PORTRAITS

From the Smithsonian's Sidedoor podcast: sorting fact from fiction to find the real Sojourner Truth.As a prominent woman's rights activist and abolitionist, Sojourner Truth gave hundreds of speeches and sold countless images of herself. And yet the words that define her in our popular imagination - "Ain't I a woman?" - were actually made up.Host Lizzie Peabody went looking for the real Sojourner Truth and she found a woman with a much more complicated and fascinating life than any slogan can capture.Guests:Nell Irvin Painter, author of Sojourner Truth: a Life, a Symbol; Edwards Professor of American History Emerita at Princeton UniversityAshleigh Coren, former content strategist for the Smithsonian's Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past initiativeKim Sajet, director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery and host of the Smithsonian's Portraits podcast

We follow a paper trail back in time to learn about the laborers -- some of them enslaved -- who put their backs into the graceful old building that now houses the National Portrait Gallery.When construction began on the building in the 1830s, Washington D.C. was in the midst of a mini building boom as a seat of freedom and democracy. Yet the city also had an active slave trade. By sifting through reams of microfilm and estate records, historian Michael Hussey was able to establish that at least 17 men who worked at this site were enslaved. His next step was to try to sketch a portrait, however faint, of one of their lives.

We remember former President Jimmy Carter through a slightly different lens-- through the eyes of a longtime friend and through the portraits of Carter that are housed here at the National Portrait Gallery.Political aide Jack Watson met Carter 10 years before he became president. He found a farmer in work clothes driving a Chevy and quoting philosophy. Over their long friendship and while serving as chief of staff, Jack came to appreciate Carter as a man who was willing to take "bitter medicine" to do what he felt was right for the country. Jack describes a huge Polaroid portrait of Carter by the landscape photographer Ansel Adams, and he also explains why a softly lit painting depicting Carter in the Oval Office is not one of his favorites.See the portraits we discussed:Jimmy Carter, by Ansel AdamsJimmy and Rosalynn Carter, by Ansel AdamsJimmy Carter, by Robert TempletonOther portraits in the collection:Jimmy Carter, by Richard AvedonJimmy Carter, by Alan Reingold (Time magazine)Jimmy Carter, by Andy Warhol

In this mini 'Blink' episode, Kim asks political aide Jack Watson for his thoughts on a couple of Time magazine covers featuring his old boss, former President Jimmy Carter. One depicts the transition team that helped Carter sift through potential political appointees -- a team that Jack led. The other depicts Carter with his characteristic broad smile, which, Jack says, doesn't tell the whole story.See the artwork we discussed:The Great Talent Hunt, by Jack DavisJimmy Carter, by Alan Reingold

Paris in the early 1900s was a magnet for convention-defying American women. It offered a delicious taste of freedom, which they used to explode the gender norms of their day, and to explore new kinds of art, literature, dance and design. In the process, they became arbiters of modernism.In this episode we revisit our interview with curator Robyn Asleson about the National Portrait Gallery’s “Brilliant Exiles” exhibition, which opened in April. It features 60 trailblazing women, including the dancer, singer and spy Josephine Baker, as well as the bookshop owner Sylvia Beach, who took a chance on James Joyce. Also in the lineup: Ada ‘Bricktop’ Smith, whose bustling nightclub became a hub for American jazz musicians, and Romaine Brooks, the painter who reinvented herself... and then reinvented herself again.The exhibition runs until Feb. 23, 2025, so there's still time to catch it!See the portraits we discussed:Ada “Bricktop” Smith, by Carl Van VechtenJosephine Baker, by Stanislaus Julian WaleryGertrude Stein, by Pablo PicassoSylvia Beach, by Paul-Émile BécatRomaine Brooks, self-portrait

Every time a president leaves office they're asked to do something that might not come naturally-- sit still, be quiet and surrender to someone else's work. In other words, they have their portrait painted.The National Portrait Gallery and the White House Historical Association both commission portraits of the outgoing president and first lady. Several of the paintings have become iconic images, stamped on history. Others have been known to stop viewers in their tracks. Some have been unloved. In this episode Kim and WHHA president Stewart McLaurin compare notes on some of the most storied paintings of first couples in their care.See the portraits we discussed:George Washington (Lansdowne portrait), by Gilbert StuartJohn F. Kennedy, by Aaron ShiklerLyndon B. Johnson, by Peter HurdLyndon B. Johnson, by Elizabeth ShoumatoffMichelle Obama, by Sharon SprungMichelle Obama, by Amy Sherald

In 1872, decades before women were legally allowed to vote, Victoria Woodhull made an audacious run for the White House. The press ridiculed her stance on 'free love' and she spent election night in jail. But she had put the first small crack in one of the thickest glass ceilings around. Twelve years later Belva Lockwood, the first woman to argue before the Supreme Court, took another swing at it. We celebrate Election Day with a look back at some of the first women who dared to run for the highest office in the United States, including Sen. Margaret Chase Smith and Rep. Shirley Chisholm. They ran against long odds, but they had grit and they got the ball rolling.With Smithsonian curator Lisa Kathleen Graddy, and journalism historian Teri Finneman.See the portraits we discussed:Victoria Woodhull, unidentified artistGet Thee Behind Me, (Mrs.) Satin! by Thomas NastBelva Lockwood, by Nellie Mathes HorneMargaret Chase Smith, by Ernest Hamlin BakerShirley Chisholm, unidentified artistFurther reading:Press Portrayals of Women Politicians, 1870s - 2000s, by Teri Finneman Belva Lockwood: The Woman Who Would Be President, by Jill NorgrenThe Woman Who Ran for President: The Many Lives of Victoria Woodhull, by Lois Beachy UnderhillNo Place For A Woman: A Life of Senator Margaret Chase Smith, by Janann ShermanThe Good Fight, by Shirley ChisholmShirley Chisholm: Champion of Black Feminist Power Politics, by Anastasia C. Curwood

With Election Day just around the corner, we go back in time to figure out how early presidential candidates got their message, and their image, in front of voters. It wasn't easy. Asking directly for people's vote was seen as undignified, so candidates mostly stayed home in the early 1800s. As a result, most Americans didn't know for sure what their candidates looked like, or sounded like.Kim speaks with curator Claire Jerry,  from the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, about the stream of new technologies-- from printing to photography to radio-- that transformed political advertising and gave candidates a more direct line of communication with the American people.See the portraits and campaign materials we discussed:William Henry Harrison campaign buttonAbraham Lincoln, by Mathew BradyAbraham Lincoln campaign buttonFranklin D. Roosevelt at microphoneRonald Reagan poster

We're back! Season six of PORTRAITS hits your feed Oct. 22 with a new slate of shows that use artwork to decode our world. Kim Sajet, director of the National Portrait Gallery, talks with guests about presidential campaigns, scientific discoveries and some of the currents running through today’s cultural landscape. 

As AI art gets more and more sophisticated, how do we tell the difference between a portrait that’s created by a human being – with a soul – and art that’s created by a complex algorithm? And if we can’t tell the difference, will artists be out of a job?Oxford mathematician Marcus du Sautoy explains how AI art works, and why he thinks code can actually help artists to expand their creative universe.But there’s one big question that remains: What does AI art tell us about the inner world of AI itself?See the portraits we discussed:Edmond de Belamy, published by Obvious ArtThe Next Rembrandt, brainchild of Bas KorstenKim Sajet, generated by AIKim Sajet, by Devon RodriguezYou can see Prof. Marcus du Sautoy’s ‘Creativity Code’ lecture here.

In this mini episode from our 'Blink' series, Rick Chapman shares stories from photographing elite athletes who have competed in the Olympic Games. The first step, he says, is to put the camera down. The second is not to talk about sports too much.Rick's ESPY Collection, for ESPN, features 40 celebrity athletes, including boxers, tennis stars and basketball royalty. You can find it here.See the portraits we discussed:Venus Williams, black and whiteVenus Williams, colorShaun White, black and whiteShaun White, color 

Dolley Madison was eight years old when the Declaration of Independence was signed, and 40 when her husband James became president. In her late 70s she sat for a photograph, becoming the first (former) first lady to do so. Then, this summer, the National Portrait Gallery acquired it.In this mini 'Blink' episode, Kim speaks with Ann Shumard, senior curator of photographs, to hear how this rare daguerreotype came to light and how the Gallery was able to buy itSee the photograph here.

There are not many portrait artists who get recognized on the street, but it happens to Devon Rodriguez all the time.After quietly honing his skill for a decade, Devon started posting videos of his live drawings of New York City subway commuters to social media. The videos took off, earning him some 50 million followers and placing portraiture in front of a huge new audience.Kim speaks with Devon about the mentors who had his back, and this new model for showing art— not in museums, but on screens.See the portraits we discussed:Kim Sajet, by Devon RodriguezJohn Ahearn, by Devon Rodriguez“The Rodriguez Twins,” by John AhearnMaría Elena Estrada, by Devon RodriguezDevon Rodriguez draws Kim Sajet, Instagram

Next in our 'Blink' summer series, Kim speaks with Robyn Asleson, curator of the 'Brilliant Exiles' exhibition, about a dreamy painting that holds a secret code. Edward Steichen's mural assigns a flower to several female friends who planted themselves in Paris's modernist milieu. But where some see jewel-toned beauty, Robyn sees a minefield.In Exaltation of Flowers, by Edward Steichen

A globe turned to Haiti. A glove on the ground. This life-size portrait of President Abraham Lincoln contains intriguing details that can be read as a freeze-frame of race relations at the time of his assassination. The oil painting was ‘hidden in plain sight’ for decades at a municipal building in New Jersey, until our guest Ted Widmer helped to re-discover it.Travers’ Lincoln is currently on display at the National Portrait Gallery, on loan from the Hartley Dodge Foundation, and courtesy of the citizens of the Borough of Madison, New Jersey.See the portrait, by W.F.K. Travers, here.

In our 'Blink' summer series, Kim takes listeners behind the scenes for a quick glimpse at some of the goings-on at the National Portrait Gallery. This first mini-episode finds staff in a tight spot. How do they fit a large, priceless work of art into a very old, very historic building with small doors?

From the Smithsonian's Sidedoor podcast, we bring you a special episode about the tiny new portraits appearing in our pockets and purses. The faces on our coins tell our national story. But until recently women were mostly absent. Host Lizzie Peabody follows the money to find out who gets to be 'heads' in a big new batch of women-only quarters.Guests:Jennifer Schneider, former program manager at Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, current assistant registrar of outgoing and government loans at the Smithsonian American Art MuseumTey Marianna Nunn, former director of the American Women’s History Initiative at the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, current associate director for content and interpretation at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American LatinoEllen Feingold, curator of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American HistoryJoseph Menna, chief engraver at the United States MintTim Grant, public affairs manager at the United States MintDave Clark, supervisor of blanking annealing and upsetting at the United States Mint

Kiki Smith says she didn’t really start making drawings of people until she was 40. Once she had aged a little, she looked in the mirror and saw lines— something “to hang onto” as an artist. At 70, she says it’s the hags and witches who attract her most. In this episode, Kim speaks with Kiki about portraying older women’s bodies and how aging has influenced her work. Kiki’s female subjects sometimes evoke biblical figures or characters from fairy tales, and they’re often connected to nature— to wolves and birds and stars. “Society is always trying to shrink people’s sense of self or possibilities,” she says. “How they experience the world is much larger.” This episode was inspired by a self-portrait of Alice Neel, who painted herself at her easel, naked, when she was 80 years old. See the portraits we discussed: Alice Neel self-portrait Cradling Dead Cat (1999-2000), by Kiki Smith Poisoned Witch (2012), by Kiki Smith Free Fall, by Kiki Smith

We didn’t want to let Women’s History Month pass without a tip of the hat to one of the towering figures we’ve featured here on PORTRAITS. Dr. Chien-Shiung Wu was a rockstar experimental physicist who worked with Oppenheimer on the Manhattan Project. She also met the pope, and inspired a Chinese opera. But here in the United States, she didn’t always get the recognition she deserved. At least not until her granddaughter, Jada Yuan, took up her story. This episode originally aired in 2022. See the portraits we discuss: Dr. Wu in the lab Tsung-Dao Lee, Nobel Laureate Chen-Ning Yang, Nobel Laureate Dr. Wu on the forever stamp Also, check out Jada Yuan’s article about her grandmother here!

Paris in the early 1900s was a magnet for convention-defying American women. It offered a delicious taste of freedom, which they used to explode the gender norms of their day, and to explore new kinds of art, literature, dance and design. In the process, they became arbiters of modernism.This episode, we raise the curtain on the National Portrait Gallery’s “Brilliant Exiles” exhibition with curator Robyn Asleson. It features 60 trailblazing women, including the dancer, singer and spy Josephine Baker, and the bookshop owner Sylvia Beach, who took a chance on James Joyce. Also in the lineup: Ada ‘Bricktop’ Smith, whose bustling nightclub became a hub for American jazz musicians, and Romaine Brooks, the painter who reinvented herself, and then reinvented herself again.The exhibition runs from April 26, 2024, to February 23, 2025.See the portraits we discussed:Ada “Bricktop” Smith, by Carl Van VechtenJosephine Baker, by Stanislaus Julian WaleryGertrude Stein, by Pablo PicassoSylvia Beach, by Paul-Émile BécatRomaine Brooks, self-portrait