 2000 From the DIRECTOR

Years ago, during the late 1970s, in my then-incarnation as chief historian of the National Portrait Gallery, I put together a symposium in which biographers were gathered, not to speak about their subjects, as was customary, but about themselves in relationship to their subjects. In these days of a true biography boom, it may no longer seem unusual to notice that biographers are not simply neutral observers. But our session may have been the first national occasion to recognize that biographies are essentially collaborations between two lives. I called the book that came out of this landmark session Telling Lives. Sometimes, of course, people misheard the title. There were some who wondered why the National Portrait Gallery— which they associated primarily with wonderful paintings, sculptures, prints, and photographs—was concerned with writers at all. But the answer was simple. The Portrait Gallery is a place to recognize significant American lives, and it is no stretch at all to call biographers portraitists in words rather than in paint, stone, or graphic image. In fact, biographers often borrow the terminology of visual art to describe their “profiles” or “vignettes.” And like biographers, portraitists bring something of them- selves to the portrayal. All those who depict a life are involved, to one degree or another, in a balancing act of objectivity and subjectivity. And to the written and painted portrait the Gallery has added over the years the “live” portrait in two significant ways. The first has been a per- formance series called alternately “Portraits in Motion” and “Cultures in Motion,” in which actors bring to life a great figure from our past. In our Gallery’s beautiful spaces, and soon in venues around the city and perhaps the nation, audiences will get a chance to “meet” figures like Thomas Jef- ferson or Paul Robeson, to hear them say the words we normally encoun- ter on the written page. No biographer has studied any more deeply than these scholar-actors every nuance of these lives, the motives that drove them to greatness, and the passions and confusions that raged within them. Another form of live portraiture or biography is one I have been partic- ularly committed to, even during that decade away from the Portrait Gal- lery—that of the grand public interview. Having noticed that fewer and fewer Americans were having their portrait taken, we decided to create a series called “Living Self-portraits,” whose principal “conceit” was that I, as interviewer, was the brush in the hand of Agnes de Mille, for example, or Senator William Fulbright. These events allow the subjects, through apt questions, to reflect on the direction their lives have taken. The video camera is there as well, to capture the telling gestures and expressions, the physical embodiment of the life story they are sharing. It is wonderful that our nation has set aside a place for lives impres- sively lived and impressively told.

2 PROFILE Contents Vol. 1 No. 4. Winter 2000

Biography & 4 12 Biographers: Whose Life Is It Anyhow? Q&A Telling Lives Interview with David 6 Levering Lewis, biographer Cover: Then & Now of W. E. B. Du Bois Written biographies recount the The Public Life lives of distinguished Americans, 14 many of whom are included in the National Portrait Gallery’s 8 NPG on the Road permanent collection. This Appearances Are Exhibition opens at new cover pays tribute to what Deceiving: Henry women’s museum is essentially a collaboration James between two lives. 15 Photo: Rolland White 9 NPG Schedules & Curator’s Choice Information Clarification: 16 A sharp-eyed reader questioned 10 Portrait Puzzlers the sequence of events described Hollywood glitz in the caption for the photograph NPG News of Abraham Lincoln on the Panel on presidential cover of our previous issue. campaigning In the next issue Contrary to that caption, Alexander Gardner’s glass-plate 11 A special report from the negative cracked after it was North Carolina Museum developed. Before the damaged Hard Hat News of History in Raleigh: the negative was discarded, the The first steps toward opening of the traveling pieces were fitted together and a renovation exhibition “A Brush with single contact print was made. History” and the workshop This unique print is one of the for staff teams from partici- treasures of the National pating venues. Portrait Gallery’s collection. PROFILE

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

3 Whose Life Is It Anyhow?

Marc Pachter Director When I was a doctoral student in American history at Harvard University in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I think it is fair to say that I was taught to despise biography as a form, or at least to con- descend to it. In the intellectual mood that sur- rounded me, history was seen to have value as an overview of the broad currents and social forces of the day. Investigations of particular lives, on the other hand, were seen to be outmoded remnants Harry by Greta of the nineteenth-century view that great men (and Kempton; gift of friends it was men that they had in mind) of Harry Truman shaped the events of their time. If biography can be said to Now, while I shared the view, have a patron saint, it is the and still do, that it is impossible to understand history without seeing Greek Plutarch, who wrote its broader currents, I instinctively in his Life of Alexander: “It rebelled at the position that biog- must be borne in mind that raphy was only a side eddy in the mighty stream of history. Individuals my purpose is not to write in all social frameworks do make a histories, but lives. . . .” difference, and our ability to under- stand any other era, or even an ©/George Tames Times/George New York ©The important trend in our own era, is Harry Truman by enhanced by seeing how one life experience reflects George Tames; gift of its time. That is, after all, how all of us compre- Frances O. Tames hend the world around us, through the prism of our own individual experience. One of the Por- trait Gallery’s most famous commissioners, Bar- bara Tuchman, understood this instinctively and was embraced by a vast national readership as a result. Biography as a form has a tradition of its own, and throughout its development, advocates have recognized that the assumptions and interests of biographers differ somewhat from those who follow other approaches to history. This differ- ence goes very far back. If biography can be said to have a patron saint, it is the Greek Plutarch, who wrote in his Life of Alexander: “It must be borne Harry Truman by Paolo Garretto in mind that my purpose is not to write histories, but lives. . . . Sometimes . . . an expression of a jest informs us better of their characteristics and incli- nations than the most famous sieges. . . . Therefore as portrait-painters are more exact in the forms and features of the face, in which the character is seen, than in the other parts of the body, so I must be allowed to give my more particular attention to the marks and indications of the souls of men.” It would be centuries later before the English writer John Dryden coined the term “biographia,” but the assumptions of those who chose to tell Harry Truman by the lives rather than broader histories have remained Harris and Ewing Studio; the same across time. Theirs is, essentially, an gift of Aileen Conkey

4 Biography & Biographers assertion that what others dismiss as trivia—the of individuals? And how aware day-to-day expression of personality, the acciden- do we want to be of the biog- tal turnings of a life, the conscious and uncon- rapher in the telling of the life scious motives of human behavior—are important narrative? drew to know and critical to relate to future gener- the ire of many critics by placing ations. These constitute, in fact, the “stuff” of himself firmly in the narrative life and are dismissed at the peril of constructing he wrote of the life of Ronald abstractions and theories about human experience Reagan. Did he go too far, or are that unintentionally lie about its true nature, its we still not willing to admit how messy vitality. subjective is the telling of a life? But however historians and biographers may The controversies that rage quarrel about what is important to record, there around the question of modern is no question that readers biography provide testimony of respond with tremendous our sense of its importance. We . . . readers respond with interest to biography, par- want to know more about other tremendous interest to ticularly in our own time, people, particularly people who which some call the Golden have played a major role in our biography, particularly in Age of Biography. When, history or our lives. But what our own time, which some a decade or so ago, the can we know about them? What call the Golden Age of Library of Congress under- should we know about them? took a survey of American And whom do we trust to tell Biography. reading habits, it discovered their stories? that more Americans had One phrase that is quietly dis- read a biography in the last appearing says a lot about the six months than any other current state of biography. It genre, including mysteries, westerns, and other used to be said that such and likely popular choices. such a biography was “defini- This is not necessarily an indication of an inter- tive.” That meant that it was est in fine reading. Not all biographies are created possible to conceive that there equal. Many are prurient, exploitative, or just was one telling of a life that plain destructive. Reading them does not necessar- could be objective and com- ily represent an appeal to the higher side of human plete, that the essence of the life nature. But it would be a mistake to assume that was captured for all time, or they represent the bulk of readers’ choices. There at least for a generation. That are hundreds and hundreds of biographers at work assumption now seems naive. today writing compelling stories that bring their We know that every biographer subjects to life with the honest hope that they have brings strengths and weaknesses understood them properly and successfully trans- to the telling of another person’s mitted their humanity. Modern biographers, it is life. We also know that great true, rarely write in the mode of hero-worship; that writing skills are as important would be more true of the nineteenth-century style. as great research skills; and to But what they want to present to their readers that we might add a talent for are believable and compelling lives, lives that are empathy. It is a particular telling more than statues. They are not publicity agents of a life that we pick up in the for a reputation but neither are they—those whom library or bookstore. When the we respect as masters of their craft—simple icono- right writer comes together with clasts. the right subject—as in the case Still, because biography has become a central of David McCullough and Harry genre of our day, it raises many issues that go Truman—we have pure gold. But to the heart of changing mores and boundaries. it’s not definitive. There will be Are we to allow—not legally but morally—biog- another Harry Truman to meet raphers to go wherever they want to in the discus- one day, through another biogra- sion of a life? Are there boundaries of discretion, pher’s eyes. That does not suggest even in our increasingly indiscreet age? Where do the limitations of biography, but these lie? Are we to know only the public side its infinite possibilities.

Biography & Biographers 5 & NOW The Public Life

Sidney Hart Both books were attacked by con- lin constructed for himself in his Editor, Peale Family Papers servatives and liberals for their autobiography. Weems’s Wash- omissions and distortions. The ington was a man whose private Readers of biography couldn’t more interesting criticism of both virtues were meant to be emu- help but be drawn into last Morris and Weems, however, is lated by the youth of the nation, not political, but literary, involv- whose virtue, in turn, would be year’s controversy surrounding ing their basic approach to biog- necessary to sustain the republic. the publication of Edmund Mor- raphy. Morris created fictional For biography and history there ris’s Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald characters in his work, including is an inherent problem with rely- an older version of himself who ing on the private sphere to get Reagan, a work attacked from is able to view the young Ronald at the true character of a subject. various viewpoints and disci- Reagan. It is only with the use of By its very nature, most private plines. An article by Scott E. these fictional characters, Morris life is, except in rare instances, Casper on the history Web site wrote, that he was able to over- unknowable and unrecoverable come the difficulty of under- for a biographer; we do not “Common-Place” draws an inter- standing “the massive privacy have much information of this esting comparison between the of his [Reagan’s] personality.” type even from famous individu- reaction to Morris’s biography Weems also inserted himself into als. The temptation for the biog- of a popular American Presi- Washington’s life and invented rapher is to then fictionalize the whole episodes, most famously account. dent and that to Mason Locke the cherry tree story. A critic in A way to avoid the problem is Weems’s early-nineteenth-century 1810 wondered whether to char- to make the case that the public biography, The Life of George acterize the work as a biography life is what matters. Richard or a novel. Brookhiser’s 1996 biography of Washington; with curious anec- Both Morris and Weems George Washington, Founding dotes, equally honorable to him- directed their books to a popu- Father, makes that case. Brook- self, and exemplary to his young lar audience (although Morris hiser argues persuasively that countrymen (Philadelphia, 1808). also aimed to win over literary Washington had a central role critics). While Weems created in the early republic. As com- Washington as a hero to inspire mander-in-chief of the army young Americans, Morris’s char- during the Revolution, president acterization of Reagan is more of the Constitutional Conven- ambivalent, perhaps a reflection tion, and our first President, of our current inability to believe Washington was pivotal in found- in heroes. Both authors, how- ing the republic. His public ever, share the viewpoint that actions and pronouncements do has become quite dominant in reveal his character and his recent decades, that the private beliefs. Washington, as Brook- life is more revealing and more hiser and almost all of those important than the public life. who have written about Wash- Weems believed that a man’s ington have noted, did not make character was revealed only the biographer’s work easy. He away from public view. He did was not a modern man in that not scrutinize Washington’s pri- he did not seek to display his vate life to find faults or even feelings and emotions; instead, minor foibles that would make he worked hard to establish a him more accessible and human certain distance from his con- to the ordinary reader, however, temporaries. Told by the wife of but used it as a way to display the British ambassador during Mason Locke Weems by an (and create) a hero for a repub- his second term as President that unidentified artist, circa 1810; gift lican nation, very much along she could tell his feelings by the of the Weems family the lines that Benjamin Frank- expression on his face, Washing-

6 Then & Now NPG Partnership Announced

ton insisted that she was wrong, poraries): If you fail with all Portrait Gallery director that “my countenance never yet these blessings, it will be your Marc Pachter announced betrayed my feelings.” And yet own fault. Washington knew that the museum will under- his public statements, such as his that man failed often enough, take a new series of public first Farewell Address and his Cir- which is why he concluded his programs and educational cular to the States, reveal deeply address with the stern admoni- outreach to be known as held beliefs regarding God, man, tion, so alien to our ears, of “NPG Around Town.” He liberty, and responsibility—ide- a patriarch. When Washington’s made this announcement als of critical importance to the important public actions and at the grand opening of a founding of the republic. The expressions are placed in the con- new Barnes & Noble store, Address is a single paragraph of text of the considerable archive located a few blocks from three sentences. Washington first that we possess of his life, we the Gallery at 555 12th sets out in two long sentences obtain perhaps as complete a Street, NW. This down- the glory of America at its onset: picture as possible of the man town store will be the first vast lands and resources, enlight- without resorting to imagination. commercial partner in the ened times and progress in the The biographer is even able to program. The Gallery plans arts and sciences, and a free use certain information from his to work with a number of and liberal government, all “des- subject’s private life that does organizations throughout ignated by Providence” for a have an important bearing on his the city to cohost programs blessed people. He concludes public actions (e.g., Washington such as lectures, perfor- with a short third sentence, was an extremely good horse- mances, interviews, book which strikingly evinces strong back rider). Brookhiser’s incisive signings, and family pro- convictions regarding behavior analysis of Washington’s char- grams. “We have the oppor- and responsibility: “At this aus- acter reminds us that there is, tunity to connect with the picious period, the United States certainly for many famous fig- citizens of the region to came into existence as a Nation, ures, sufficient material available cultivate relationships and and if their Citizens should not to write biography and history provide educational pro- be completely free and happy, without resorting to fiction. gramming—this will be the the fault will be intirely [sic] first of many innovative their own.” It was, as Brook- Further reading: Scott E. Casper, “Going Dutch,” Common-Place.org. 1, no. 1 and exciting community hiser notes, a blunt warning to (September 2000); Richard Brookhiser, connections for the Portrait his countrymen (startling to us, Founding Father: Rediscovering George Gallery,” said Pachter. but not to Washington’s contem- Washington (New York, 1996). The initial partnership includes an ongoing series of programs in the store’s seventy-five-seat public space, portrait repro- ductions throughout the store, and Gallery mer- chandise and books to be sold in a special gift area. Partnerships are also being explored with MCI National Sports Gallery, the Arts Club of Washing- ton, the Shakespeare The- atre, DC Public Libraries, and the Duke Ellington School of the Arts.

Ronald Reagan by Aaron Shikler, George Washington by Valentine 1980; gift of Time magazine Green, circa 1785

Then & Now 7 Appearances Are Deceiving: Henry James

David C. Ward A brilliant guide to James’s life and work is Senior Associate Editor, Peale Family Papers Leon Edel’s magnificentHenry James: A Life, origi- Which American novelist wrote, “Live all you can; nally published in four volumes and now usefully it’s a mistake not to. It doesn’t so much matter condensed into one (New York: Harper and Row, what you do in particular so long as you have your 1985). One of the reasons for literary biography is life. If you haven’t had that what have you had?”: that no one, aside from scholars, really believes in (a) Ernest Hemingway (b) Henry James (c) Erica formalist analysis. The work of literary or pictorial Jong (d) Thomas Wolfe? Despite (a), (c), and (d)’s art is never entirely self-referential, but a complex well-known narcissisms, it was in fact Henry James intersection of history and biography. So the deep who, despite his stereotyped reputation as a Brah- writings of James require the mining of a biogra- min stuffed shirt, wrote this paean to individual pher like Edel to chart the life of the mind and the self-fulfillment. James’s bejeweled and difficult style expression of that mind on the page. In a dot-com makes it easy to typecast him as the intellectual world in which speed substitutes for depth, Edel’s mandarin par excellence, a writer whose only inter- James reminds us of the pleasures of complexity. est is the workings of a small coterie of the trans- Moreover, it reminds us, in our post-postmodernist atlantic rich—a writer easily dismissed, by those daze, that biography has a subject and that subject who have not read him, as precious. In fact, James’s is not the biographer. writings consistently grapple with the great Ameri- The National Portrait Gallery has two small por- can theme of the tension between what the histo- traits of James by Ellen Emmet Rand. They depict rian John Higham has called “boundlessness and James in his familiar pose of bluff imperviousness. consolidation,” manifested by the continual con- But the story has a deliciously Jamesian kicker, one flict between individual self-assertion and the con- that reminds us of his central lesson: the world is straints of an indifferent or hostile society. James deeply layered, and our ability to perceive (let alone raises the stakes by adding a third dimension to this comprehend) that world is necessarily limited. Leon conflict. He never stacks the deck, as a second-rate Edel acquired the portrait (mark the singular!) of novelist would, by making “society” and its repre- James, but when he unframed it, he discovered a sentatives into a straw man easily defeated by his second portrait hidden underneath. (The “second” hero or heroine. James’s deeply textured, not to say portrait shows a looser, more relaxed, less formal labyrinthian, style derives from his artistic sense of James, which may be the reason why it was hidden.) the deep structures on which societies are based and Can there have been a more apposite image for how those structures control or influence human the biographer than finding that hidden James? actions. In the plaintive note to live one’s life is the Yet could there be still another mysterious—James- foreknowledge that such efforts are always likely to ian—layer to the story? James had owned the por- end in disappointment or tragedy. The accretions of trait, which was painted by his cousin during the the past are always present in James, and it is no summer of 1900, while he was writing The Ambas- surprise that he was a master at ghost stories and sadors, the source for the opening quotation. Did psychological suspense, in which a haunting from James layer them himself, hiding one James from the past becomes immanent. another, leaving a mystery for posterity to solve?

Leon Edel by Louis Henry James by Ellen Henry James by Ellen Muhlstock, 1931 Emmet Rand, 1900 Emmet Rand, 1900 All three portraits are the gift of Marjorie Edel in memory of Leon Edel.

8 Biography & Biographers CURATOR’S CHOICE George Washington Oil on canvas by Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828), 1796; owned jointly with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Ellen G. Miles yield a sense of the man himself. Washington’s dia- Curator of Painting and Sculpture ries and letters are more revealing. A close look at While walking through the National Portrait Gal- Stuart’s work makes one very alert to his way of lery before it closed last January, I often found delineating a face: his use of broad brushes of color, myself face to face with George Washington—that is, touched with details in light brown, and his place- Washington in Gilbert Stuart’s remarkable second ment of these colors side by side—whites, ivories, life study, known as the Athe- pinks next to each other, or to naeum portrait. When Wash- darker hues of red or brown. ington was painted by Stuart Stuart learned to paint in Eng- in Philadelphia in 1796, he land and brought back to was sixty-four and nearing the United States the manner the end of his second term of painting favored by late of office as President. He eighteenth-century British por- had been painted numerous traitists. Consequently, he did times before. Other artists not blend his colors as much had rendered his broad fore- as many of his American con- head, blue eyes, Roman nose, temporaries did. The portraits thin mouth, and tapered chin were meant to be viewed at with enough variety to make some distance, and they main- one unsure of exactly what tained a liveliness precisely Washington really looked like. because the brushwork was While many of these images not smoothly blended. are memorable, Stuart’s Stuart painted many addi- second life portrait (he tional portraits of Washing- painted an earlier one in 1795) ton by copying this life has become the best known. portrait, promising that he Much admired by Washing- would deliver the original ton’s contemporaries and in the nineteenth century, when he had completed it. In fact, according to when it was first reproduced on American cur- some of his contemporaries, the sittings for the por- rency, this portrait has had wider circulation more trait had been arranged with the understanding that recently. In 1932 more than a million color repro- the painting would eventually go to Mount Vernon. ductions of it were distributed as part of the bicen- Even after Washington’s death in 1799, Stuart failed tennial celebrations of Washington’s birth. Recently to deliver the painting. He also kept the incomplete the engraved image, which appears in reverse on life study of Martha Washington, painted at the the one-dollar bill, has become more familiar as the same time. The two portraits remained in Stuart’s animated Washington in television advertisements studio and were acquired by the Boston Athenaeum for the new one-dollar coin. after the artist’s death in 1828. The National Por- The life portrait itself was left unfinished. Only trait Gallery and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the head, with its powdered hair, and the sugges- purchased them jointly from the Athenaeum in tions of white shirt and black coat are completed. 1980, and the paintings alternate between the muse- Around the head is an area of dark color, which ums every three years. Thus, one purpose of star- provided a contrast to the lighter tones of the face ing closely at the portrait was to store away in my and hair during the actual painting process. This memory its brushstrokes and colors as a visual refer- area would have been completed later as part of ence for use during the period when the portraits the background, had Stuart finished the portrait. would be on view in Boston rather than in Wash- But he realized the value of keeping the life image ington. This closer look also put me temporarily in as fresh as possible. What mattered was the face, the role of the artist as he painted Washington, and revealing—it was believed—the character and per- therefore in the ersatz presence of the President. sonality of the sitter; the rest of the portrait could Further reading: Ellen G. Miles, George and Martha Wash- be painted from the imagination. ington: Portraits from the Presidential Years (Charlottes- Staring at Washington’s portrait doesn’t always ville, Va., 1999).

Curator’s Choice 9 NPG Hosts Panel with Roger Mudd on Presidential Campaigning

On October 5, two days after Al Gore and George ported by the Paul Peck Fund for Presidential W. Bush had their first televised debate of last Studies. Both Paul and Suzanne Peck were able to fall’s presidential campaign, the National Portrait join us for the event. Gallery made its own contribution to election The hour-long discussion, before a capacity year 2000. The occasion was the opening of the audience of more than six hundred people, covered Gallery’s traveling exhibition of presidential por- an array of topics, from the influence of political traits at the George Bush Presidential Library and commercials to the value of televised debates and Museum on the campus of Texas A&M Univer- the significance of vice-presidential candidates. As sity. To mark the event, the Gallery assembled the panelists’ focus moved back and forth between a panel of commentators to offer their thoughts campaigns past and present, the truth of the adage, on the state of presidential electioneering—both “The more things change, the more they are the past and present. Moderated by the award-win- same,” became readily apparent. “Spin doctor,” ning television newsman Roger Mudd, one of the for example, may be a relatively new term, but Gallery’s commissioners, the group consisted of as Remini pointed out, the spin doctors’ presence former adviser Michael Deaver, in presidential elections dates back to the days of political journalist and author Haynes Johnson, Andrew Jackson. And for that matter, so does dig- and nineteenth-century historian and biographer ging up old dirt in the name of casting doubt on a Robert Remini. The panel was generously sup- candidate’s worthiness. Eagle Photo by Butch Ireland, Ireland, Butch by Photo Bryan the of courtesy Haynes Johnson and Roger Mudd enjoy a light moment during the panel discussion at the Bush Library. “Portraits of the Presidents”gets national attention

Because this is the first time that country, including “CBS Sunday a larger-than-life black-and-white the Gallery’s presidential collec- Morning.” Attendance at the profile of President Clinton by tion has left Washington, pub- George Bush Presidential Library Chuck Close. An audio guide, licity surrounding the “Portraits and Museum has doubled since narrated by National Public of the Presidents” exhibition was the show opened there. Radio’s Scott Simon and includ- extensive. Packing of the sixty- The portraits in the exhibition ing presidential speeches and one portraits proved to be of par- range from an Indian peace medal interviews with presidential por- ticular interest and was broadcast of , to a life traitists, was produced to accom- by television stations around the mask of Abraham Lincoln, to pany the exhibition.

10 NPG News HARD HAT NEWS The First Steps Toward Renovation

Kristin Gray handrails, cast-iron stairways, Hartman-Cox Architects decorative chandeliers, sconces When the occupants and art col- and other light fixtures, marble lections move out of the Old floor tiles, and the hand-made Patent Office Building, the first clay tile floor of the Great Hall. phase of the renovation will begin, The Smithsonian requires a rig- consisting of the demolition and orous screening procedure to removal of all mechanical, electri- ensure that the contractor chosen cal, telecommunications, plumb- for “salvage and storage” work ing, security, fire alarm and fire is qualified in the areas of historic protection systems, as well as preservation, historic masonry elevators and lifts. Most of the removal and installation, historic building systems have been in handmade tile removal, and his- place for thirty-five years and toric glass removal. are obsolete. Selective demolition The contractor’s work is strictly of structural and architectural In 1964, ducts were installed in wall controlled by the construction work is required to complete the chases in the Lincoln Gallery. The documents, to ensure the protec- removal of the building systems. same chases will be reopened and tion of the entire building during reused for new ductwork. Care will The floors will be removed to be taken to open the wall chases the the demolition phase. Specific access concealed trenches, which minimum amount required. guidelines govern every aspect carry piping, ductwork, and elec- of the contractor’s actions, from trical conduit. The walls will be parking, materials storage, and cut open to remove ductwork job-site safety plans, to meticu- and conduit, and the ceilings lous photo- and video-documen- will be cut to remove conduit tation and protection of building and lighting components. Origi- features that will remain in place nal and historic materials, such during demolition. as the marble floors of the south In 1964, a similar building- wing, will be repaired, cleaned, wide renovation occurred. Con- and stored for reinstallation. tractors removed obsolete sys- Because the building and its tems and installed new ones. contents are considered cultural The photographs here show the resources, they are protected walls, ceilings, and floors cut under the National Historic Pres- open for the removal of pipes, ervation Act and the Smithson- ductwork, and electrical conduit. ian Institution Policy on Historic The work slated to begin in 2001 Preservation. The building is entails the removal of those now- obsolete building systems. When a designated National Historic Wall chases exist between every Landmark property and is listed other window in the building. Radi- the demolition phase is com- on the National Register of ators were removed from under plete, all of the floors, walls, and Historic Places. Because of the these windows in 1964. Today, the ceilings will have been prepared immense historic and cultural fan coil units put in the place of for the next phase of work: value of the Old Patent Office the radiators will be removed. The the installation of new systems. spaces left under the windows will Building, “salvage and storage” be used for electrical junction boxes At the completion of the entire is a large part of this project. and covered with sills, the details of renovation project, the interi- Many historic elements will be which will match the wood panel- ors will be repaired and refur- removed from their locations in ing and trim details in the rest of the bished, leaving the architecture the building, repaired or recon- room. The wall chases will carry a unspoiled, yet also leaving the new air distribution system that will ditioned, and stored until they maintain today’s higher standards building with state-of-the-art sys- can be reinstalled. Historic items of temperature and humidity for art tems that will last for the next include cast-iron and bronze collections. thirty to fifty years.

Hard Hat News 11 & On Writing Biography An interview with distinguished scholar , Q Martin Luther King Jr. University Professor at Rutgers University and a commissioner of the National Portrait Gallery, by Carolyn Kinder Carr, deputy director and chief curator.

Carolyn Carr: What prompted you to write a biography of William Edward Burghardt Du Bois?

David Levering Lewis: Several decades ago, while writing When Harlem Was in Vogue, I became aware of the letters, essays, and memorabilia of Du Bois (1868–1963). He wrote elegantly and elo- quently, and his work touched on numerous streams in American political and cultural life. Intuitively, I knew that there was a story there. As I became increasingly interested in him, I quickly discov- ered that little work had been done on his life. Two academic biog-

©Frank Stewart ©Frank raphies existed, but these contained incomplete information, as the authors did not have access to Du Bois’s papers. Herbert Aptheker, In October 1993 David Levering a leading Communist historian as well as the guardian of Du Bois’s Lewis published W. E. B. Du Bois: papers, had compiled both his published and unpublished essays and addresses, but this work, while important to the history of Du Bois’s Biography of a Race, 1868–1919. intellectual and ideological development, still left his life relatively It subsequently won the 1994 unexamined. I was fortunate that in 1973 the second Mrs. Du Bois, for biography and Shirley Graham-Du Bois, sold his papers to the University of Mas- was a sachusetts at Amherst. When they were finally catalogued in 1983, I was the first in line to use them. I think other scholars interested in finalist. The second volume of this area of American history were unaware that they had become Professor Lewis’s analysis of the available. life of this eminent African Amer- Beginning about 1985 and for the next two years, I installed myself in the Berkshires during holidays and summers, examining ican, W. E. B. Du Bois: The more than 120,000 items in the Du Bois papers. I was not disap- Fight for Equality and the Amer- pointed with what I discovered. Every box was loaded with some- ican Century, 1919–1963, was thing interesting. When I began to write in 1990, I initially envisioned published in October 2000. a single volume, but the wealth of material seemed to warrant a two- part series.

Carr: How did you manage this rich resource of information?

Lewis: While working in the Du Bois collection and in the various other libraries that had papers related to him, I made notebooks of the major documents I wished to reference. In all, I assembled twenty-six notebooks of about two hundred pages each, arranged chronologically. I then created a master list to follow as I developed my narrative in both volumes. I finished volume one [nearly six hundred pages, plus notes] in about eighteen months. As every writer knows, when you write, you sit for a long time. You resist the temptation to go outside. Self- imposed solitude is the trick. The second volume took longer—there seemed to be more academic interruptions and responsibilities. I began working on it in 1995, but I did not finish it until spring of 2000. I write in longhand; I consider the computer a television set with a keyboard.

Carr: Was there a difference in your approach to Du Bois’s life between volume one and volume two?

12 Interview Lewis: In the second volume, the civil rights movement was Carr: What did you learn about there were far more things to getting into high gear. your subject that you had not think about from the point anticipated? of view of the biographer—far Carr: In addition to the written more traps. Some of the posi- documents, you also undertook Lewis: In the beginning, I did not tions that Du Bois took will be numerous interviews for both fully appreciate what an extraor- a mystery to many. Beginning in volumes. dinary figure Du Bois was. I was the 1930s, he assumed increas- also taken with the exactitude ingly leftist views, and in the end, Lewis: Yes, I have approximately with which he organized his life. he became a strong champion two hundred transcribed inter- He got up in the morning, had a of Communism. He was not views. Many of my interviews cup of coffee and a cigarette, and only profoundly critical of Amer- for volume two focused on what then began his correspondence. ica, but he frequently spoke remained of the genuine left About mid-morning, he began up in favor of totalitarianism. wing. I also interviewed many to write his public pieces. He Ultimately, the United States of the women whom Du Bois had his lunch and then resumed revoked his passport, and he knew rather intimately. Du Bois writing for an hour or two. lived his final years in Ghana. I was a proper Victorian moralist, He then read fiction until 5:00 felt a strong need to place his and with his first wife, he cer- p.m., at which time he stopped views in context—to do more tainly kept up the appearance of for dinner and entertainment. than just let him speak for him- a proper married man. But he About 9:00 p.m., he had a cig- self, as I had more or less done enjoyed the company of bright, arette and a brandy. He never in volume one. I also felt the capable, assertive women. went to bed later than 10:00 need to quote extensively from One of the things that I p.m. He mapped out on a scroll others to show that there was noticed with the interviews were what he was going to do for the an intense dialogue in the Afri- the gender discrepancies in the next month, and he stuck to his can American community, and responses. Women were much program absolutely. It was a per- that not all African Americans more likely to speak kindly of formance to behold. agreed with his positions regard- him, often in glowing terms. I In many ways, the older Du ing issues such as the sources think, in part, this is because Bois became, the more alert, and solutions for racial conflict he so openly admired their versatile, and alive he was. At and racial equality in America. intellectual abilities and profes- ninety, as soon as he reached It is ironic, of course, that this sional accomplishments. Men Ghana, he wrote an apprecia- man, who had so early and often were much more critical and tion of the country. It was only championed justice for African some were openly hostile. He his surgery in 1962 that finally Americans, left America just as could be a difficult man. slowed him down.

W. E. B. Du Bois by Laura Wheeler W. E. B. Du Bois by Addison N. W. E. B. Du Bois by Winold Reiss, Waring, not dated; gift of Walter Scurlock, circa 1910–1915 1925; gift of Lawrence A. Fleisch- Waring in memory of his wife, man and Howard Garfinkle, with a Laura Wheeler Waring, through the matching grant from the National Harmon Foundation Endowment for the Arts

Interview 13 Exhibition Opens at New Women’s Museum

In 1996, Cathy Bonner, presi- History,” “Funny Women,” dent of the board of the Foun- and “Sports and Adventure.” dation for Women’s Resources, As a member of the Smith- began discussing the possi- sonian Affiliation Program, bility of creating a museum the Women’s Museum was where the stories of Amer- able to draw extensively on ican women could be told the collections of the Institu- “in their voices, through their tion. When Bonner and her eyes.” Four years later—an staff learned about the clos- unprecedented speed in the ing of the National Portrait museum world—The Wom- Gallery building for renova- en’s Museum: An Institute for The Dallas Women’s Museum at night tion, the possibility of creat- the Future, a comprehensive national institution ded- ing an exhibition drawn from our collection came icated to the accomplishments of American women, to mind. Many of the Gallery’s portraits of women opened its doors. were destined for storage, and we were delighted Located in a restored 1910 Art Deco building at the opportunity to have them exhibited instead. in Dallas’s Fair Park, this state-of-the-art interactive In July, fifty works of art—including life-sized por- facility fits perfectly into that theme. Through the traits of Ethel Merman and Marian Anderson, as use of computers, cellular-phone audio guides, multi- well as bronze busts of Susan B. Anthony and screen high-definition televisions, and cyberspace Rosa Parks—were shipped to Texas. “Notable connections, the stories of more than three thousand Women from the National Portrait Gallery” thus women are told in such exhibitions as “Leaders and became part of the inaugural exhibitions of the Innovators in Business and Technology,” “Mothers new museum. It will remain there for the next of Invention,” “Milestones in American Women’s three years. 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, “Indian Peace Medals from the prints, drawings, and photo- Arlington, Texas Schermer Collection, National graphs of important Virginians, Legends of the Game Museum* Portrait Gallery.” This collection including Arthur Ashe, Henry Twelve works, including a water- of eighteen U.S. peace medals and “Light-Horse Harry” Lee, Ella color of Vida Blue, a casein paint- one British medal, along with a Fitzgerald, Robert E. Lee, and ing of Mickey Mantle and Roger rare volume of Thomas McKen- Martha Washington are on view Maris, and a polychromed bronze ney and James Hall’s book The through January 2003. of Casey Stengel, will remain on History of the Indian Tribes of view until January 2003. North America, will be on dis- Washington, D.C. play from January 26 through MCI National Sports Gallery June 3, 2001. This exhibition is Photographic images of seven- made possible through the gen- teen “Champions of American erous gift of Betty and Lloyd Sport,” including such noted fig- Schermer. ures as Jack Dempsey, Althea Naples, Florida Gibson, Jackie Robinson, Doro- Philharmonic Center thy Hamill, “Babe” Didrikson, for the Arts and Jackie Joyner-Kersee, among “Hans Namuth: Portraits.” The other athletes from football, base- first full exploration of Namuth’s ball, hockey, track, swimming, life and work, seventy-five photo- tennis, racing, and boxing will be graphs will be on view through installed in late January 2001. January 14, 2001. The exhibition

will travel to France in the fall. Foundation Model ©Lisette *Smithsonian Affiliate Museum Ella Fitzgerald by Lisette Model

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

Portraits of the Presidents A Brush with History George Bush Presidential North Carolina Museum of North Carolina Museum of Library and Museum, History, Raleigh History, Raleigh College Station, Texas June 21–Sept. 15, 2002 Jan. 27–April 8, 2001 Oct. 6, 2000–Jan. 15, 2001 Virginia Historical Society, Tennessee State Museum, Harry S. Truman Library Richmond Nashville Independence, Missouri Oct. 18, 2002–Jan. 12, 2003 May 4–July 1, 2001 March 1–May 20, 2001 The National Museum of Gerald R. Ford Modern American Western Art, Tokyo, Japan Presidential Museum, Portrait Drawings Aug. 6–Oct. 14, 2001 Grand Rapids, Michigan Amon Carter Museum, June 22–Sept. 23, 2001 The Speed Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas Louisville, Kentucky May 25–Aug. 25, 2002 Ronald Reagan Presidential Nov. 20, 2001–Jan. 27, 2002 Library and Museum, Elmhurst Art Museum, Illinois Montgomery Museum of Simi Valley, California Oct. 4, 2002–Jan. 5, 2003 Fine Arts, Alabama Oct. 26, 2001–Jan. 21, 2002 Feb. 23–May 5, 2002 Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Women of Our Time New Orleans Museum of Art, Memphis, Tennessee Louisiana Old State House, Feb. 22–May 19, 2002 May 31–Aug. 11, 2002 Hartford, Connecticut Sept. 13–Nov. 11, 2002 National Portrait Gallery, London, England For information on available bookings, contact the Oct. 4, 2002–Jan. 5, 2003 Office of Exhibitions at (202) 357-2688, or fax: (202) 357-2790. Useful Contacts Visit www.npg.si.edu today! We are tentatively scheduled to move to our new location in the Victor Building in the spring. New contact information will be posted on our Web site and in Profile. CAP and Library Open Office of Conservation Office of Publications Researchers are still welcome. Go to the Conservation consultations are available To order an NPG publication, contact the 9th and G Street staff garage entrance. An Thursdays, 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m., by National Museum of American History’s officer will issue a visitor’s pass and call a appointment only. For painting and Shop. staff member to escort you to the proper sculpture ask for CindyLou Molnar; for office. Appointments are not necessary. art on paper and photographs ask for Phone: (202) 357-1527 Rosemary Fallon or Emily Jacobson. Web: www.npg.si.edu and Catalog of American Portraits Phone: (202) 357-2685 click on Information Phone: (202) 357-2578 Web: www.npg.si.edu and Office of Education click on Search For information about school and E-mail: [email protected] community programs, teacher resources, internships, and upcoming events: Library Phone: (202) 357-2920 Phone: (202) 357-1886 Web: www.npg.si.edu and Web: www.siris.si.edu click on Education (for the library’s catalog) E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Office of Rights and Reproductions Office of Development Chief Justice , author Phone: (202) 633-9004 Phone: (202) 357-2791 of the first scholarly biography E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.npg.si.edu of George Washington; by Albert /inf/r&r/index-intro.htm Newsam, 1831

Information 15 Portrait Puz z lers: Biographical Glitz: Lives Scripted in Hollywood Using these clues, can you connect names to these faces? Answers below.

1. 2. 3. 4.

You might say that my The story of my career After Disney Studios George C. Scott life inspired the most as a journalist and made a movie about refused a best actor inventive performance defender of the Russian me in 1995, some Oscar for playing me. of Mickey Rooney’s Revolution gave a big young visitors to the What a lot of blood film career. You could lift to Warren Beatty’s National Portrait and guts! say that my ingenuity reputation and ulti- Gallery had a hard led to the creation of mately won him an time believing that this

Hollywood. Oscar for best director. could be my portrait.

(1970). Patton in II War World of

Scott played this American general general American this played Scott . Family Patton the and Retired, USA Patton, S. George General Major of Gift (detail).

(1885–1945), oil on canvas by Boleslaw J. Czedekowski, 1945 1945 Czedekowski, J. Boleslaw by canvas on oil (1885–1945), Patton S. George 4. Virginia. Jamestown, at settler English

lery of Art; gift of Andrew W. Mellon. The daughter of a Powhatan chief, she eventually went to England as the wife of an an of wife the as England to went eventually she chief, Powhatan a of daughter The Mellon. W. Andrew of gift Art; of lery

(c. 1595–1617), oil on canvas by an unidentified artist, after 1616 (detail). Transfer from the National Gal- National the from Transfer (detail). 1616 after artist, unidentified an by canvas on oil 1595–1617), (c. Pocahontas 3.

(1981) and won an Oscar for also directing the film. film. the directing also for Oscar an won and (1981) Reds in him played Beatty (detail). 1916 circa MacDonald, Pirie by

(1887–1920), gelatin silver print print silver gelatin (1887–1920), Reed John 2. (1940). Edison Tom Young in picture, moving the things, other among of,

(1847–1931), oil on canvas by Abraham Anderson, circa 1890 (detail). Rooney played this inventor inventor this played Rooney (detail). 1890 circa Anderson, Abraham by canvas on oil (1847–1931), Edison Thomas 1.

Support the National Portrait Gallery through its Membership Program!

The Fund for the New Century: Gifts of $100 to $1,000 Director’s Circle: Gifts of $1,000 or more For a brochure or more information on member benefits, call (202) 633-9004 or e-mail [email protected].

Bulk Rate Postage & Fees Paid Smithsonian Institution G-94 Washington DC 20560-0213 Official Business Penalty for Private Use $300

Return Service Requested