Spotted: Painting by Alma Thomas on Display in White House Office of Vice President Kamala Harris
Vice President Kamala Harris holds an on-phone and in-person meeting in preparation for her trip to Singapore Wednesday, August 4, 2021, in her West Wing Office of the White House with “White Daisies Rhapsody” (1973) by Alma Thomas hanging in the background. | Official White House Photo by Erin Scott WHITE DAISIES RHAPSODY (1973)...
National Portrait Gallery Unveiled Oprah Winfrey Portrait, Media Mogul Marvels at Being ‘Alongside All the Greats’
Washington, D.C., Dec. 13, 2023: Artist Shawn Michael Warren and Oprah Winfrey pose with his portrait of her during the official unveiling ceremony at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. | Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery WHEN OPRAH WINFREY is involved, amazing things tend to happen. Everybody gets a car,...
Honolulu Museum of Art Acquired 55 Works From Robert and Jean Steele, More Than Doubling Representation of African American Artists in its Collection
RON ADAMS (American, 1934–2020), “Blackburn,” 2000 (lithograph). | Lawrence Lithography Workshop, Kansas City, Mo. Partial gift of Robert and Jean Steele; Partial purchase with funds from the John V. Levas Trust, 2023. (2023-06-01) ONE MASTER PRINTER paying homage to another, “Robert Blackburn” (2003) by Ron Adams pictures Blackburn pulling a figurative print from a...
Kerry James Marshall Donated Portrait of His Friend, Scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., to University of Cambridge
HENRY LOUIS GATES JR., is a towering figure in the field of African American history and literature. He is closely associated with Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., where he built his academic career and currently serves as Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. Gates also...
Highly Regarded Sculptor Simone Leigh is Going to Washington Where Central Themes of Her Practice Took Root
Simone Leigh at Stratton Sculpture Studios in Philadelphia, Pa., where she’s produced monumental works (2020). | Photo by Shaniqwa Jarvis, Courtesy ICA Boston The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., acquired a major sculpture by Simone Leigh and the artist will be in conversation at the museum this weekend WHEN SHE WAS...
Smithsonian’s African American Museum Acquired Ebony Magazine Test Kitchen, Adding Important Element of Black Culinary History to Collection
Installation view of the Ebony Test Kitchen, “African/American Making the Nation’s Table” exhibition, The Museum of Food and Drink in New York, N.Y., 2022. | © Museum of Food and Drink THE SMITHSONIAN’S VAST COLLECTION of art and cultural objects includes two famous kitchens. In 2001, the National Museum of American History acquired Julia...
Archive of James Van Der Zee, ‘One of the Nation’s Most Important Picture Makers,’ Headed to Metropolitan Museum of Art in Partnership With Studio Museum in Harlem
WEDDINGS, FUNERALS, PARADES, CHRISTMAS SCENES, and all manner of portraits. The photographs of James Van Der Zee (1886-1983) have come to define 20th century Harlem. His powerful pictures capture the beauty and pride of Black life, documenting everyday moments and special celebrations. His subjects were cosmopolitan Black families, artists, and political leaders—Adam Clayton Powell...
Overlooked: The Smithsonian Acquired a Portrait of Henrietta Lacks, the Latest Effort to Recognize Her Legacy in Medical Science
KADIR NELSON, “Henrietta Lacks (HeLa): The Mother of Modern Medicine,” 2017 (oil on linen). | Collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift from Kadir Nelson and the JKBN Group LLC CERVICAL CANCER CLAIMED THE LIFE of Henrietta Lacks (1920-1951), an African American woman who...
