What's On February—Presidential Family Fun Day, Art AfterWords, Curator Tours and more!

 

Presidential Family Fun Day

Saturday, Feb. 18 11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. Kogod Courtyard

Celebrate Presidents’ Day and all things presidential at the Portrait Gallery’s annual Presidential Family Fun Day!

This year we take a closer look at the nation’s sixteenth president with spotlight tours of "America's Presidents" and a newly installed portrait of Abraham Lincoln by W.F.K. Travers, on loan from the Hartley Dodge Foundation beginning Feb. 10. Created from life in 1865, the nine-foot-tall oil on canvas is one of three known, life-size paintings of the late president.

Visitors can also experience what it was like to shake hands with the former president with a new 3-D tactile reproductions of the plaster face masks and hand casts on view in "America's Presidents." With object information in braille and new audio content featuring guided descriptions and further historical insight, this display is geared toward visitors who are blind or have low vision but will be enjoyable to all.

Last but not least, enjoy crafts, music, games, and more with friends, family, and other visitors.
Free—Sold out.

 

Join Us in the Galleries!

Curator Tour of Kinship with Charlotte Ickes  
Sunday, Feb. 5
Noon–1:00 p.m.
Meet at the exhibition entrance near the F Street information desk

Join Charlotte Ickes, curator of time-based media art and special projects, for a discussion of the Portrait Gallery’s exhibition “Kinship”. The exhibition features the work of eight contemporary artists who illuminate the complexities of our closest interpersonal relationships through portraiture.

 

Art AfterWords: A Book Discussion
Thursday, Feb. 9
5:30​​–7:00 p.m.   
G Street Lobby

The Portrait Gallery and DC Public Library invite you to a robust conversation about gender, social movements, and protest music. Join us as we analyze a portrait of human rights activist and musician Odetta and discuss the related Smithsonian Folkways recording "Voices of the Civil Rights Movement: Black American Freedom Songs 1960–1966," by various artists. To learn more about accessing the recording, click here.
Free—Sold Out.

 

Writing Workshop Inspired by One Life: Maya Lin
Friday, Feb. 10
10:00​​ a.m.–noon   
G Street Lobby

In this creative writing workshop, we will draw inspiration from the “One Life: Maya Lin” exhibition, a survey of the architect, sculptor, and environmentalist’s life and work, to explore our own personal histories in connection with our families or chosen communities. The work will incorporate techniques focused on memoir writing and personal reflection. Open to writers of all levels, ages 18+.
Free– Sold Out.

 

Artist Talk: Alison Elizabeth Taylor
Sunday, Feb. 12
3:00​​–4:00 p.m.  
Meet at the east entrance to The Outwin 2022 (2nd Floor)

Join us for an artist talk with first-prize winner of the 2022 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, Alison Elizabeth Taylor. Introduced by Taína Caragol, curator of painting, sculpture & Latinx art and history, Taylor will discuss her winning portrait, “Anthony Cuts under the Williamsburg Bridge, Morning,” in “The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today." 
Free– Registration required.

 

Curator Tour of The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today  with Taína Caragol
Sunday, Feb. 26
3:00–4:00 p.m.  
Meet at the east entrance to The Outwin 2022 (2nd Floor)

Join Taína Caragol, curator of painting, sculpture & Latinx art and history for a tour of  “The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today” before the exhibition closes!

 

Online Program

In Dialogue: Smithsonian Objects and Social Justice
Thursday, Feb. 9
5:00​​–6:00 p.m.   
Online via Zoom

Heighten your civic awareness through conversations about art, history, and material culture with Portrait Gallery educators. How does a community sustain well-being in the face of systemic inequity? Together with our co-hosts from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, we will explore this key question in relationship to a 1946 artwork, “Can Fire in the Park” by Beauford Delaney, and LaToya Ruby Frazier's photographs in the exhibition “Kinship” which document the impact of the water crisis on the citizens of Flint, MI.
Free—Registration required.

 

Docent Tours

Walk-in Highlights Tour of the National Portrait Gallery 
Select days
12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.  
F Street Lobby

Join our friendly docents for a Highlights Tour of the museum's permanent collection.
NOTE: Tours may be canceled at any time without prior notice. 
Please check the Portrait Gallery's online calendar for specific days and times.

 

Opening Soon

I Dream a World: Selections from Brian Lanker’s Portraits of Remarkable Black Women

Part II will be on view from Feb. 10, 2023, through Sept. 10, 2023.

Beginning Feb. 10, 2023, the museum will present a second group of portraits from Brian Lanker’s 1989 book project “I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America.” The Portrait Gallery recently acquired all 75 portraits from the Pulitzer-Prize winning photographer’s series and is celebrating the acquisition with a two-part exhibition. Like the first installation, the second features portraits of women who have contributed significantly to the arts, activism, literature, politics, and sports, among other disciplines. Subjects include Althea Gibson, Odetta, Cicely Tyson, and Oprah Winfrey. “I Dream a World” is co-curated by Ann Shumard, senior curator of photographs, and Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, former senior historian and director of history, research and scholarly programs.

 

On View

 

Engage with Us Online

As part of the reinstallation of the Portrait Gallery’s permanent collection exhibition "Out of Many: Portraits from 1600 to 1900" and The Atlantic’s 165th anniversary year, the two institutions have come together to highlight a selection of the country’s founding voices in literature, politics, philosophy, and culture with wall texts written by The Atlantic’s writers and editors.
There are two ways to explore "Perspectives: The Atlantic’s Writers at the National Portrait Gallery": follow the QR code near more than a dozen portraits on view to access a self-guided audio tour or delve further into the project’s full suite of 23 portraits online at npg.si.edu. 

 

Enjoy several online adaptations of National Portrait Gallery exhibitions and collection highlights, including "Hung Liu: Portraits of Promised Land," "Craig Rodwell: Marching for Gay Pride," and "Selling Success: Men of Progress and Its Audiences" through our collaboration with Google Arts & Culture.