What's On November—Día de los Muertos; Opening of "Portrait of a Nation: 2022 Honorees" and more!

 

Día de los Muertos

Wednesday, Nov. 2
5:00–8:30 p.m.
Kogod Courtyard, G and 9th Street Facade

The National Portrait Gallery's annual celebration of el Día de los Muertos kicks off with an indoor festival with music, dancing, art activities, and a community altar from 5:00–8:00 p.m. Venture outside between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m., when artists MasPaz and Guache will project their live video artwork on the museum's G and 9th Street facade. ¡Esta fiesta es para todos!

 

Obama Portraits Homecoming

They are coming home! The Obama Portraits are headed back to Washington, D.C. after a seven-city tour across the country. Since June 2021, the museum’s commissioned portraits of President Barack Obama by Kehinde Wiley and First Lady Michelle Obama by Amy Sherald have been traveling to visitors in Chicago, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, San Francisco, and Boston on The Obama Portraits Tour. On Nov. 9, Michelle Obama’s portrait will return to view on our Twenty-First Century Americans gallery on the museum’s third floor, and on Nov. 10, President Barack Obama’s portrait will return to view in the museum’s America’s Presidents exhibition. Come say hello!

And if you can’t make it to the museum quite yet, experience the journey of The Obama Portraits Tour through Smithsonian Channel’s documentary "Picturing the Obamas."

 

Opening of "Portrait of a Nation: 2022 Honorees"

Portrait of a Nation: 2022 Honorees
November 10, 2022 - October 22, 2023

“Portrait of a Nation: 2022 Honorees” will feature portraits of the seven recipients of the museum’s 2022 Portrait of a Nation Awards: José Andrés, Clive Davis, Ava DuVernay, Marian Wright Edelman, Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Serena Williams, and Venus Williams. Six newly commissioned works and one never-before-shown photograph, each by a highly acclaimed contemporary artist will premiere at the exhibition. 
One highlight is the commissioned portrait of the public health expert Fauci by artist Hugo Crosthwaite (b. 1971), first-prize winner of the Portrait Gallery’s 2019 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. The resulting artwork is composed of a stop-motion drawing animation and suite of 19 drawings on paper, seven of which will be on view.

 

Join Us in the Galleries!

Drawn to Figures  
Thursday, Oct. 13
10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.   
G Street Lobby

In this series of drawing workshops, artist Jill Galloway leads participants through the techniques and challenges of figure drawing. Each session highlights portraits from a Portrait Gallery exhibition and includes instruction, a guided drawing session, and all supplies. Open to artists of all levels, ages 18 +. Space is limited.
Free—Registration required. 

 

In Focus
Thursday, Nov. 17
10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.  
G Street Lobby

Join in an interactive discussion about archives and representations of the African American experience centered on "Killed Negative #13 / After Arthur Rothstein" by artist Joel Daniel Phillips and writer Quraysh Ali Lansana. Their collaborative work was a finalist in the 2022 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition.

 

Online Program

In Dialogue: Smithsonian Objects and Social Justice
Thursday, Nov. 3
5:00–6:00 p.m.  
Online via Zoom

What happens when one’s citizenship is challenged? Together with our cohosts from the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, we will explore what lengths citizens take to protect their civil rights. The experiences of Norman Mineta and Gordon Hirabayashi, whose portraits will anchor our conversation, will be placed within the wider context of U.S. society—then and now.
Free—Registration required. 

 

On View

 

Engage with Us Online

"Perspectives: The Atlantic’s Writers at the National Portrait Gallery" is now on view. As part of the reinstallation of the Portrait Gallery’s permanent collection galleries "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.
Explore more than a dozen portraits on view at the museum with a self-guided audio tour accessible through each artwork’s QR code or delve further into the project’s full suite of 23 portraits online at npg.si.edu. 

 

What can you do to make a difference?
Our Struggle for Justice, a digital collaboration between the National Portrait Gallery and Capital One, explores activism and social justice through biography. Through Our Struggle for Justice, meet individuals, past and present, from the museum’s collection whose thoughts and actions have made our nation better. Each post features thought-provoking questions to reframe the way we view activism and the causes closest to us. 
Join us on Instagram and Twitter, follow #OurStruggleForJustice for the latest updates, and look out for new posts each Tuesday. Missed a post? Review past posts and engage with educational activities and lesson plans that highlight the campaign's featured sitters in the Our Struggle for Justice Learning Lab. 

 

Not ready to come back quite yet? Enjoy several online adaptations of National Portrait Gallery exhibitions and collection highlights, including ""A Deep Dive into the Portrait of Ocean Conservationist Julie Packard"" and ""Picturing John Glenn: A Life Dedicated to Science and Service"" through our collaboration with Google Arts & Culture.