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New & Upcoming Exhibitions
Exhibitions
New: From FDR to Obama: Presidents on Time
Upcoming: February 12, 2010 - September 6, 2010
Regardless of how newsworthy a person may be, there is no magic formula for getting one's picture on the cover of Time magazine, with one exception: the president of the United States. Founded in 1923, Time has put on its cover all incumbent presidents from Warren Harding to Barack Obama, with the exception of Herbert Hoover. Beginning with Franklin Roosevelt, this exhibition explores the modern presidency through the covers of America's oldest and most recognized weekly news magazine. The show includes approximately 30 works of presidential cover art, representing a variety of mediums, from traditional oil paintings to a pop-art sculpture bust of Richard Nixon made from strips of newspaper headlines.
New: The Struggle for Justice
Upcoming: February 12, 2010 - Permanent
This new permanent exhibition showcases major cultural and political figures -- from key 19th-century historical figures to contemporary leaders -- who struggled to achieve civil rights for disenfranchised or marginalized groups. On view are more than 40 photographs, paintings, posters, buttons, and sculptures, including portraits of Civil Rights leaders Frederick Douglass, Thurgood Marshall, and Martin Luther King Jr.; women's-rights advocates Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Betty Friedan; Native American activist Leonard Crow Dog; cultural icons Jackie Robinson and singer Marian Anderson; United Farm Workers organizer C‚sar Ch vez; gay and lesbian rights leaders, and Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

A video created exclusively for the exhibition and narrated by Soledad O'Brien is also featured.

New: One Life: Echoes of Elvis
January 8, 2010 - August 29, 2010
The One Life gallery within the museum is devoted to the exploration of the life of one individual.

This exhibition features Elvis Presley and celebrates the 75th anniversary of his birth. Although Elvis died more than 30 years ago, the world remains fascinated with his image and music. His records have continued to sell by the millions and public interest in his music, career, and life has yet to subside. During the last half century, Elvis became part of the artistic discourse as well. Early in Elvis's career, Andy Warhol illuminated the role he played in the new and youth-powered popular American culture; later, Ralph Wolfe Cowan, Red Grooms, and others created mythical, spiritual, and earthly images of the man whose legacy includes multiple superlative moments in music, entertainment, life, and afterlife. To this day, both the historical Elvis Presley and the fantasy-based vision of Elvis are the subject of poetry, literature, music, film, and the visual arts.

web Web: www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/elvis

New: Portraiture Now: Communities
November 6, 2009 - July 5, 2010
How do we define community today? Through new electronic networking, our connections are increasingly widespread; yet, we are still drawn to the idea of small communities and face-to-face interaction. Three artists -- Rose Frantzen, Jim Torok, and Rebecca Westcott -- explore the idea of community in portraits of friends, neighbors, or family. On view are portraits of people from Frantzen's hometown Maquoketa, Iowa, that were created over a 12-month period; Torok's meticulous small-scale panel portraits of fellow New York artists and a series documenting three generations of a single family; and full-length images of Westcott's peers, often Philadelphians in their 20s.

web Web: www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/communities

New: Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2009
October 23, 2009 - August 22, 2010
The National Portrait Gallery presents 49 of the finalists' works that were selected from the second triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. Dave Woody, winner of the competition, received the grand prize of $25,000 and an opportunity to create a portrait for the Portrait Gallery's permanent collection. The competition invited artists working in the figurative arts to submit portraits of people close to them. Submissions were accepted in all visual arts media, including film, video, and digital animation. Through January 18, 2010, the public can vote online or on-site for the artwork to receive the People's Choice Award.

Related catalogue: $13.95

web Web: www.portraitcompetition.si.edu

American Origins, 1600-1900
- Permanent
In 17 galleries and alcoves, this exhibition chronologically arranged starts from the days of contact between Native Americans and European explorers through the struggles of independence to the Gilded Age. Major figures from Pocahontas to Chief Joseph, Sam Adams to Henry Clay, and Nathaniel Hawthorne to Mark Twain are included. Three of the galleries are devoted to the Civil War, examining this conflict in depth. Complementing this section is a group of modern photographic prints produced from Mathew Brady's original negatives. Highlights from its daguerreotype collection -- the earliest practical form of photography -- also are on view.

web Web: www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/origins

Jo Davidson: Biographer in Bronze
- Permanent
On view are 14 bronze and terra-cotta portraits made by renowned American sculptor Jo Davidson between 1908 and 1946, including depictions of Gertrude Stein, Franklin D. Roosevelt, artist John Marin, and Lincoln Steffens.

web Web: www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/exjo.html

Lunder Conservation Center
- Permanent
The Lunder Conservation Center -- shared with the Smithsonian American Art Museum -- is the first facility that provides a unique opportunity for the public to view through glass walls conservators at work in several labs examining, treating, and preserving art.

web Web: americanart.si.edu/lunder/

Twentieth-Century Americans
- Permanent
Six galleries focus on 20th-century Americans:

3rd Floor, south side: Four galleries showcase the major cultural, scientific, and political figures of the 20th century. The exhibition also traces the unceasing struggle to achieve the American goal of justice for all from the reform movement of the first two decades to the social justice and civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s, and from World War I through the Persian Gulf War.

3rd Floor, mezzanines: Two additional exhibitions relating to the 20th century are featured:
BRAVO! showcases individuals who have brought the performing arts to life, beginning with P.T. Barnum, who raised the curtain on modern entertainment in the late 19th century and continuing to the present.
Champions showcases American sports figures whose impact has extended beyond the ring, the court, and the field to become a part of the larger story of the life and culture of our nation.
Note: A lively combination of portraits, artifacts, memorabilia, and videos enhances both exhibitions.

web Web: www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/ex20.html

Last update: January 29, 2010, 13:24

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