See Smithsonian's '1898' before it closes Sunday!

Queen Lili‘uokalani of Hawai'i (1838-1917) by William F. Cogswell, 1892. Loaned by Hawai'i State Archives.

It’s the 125th anniversary of the Spanish-American-Cuban-Philippine War and to celebrate the anniversary, the National Portrait Gallery has up a fantastic show, U.S. Imperial Visions and Revisions, of maps, periodicals, photographs, portraits (!), and more. 

The conflict is commonly referred to as the War of 1898 or the Spanish-American War.

Taina Caragol, one of the exhibition's curators, stands at the entrance to the "1898" exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, in front of the 1898 oil by Francisco Oller y Cestero (1833–1917) of President William McKinley (1843-1901). The map the president grasps is one of Puerto Rico (see below), one of the nations the U.S. seized from Spain. (From the collection of Dr. Eduardo Pérez and family.)By Patricia Leslie

In a detail of the portrait of President McKinley, the president holds a map of Puerto Rico, dated July 25, 1898, the day the U.S invaded the Spanish colony and became an “overseas empire,” according to the National Portrait Gallery/By Patricia Leslie

Curator Kate Clarke Lemay stands at the 1892 oil portrait by William F. Cogswell  of Queen Lili‘uokalani of Hawai'i (1838-1917), loaned by Hawai'i State Archives.The queen bought this portrait in 1892 and hung it at the ‘Iolani Palace.By Patricia Leslie

Queen Lili‘uokalani is pictured in 1908 in Washington, D.C. where she appeared before a U.S. House Committee requesting that her annual reparations from the U.S. for the taking of Hawai'i lands be increased to $200,000 (from $50,000). Request, denied.  This was taken at Harris & Ewing Studio. National Portrait Gallery, gift of Aileen Conkey.

Unidentified artist, 1901, from the collection of U.S. House of Representatives. Harper's Weekly honored the second inauguration of President William McKinley on March 4, 1901 with this special publication which featured on its four corners the lands involved in the conflicts of 1898: the Philippines, Cuba, “Porto Rico,” and “Hawaii,” (with the omission of Guam). 

Six months later, President McKinley became the third U.S. president to be assassinated.  (Can you name the other presidents who were assassinated?) 

 

Harriet Bradford Tiffany Stewart (1798-1830) with her husband Charles were missionaries who led the conversion in Hawai'i to Christianity. Their long influences in Hawai'i eventually led to the overthrow of the Hawai'i monarchy in 1893. This 1830 portrait is by an unidentified artist, owned by the National Portrait Gallery, given in honor of Stewart W. Bowers.

What looks like a frieze is actually a wooden metal fan with U.S. and Cuban flags and lithographs of U.S. military leaders like Theodore Roosevelt and William McKinley who were engaged in the Cuban campaign.  The fan is made of paper leaves in the shape of pansies which are lined with fabric and attached to wooden sticks. (The description says the word "pansy" in 1899 meant "a remarkable or outstanding person," an opposite meaning from its use today.)

Detail from the Conquerors of the Panama Canal (1913) by Jonas Lie (1880–1940) which depicts crews from the West Indies and other nations carving out rock and soil to build the Panama Canal. More than 5,600 died during construction (1904-1914). Until 1979 the United States treated the Panama Canal Zone as an unincorporated territory. On loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The ending of the Civil War (1861-1865) found the U.S. Navy with an inventory of only 72 ships. Between 1897 and 1898, the Navy quickly added 88 and then was ready to seize opportunities to conquer sea and land. Away the nation flew to Guam, Hawaiʻi, Puerto Rico and the Philippines plus ...

One of its new ships was the USS Maine which exploded and sank in the Havana Harbor on Feb. 15, 1898, killing about 260 U.S. sailors, and providing enough reason for the U.S. to go to war against Spanish-held Cuba and seize other Spanish colonies of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Phillipines.

That the explosion was likely caused by furnaces did not fit with the U.S.'s expansion plans which needed cause to attack.

The mast of the USS Maine, transported by the U.S. Navy to Arlington National Cemetery in March, 1912.  It lies on a granite base with the inscribed names of the sailors who died in the sinking. President Woodrow Wilson dedicated the memorial in a public ceremony on May 30, 1915/Arlington National Cemetery 

“Remember the Maine!” became a battle cry, hurled at the war's dissenters.

The Portrait Gallery's exhibition is large, filling several galleries with history about several nations and for certain, to tell you something you don't know. It's displayed in simple format and is available online in different languages.

 A hardcover catalogue is available. 272 pages, $49.95.  Free domestic shipping from the Smithsonian.

Major exhibition sponsors are the Mellon Foundation, Terra Foundation for American Art and the Miranda Family Fund.

What: 1898: U.S. Imperial Visions and Revisions

When: Now through February 25, 2024.  The National Portrait Gallery is open from daily from 11:30 a.m. - 7 p.m.

Where: Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, 8th and F streets, N. W., Washington, D.C. 20004

How much: No charge

For more information: 202-633-1000 or visit the web site

Metro station: Gallery Place-Chinatown or walk 10 minutes from Metro Center

patricialesli@gmail.com

 

 

 

Maya Lin's 'One Life' closes Sunday

Maya Lin, age about 4, who said later that "play," despite advice from a professor, has always been an important part of her life and work. From a photograph at the National Portrait Gallery exhibition.

Maya Lin  (b. 1959) was only 21 years old and an undergraduate student when her submission for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial  was chosen as the winning design from approximately 1,420 entries.

When the winner was announced, her design met considerable opposition and resistance. Former U.S. Senator James Webb of Virginia, himself a Vietnam veteran, called it "a nihilistic slab of stone"; President Ronald Reagan's secretary of the interior delayed issuing a building permit. 

Since its dedication in 1982, the memorial has become "something of a shrine," according to the founder, Jan Scruggs. 

The U.S. Department of Defense says more than five million people visit the memorial annually, making it the most popular monument on the National Mall ...  and the first monument there to be designed by a woman.

On two pieces of black granite, the names of 58,320 persons (the number is debatable) who are missing in action or died as a result of the Vietnam War are carved in chronological order of their deaths.

Closing Sunday at the National Portrait Gallery is a short celebration of Ms. Lin's life in an excellent exhibition, One Life:  Maya Lin.  

In 2016 President Barack Obama awarded Maya Lin the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S./by Chip Somodevilla (b. 1972)

In the Maya Lin gallery at the National Portrait Gallery/by Patricia Leslie

In the Maya Lin gallery at the National Portrait Gallery/by Patricia Leslie

Her life's story is shown in chronological order with family photos, personal items, three dimensional models, designs and pictures of other buildings she has accomplished since the memorial thrust her into the world's limelight which has never waned.

Dorothy Moss, the museum’s curator of painting and sculpture, curated the show.

Maya Lin's Langston Hughes Library in Clinton, Tennessee, from a photograph by Timothy Hursley (b. 1955), National Portrait Gallery

Maya Lin's Riggio-Lynch Interfaith Chapel, Clinton, Tennessee, from a photograph by Timothy Hursley (b. 1955), National Portrait Gallery

The introduction to Maya Lin at the National Portrait Gallery/by Patricia Leslie

The introduction to Maya Lin at the National Portrait Gallery/by Patricia Leslie

When Ms. Lin entered college, she wanted to be a zoologist. Part of her schooling took her to Denmark where she learned memorials could become community spaces. 

As a child she spent hours playing with her brother in the woods behind the family home in Ohio, nature's surroundings which continue to play a criticial role in her life and work as an environmentalist and climate change soldier.

This is the museum’s first One Life exhibition dedicated to an Asian American.

For photos from the memorial on Memorial Day 2014, go here. For a visit Ms. Lin made to the former Corcoran Gallery in 2009, go here.

What:  One Life:  Maya Lin

When: Closing April 16, 2023. The National Portrait Gallery is open daily from 11:30 a.m - 7 p.m. 

Where: Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, 8th and F streets, N. W., Washington, D.C. 20001

Admission: No fee

For more information: 202-633-8300 or visit the website

Closest Metro station: Gallery Place-Chinatown or walk 10 minutes from Metro Center

patricialesli@gmail.com

National Portrait Gallery director charms the Arts Club

Kim Sajet at the Arts Club, May 4, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The crowd may not have been as big as it was last month when the National Gallery of Art director came, but remarks by the director of the National Portrait Gallery Wednesday night at the Arts Club seemed deeper, more personal, and drew louder laughter. 

Kim Sajet with Dana Tai Soon Burgess at the Arts Club, May 4, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

"I'm fine with people coming in the museum and walking out more confused" than when they came in, said Kim Sajet, NPG director and the first woman to hold the position.

"We are a history museum as well as an art museum," she said, and "I'm just dangerous enough to know a little bit about a lot of things."

She continued: "I believe what museums do is important."

Many new museum directors discover they are "floating down the river" without staff support which takes some time to win over, but Dr. Sajet is proud of her staff.

The National Portrait Gallery is the only portrait gallery in the U.S. she reminded the audience, and it has tried "some crazy things," but the crazies seem to draw the biggest crowds.  

For three days the NPG hosted, more or less on a lark, an exhibition during the heyday of "Google glasses."  

"People lined up for hours to see it," Dr. Sajet said. 

"We've made mistakes; we've learned a lot." 

The Portrait Gallery "used to be non-threatening" with lots of "dead white guys.  What was not to love?" she asked.

NPG's mantra is to collect portraits of persons (until 2001, "really dead" persons, like for more than 10 years) who have made a great impact on American history and culture. 

Right now an artist is working on the Trump portraits, and the Gallery has 15 works under commission. 

The museum might approach a major contemporary artist, she said, and ask:  "Who would you want to do?" 

"I don't know why museums have to be so boring; you know, 'don't touch.'"

"I always tell the curators, you'll get brownie points if you can make someone cry."

"If you live here, you try to stay away from all these tourists, face it."

Competition on the National Mall for space is stiff with two new museums vying for land:  the  women's history museum and the U.S. Latino museum, and hold it!  There's a new kid coming to the block,  an Asian-American museum, Dr. Sajet said.

Answering a question from a member of the audience, she is "so grateful we are not on the Mall.  We are surrounded by fantastic restaurants" but on the Mall, it's nothing but a "food wasteland."

When she arrived in 2013, NPG attendance was one million; now attendance is 2.3 million.

"We may not have the largest attendance" among museums, "but we're the most revisited museum," she said. (Unclear if she meant museums in D.C. or the U.S., probably the former.) 

This year's Outwin Boochever competition which NPG holds once every three years, chose 42 finalists from  2,774 entries, Dr. Sajet said. The winner, Alison Elizabeth Taylor, received $25,000.

It's not easy determining who belongs in the collection.

Take Katy Perry, "a good example," Dr. Sajet said.

At the time Ms. Perry was selected for NPG inclusion, "she was the second highest performing artist after Michael Jackson. If Rosemary Clooney got in, why not Katy Perry?"

(Katy Perry has her own solo shot at NPG; Rosemary Clooney is pictured with 17 others.)

        Will Cotton (b. 1965) , Cupcake Katy, 2010, National Portrait Gallery

Philippe Halsman (1906-1979), Rodgers and Hammerstein, 1954, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Jane Halsman Bello, © Philippe Halsman Archive. Rosemary Clooney is pictured the second from left, back row.

When someone dies, "we put out their portrait"  like Aretha Franklin's (died August 16, 2018), when "the line was out the door the next day."

Visitors left purple flowers at Prince's portrait, ashes for Kobe Bryant on the museum's steps, and filled "two books" (of remembrances?) for John McCain.

"People want to be with other people" at these sad times. 

Answering an audience question, Dr. Sajet said NPG has about 40 digital portraits in its collection.

She was born in Nigeria to Dutch parents, holds citizenship in the Netherlands, and grew up in Australia. She loves reading and is probably one of those "readers for life." She's been in the U.S. 25 years.

"My mother is someone I've always admired." Dr. Sajet has a severely disabled brother.

As a youth, she "fell in love with the history of art." 

"A moment" she experienced at the Whitney Museum of American Art was when she saw a painting by Edward Hopper of an outdoor cafe with a sad clown which helped steer her life.

Edward Hopper, Soir Bleu, 1914, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Moderating her presentation was Dana Tai Soon Burgess, Arts Club member, choreographer-in-residence for the Smithsonian, and "poet laureate of national dance" (as identified by a club member).

From May 17 - 19, 2022, NPG will host his newest work, El Muro [The Wall], created by inspiration drawn from the Outwin-Boochever contest. It's 30 minutes of modern dance with 10 performers and live music by Martin Zarzar, formerly of Pink Martini. 

Free to see, but May 17 is "sold out."  Go here to reserve.

Patricialesli@gmail.com

First Ladies charm Gallery guests

The entrance to the exhibition, Every Eye is Upon Me at the National Portrait Gallery where Martha Washington welcomes visitors/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Robert Clark Templeton, Rosalynn Carter (b. 1927),  1976.  Mrs. Carter's focus on mental health began in 1970 when she was the first lady of Georgia and has never wavered since. When her husband, Jimmy Carter was president, Mrs. Carter attended cabinet meetings so she could be better informed to answer questions in her role as honorary chairwoman of the President's Commission on Mental Health. After the Carters left the White House in 1981, they invested muscle, hours, and money to humanitarian efforts like Habitat for Humanity, the largest non-profit builder in the world which has helped 29 million persons move in or rehabilitate homes/Collection of the National Portrait Gallery, donated by Mark, Kevin, and Tim Templeton, sons of the artist

I hope the paintings of the ladies are still up when the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery re-opens to showcase the aura and beauty of First Ladies of the United States in the enthralling exhibition, Every Eye Is Upon Me: First Ladies of the United States

In a large gallery of several rooms, the more than 60 portraits welcome visitors who mentally "ooohhh" and "awwww" at the elegance and refinement these ladies present.  Honestly, you walk away a more sophisticated person, having spent time in the halls with these women, admiring their achievements.  (You see what art can do!)

Charles Robert Leslie, Louisa Adams (1775-1852), 1816. Mrs. Adams was the wife of John Quincy Adams who served as President Madison's envoy to Russia in the court of Czar Alexander I. The couple lived in St. Petersburg for five years and a building there bears an historical marker denoting their place of residence. Her attire reflects the influence of her stay there.  

She was born in London where this sitting took place a year after her six-week journey from Russia to Paris, and she was educated in France. A woman of many talents, Mrs. Adams played the harp and wrote several autobiographical novels, including one about "gender inequality," titled Adventures of a Nobody,  according to the label. She preceded the feminist movement by150 years!/The portrait was loaned from the Diplomatic Reception Rooms, U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C.  

Francesco Anelli, Julia Tyler (1820-1889), 1846-48.  Julia Gardiner Tyler was born to a large slave-holding family in Long Island, and during the Civil War she urged her sons to fight for the Confederacy. 

When she married him in 1844, President John Tyler was a widower, and it took some coaxing for her to marry a man 30 years older than she was. She was the first woman to marry a president in the White House but her residency there lasted only eight months when her husband's term ended in 1845. 

On state occasions, the label notes,  she encouraged the playing of "Hail to the Chief," a legacy which continues to this day. After her husband died in 1862 and the Civil War ended, Mrs. Tyler,  needing financial help, successfully lobbied Congress for a pension which she received in 1880.  

Together the Taylors had seven children, and their grandson, Harrison Ruffin Tyler, is still living at age 91 in Virginia/Collection of The White House

George Peter Alexander Healy, Sarah Polk (1803-1891), 1846. Mrs. Polk served as what then would have been "chief of staff" for her husband, James K. Polk. She scheduled his appointments, managed his correspondence, and acted as his secretary. Likely because of bladder surgery, President Polk was not able to have children, and he and Mrs. Polk are the only presidential couple to never have children/Loaned from the James K. Polk Home and Museum, Columbia, Tennessee

Charles Fenderich, Angelica Van Buren (1818*-1877), reproduction of original, 1838-1841. Mrs. Van Buren was born in Wedgefield, S.C., likely at Melrose, a South Caroline plantation, where she grew up. On a visit to Washington, her cousin, Dolley Madison, introduced her to her future father-in-law, the widower, Martin Van Buren. Only eight months later Angelica married one of his four sons, Abraham, and her elegance and education led to her leadership as White House hostess, the youngest woman to hold the unofficial position. Mrs. Van Buren's family's ownership of slaves and her elegant lifestyle helped contribute to Martin Van Buren's defeat in 1840. (*One source says she was born in 1816.) From the collection of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.  

Unidentified artist, Abigail Adams (1744-1818), c. 1795.  When John Adams was president (1797-1801), Mrs. Adams suppressed her advocacy of women's rights, education, and the abolition of slavery/Collection of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, New York

Thomas Sully, Martha Jefferson Randolph (1772-1836), 1836.  According to the label copy, this was painted the year Mrs. Randolph died. She was Thomas Jefferson's oldest child and the wife of Thomas Randolph.  She helped maintain her widowed father's plantation, Monticello, where she was born/Loaned by Monticello, Charlottesville, VA 

M. L. Barlow, Martha Johnson Patterson (1828-1901), 1886, the daughter of President and Mrs. Andrew Johnson, served as White House hostess for her mother, Eliza Johnson (1810-1876), who did not participate in Washington life, mainly due to poor health/Courtesy of the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, Greeneville, Tennessee

Unidentified photographer, Eliza McCardle Johnson (1810-1876), 1865-1876.
The Johnsons met in Greenville, Tennessee, when they were teens and married when he was 18 and she was 16, the youngest first lady to get married. Andrew Johnson never attended school, and Mrs. Johnson taught her husband how to read/Courtesy of the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, Greeneville, Tennessee

Unidentified artist, Abigail Fillmore (1798-1853), 1840. A great reader and book collecter, Mrs. Fillmore kept her teaching job after marrying her husband, one of her former students. At the White House, she helped establish the reference library and invited notable authors to visit. After Millard Fillmore's presidency ended in 1853, Mrs. Fillmore lived only 26 days, dying of pneumonia at the Willard Hotel/Collection of the National Portrait Gallery

Unlike here, the exhibition is arranged chronologically, ending with contemporary first ladies, many still living:  Rosalynn Carter, Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, and Melania Trump. Apparel worn by Nancy Reagan, Michelle Obama, and Jacqueline Kennedy are displayed in a protective case at the end.

Whether it's Eliza Johnson who taught her husband how to read or Edith Wilson who renovated the White House or Pat Nixon who championed volunteers, you cannot help but be impressed by all, including the hated Mary Todd Lincoln.

Elizabeth Keckley made Mary Todd Lincoln's capelet, c.1861. Do you really think Mrs. Lincoln was as bad as all the books describe her? Everyone marvels about Abraham Lincoln, but I suppose his one really big mistake, to hear the biographers tell it, was his choice of Mary Todd Lincoln to be his lawfully wedded mate.
The turned portion of the capelet shows the name of the seamstress, a South Carolinian who was the daughter of a slave and a white man who was her mother's owner/Loaned from the National First Ladies' Library, Canton, Ohio

Cecilia Beaux, Edith Roosevelt (1861-1948),1902. The label says the artist was "one of the most prominent society portraitists of her generation," who painted Mrs. Roosevelt with her daughter, Ethel, here about age nine.  Mrs. Roosevelt was Teddy Roosevelt's second wife, his first, who died in childbirth the same day as his mother. The child born that day, Feb. 14, 1884, was the notable Alice Roosevelt who established her own reputation. Edith Roosevelt was the first first lady to hire a social secretary and she established the East Wing with offices for the first lady. She was active in Washington life, renovated the White House (which had been called the "Executive Mansion" prior to her arrival) and she is rumored to have influenced decisions to start the National Portrait Gallery. She and Eleanor Roosevelt were not great friends and campaigned for their husbands' political opponents. (See Wikipedia.)/Collection of Sarah Chapman  

Edward Steichen, Lou Hoover (1874-1944), 1928. Her wistful expression evokes that of her husband's administration. The label copy notes her wealthy background blinded her to the plight of lower-class and working women who did not have Mrs. Hoover's time to volunteer and churn out good works for the sake of society which her successor, Eleanor Roosevelt, promoted, earning nods from the public for her efforts. Mrs. Hoover's were the times that tried women's souls.

This was a 1928 photograph for Vogue, taken shortly before the Hoovers moved into the White House, marking the first time the magazine featured a first lady among its pages/Collection of the National Portrait Gallery, bequest of Edward Steichen 

The arrangement at the Portrait Gallery leaves plenty of viewing space for visitors who are not scrunched and squeezed to gaze upon the ladies and wonder how they managed.  With each portrait comes a short biographical sketch and there's a catalogue to go with the exhibition, First Ladies of the United States ($19.95).

This presentation is must viewing for girls and women of all ages, to give hope, inspiration, identity, and to provide a brief sense of American history. 

Martha Greta Kempton, Bess Truman (1885-1982), 1967. This portrait depicts Mrs.  Truman as happier and more glamorous than she was usually portrayed in photographs, a rather dowdy lady who I am sure was livelier than memory tells me. Her father's suicide when she was a teen perhaps explained her constantly sad expression.  She did not like living in Washington and participated in life here only when necessary, spending a lot of time back home in Independence, Missouri. Following Eleanor Roosevelt would have been a hard act for anyone/Collection of the White House

Elizabeth Shoumatoff,  Lady Bird Johnson  (1912-2007), 1968. From the label copy:  "Lady Bird Johnson is often associated with the 1965 Highway Beautification Act, an initiative that incorporated historic site preservation, natural resource conservation, and environmental protection. For her successful efforts, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1988." The artist captured Mrs. Johnson's grace and beauty, lovely and gracious as always. The National Portrait Gallery chose this portrait to welcome visitors at one of the exhibition's entrances/Collection of the White House

 Boris Chaliapin, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929–1994), 1960-61.  This portrait appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1961. Mrs. Kennedy's grace, charm and education commandeered many, including the leaders of France who, based on her efforts,  loaned the Mona Lisa to the United States. Her interest in historic preservation led to the birth of the White House Historical Association and the rescue from destruction of buildings on Lafayette Square and the Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House. Note the baby carriage on the balcony above, a symbol of the Kennedys' young family/Collection of the National Portrait Gallery, gift of Time magazine

Robert Vickrey, Pat Nixon (1912-1993), 1960.  This is my favorite of the whole show. The portrait was made for the Feb. 29, 1960 issue of Time magazine when her husband, the future President Richard M. Nixon, was running against John Kennedy in the 1960 campaign. (To me, It suggests the works of Edward Hopper and Chris Van Allsburg.)

Mrs. Nixon was a strong advocate of volunteerism. She invited single senior citizens and wounded servicemen to the White House for Thanksgiving and was the first first lady to issue a Thanksgiving proclamation.  At the White House, she added 600 paintings and antiques to the collection, the most of any administration, and she started the Map Room. At the time she was the most traveled first lady in history, earning the title of "Madame Ambassador" for her goodwill trips, including visiting 39 of 50 states during her husband's first term/Collection of the National Portrait Gallery, gift of Time magazine

There is some controversy about a likeness of President Zachary Taylor's wife, Margaret Taylor (1788-1852). Wikipedia says there are two, however, the Gallery said there were none to be found for the show. The picture above is one which family legend says the president carried with him. 

Before the White House,  Mrs. Taylor followed her husband around the country during his many military assignments which ranged from the Florida Everglades to Wisconsin. She lived in tents, cabins,  and forts which may have some bearing on her decision to spend time at the Willard Hotel for her husband's two inaugural balls, not particularly caring for Washington, D.C. life. (The Willard seems to have been a hideaway for several first ladies. ) 

White House hostess duties were assumed by the Taylors' daughter, Betty. Another daughter, Sarah, was the first wife of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, but Sarah lived only three months after their wedding in 1835 when the newlyweds both caught malaria.

Mrs. Taylor was not a total recluse, venturing out every morning for services at St. John's Episcopal Church at Lafayette Square (yes, the very same church which was the site of the famous Bible thumping on June 1, 2020)/Wikipedia/Created Jan. 1, 1852 

Clothes worn by Jacqueline Kennedy (far left), Michelle Obama (center), and Nancy Reagan embellish the First Ladies' exhibition/Photo by Patricia Leslie

This photograph of Nancy Reagan's formal wear does not come close to conveying the gown's glamour and elegance.  Must see to believe!/Photo by Patricia Leslie

And, of course, Michelle Obama's gown she wore for her portrait which hangs nearby/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Nancy Reagan's (left) and Michelle Obama's apparel at the First Ladies' exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. Jacqueline Kennedy's suit was so plain and unimpressive. unlike she was, that I received a big surprise upon examining my pictures at home where I discovered I had not even photographed it which is visible at far right/Photo by Patricia Leslie

I hope the works are still on display when the Gallery re-opens since it is scheduled to close May 23, 2021.  Maybe, we can hope for an extension?  I was lucky to see the exhibition twice in person before the Gallery shut its doors. 

 

Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, the National Portrait Gallery’s senior historian and director of history, research, and scholarly programs was the curator. .

Every Eye Is Upon Me: First Ladies of the United States is made possible through the support of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative, Morgan Stanley and the generosity of many other donors.

What: Every Eye Is Upon Me: First Ladies of the United States

When: Closing May 23, 2021. The National Portrait Gallery is open daily from 11:30 a.m - 7 p.m. but is closed now due to covid, however, you may see most of the exhibit virtually at the website.

Where: Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, 8th and F streets, N. W., Washington, D.C. 20001

Admission: None

For more information: 202-633-8300 or visit the website

Closest Metro station: Gallery Place-Chinatown or walk 10 minutes from Metro Center

patricialesli@gmail.com