Face-to-Face, from the National Portrait Gallery

Anne Goodyear, curator at NPG, discusses Jim Torok's self-portrait featured in the temporary exhibition "Portraiture Now: Communities." Jim Torok grew up in Indiana but moved to New York to attend graduate school at Brooklyn College. Although he has worked in several genres, Torok is best known for his small-scale portraits. Painted with oil on panel, they raise intriguing questions about identity and the impermanence of human life. As Torok explains, one of the fundamental issues his work addresses is the problem of likeness. "How do we know a face?" Torok asks. "How do you get a picture of a person to look like that person?" He begins each portrait by taking a series of photographs of his subjects, but his paintings are not photographic. Time spent with his subject is important in these works, which can take up to a year to complete, a duration seemingly out of proportion to their size. Recorded at NPG, June 3, 2010. Image: Self-portrait by Jim Torok / Oil on panel, 2008 / Baron and Budd, P.C. / Copyright Jim Torok

Amy Henderson, historian at NPG, discusses John Wayne. >One of the archetypal heroic figures of twentieth-century film, John Wayne conveyed a decisive, solitary, reverent screen persona that reflected traditional American values. Wayne's collaboration with director John Ford led to such classics as Stagecoach, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and The Quiet Man. During World War II, Wayne starred in several morale-boosting movies, including Flying Tigers and Back to Bataan. He finally won an Oscar for his portrayal of Rooster Cogburn in True Grit (1969). About his long-lived popularity he said, "I play John Wayne in every part regardless of the character, and I've been doing okay, haven't I?" Recorded at NPG, June 17, 2010. Image: John Wayne / Harry Jackson / Polychromed bronze, 1969 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Time magazine

Jules Feiffer, cartoonist, screenwriter, and playwright spoke on a photograph of Fred Astaire by Bob Landy. The second event of this year's American Pictures series at the Smithsonian featured cartoonist, screenwriter, and playwright Jules Feiffer speaking on Bob Landry's visually thrilling photograph, "Fred Astaire in 'Puttin' on the Ritz,' 1945." After the talk, Feiffer signed copies of his recently released memoir, Backing into Forward, published this spring by Nan A. Talese/Doubleday. Held in Washington, D.C., the series is cosponsored by Washington College, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the National Portrait Gallery. Recorded at NPG, April 17, 2010. Image: Bob Landry, Fred Astaire in "Puttin' on the Ritz," 1945, Time and Life Pictures.

Frank Goodyear, curator at NPG, discusses Mark Twain. Using the pen name Mark Twain, Samuel Clemens had become one of this country's favorite satiric writers by the early 1870s, routinely making light of everyday human foibles. But it was the publication of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) that assured him a lasting place in American letters. Inspired in part by Clemens's own boyhood, these two tales set along the Mississippi River did more than capture the rhythms of youth in antebellum America. In both novels, Clemens examined with sardonic wit various tensions that underlay contemporary society, including, most importantly, the question of race. In later years, his success in this country and abroad was tempered by financial and personal setbacks and by a contempt for American and British imperialism. Recorded at NPG, May 27, 2010. Image: Samuel Langhorne Clemens / John White Alexander, 1912 or 1913 / Oil on canvas / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

David Ward, historian at NPG, discusses Stonewall Jackson. At the First Battle of Manassas in July 1861, the unrelenting vigor with which Confederate General Thomas Jonathan Jackson held his position inspired a general nearby to rally his troops with the cry, "There is Jackson standing like a stone wall." From that moment on, he was known as "Stonewall" Jackson, a name that he repeatedly lived up to, fighting under the command of General Robert E. Lee.The deeply religious Jackson believed intensely in the righteousness of the southern cause, and a key to his success was his ability to instill his own fighting fervor in his men. One of his most brilliant victories came at Chancellorsville in the spring of 1863. Tragically for Jackson and the South, this would prove to be his last battle, as he died of wounds accidentally inflicted by his own men. Recorded at NPG, May 20, 2010. Image: Thomas Jonathan Jackson / J. W. King, copy after: Unidentified Artist, (Photographer) / Oil on canvas, 1864 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; given in memory of Lieselotte Richardson

Warren Perry, curator of "Echoes of Elvis," discusses Elvis's time in the army and his portrait by Howard Finster. Elvis Presley's humble nature and patriotism appealed greatly to visionary artist Howard Finster. Born in 1915 in DeKalb County, Alabama, Finster claimed to have his first vision in early childhood; his later visions would dictate decisions affecting both his life and his art. Finster was an evangelical Baptist minister before coming to view painting as the vehicle chosen for him to spread the gospel. Included in the current NPG "Echoes of Elvis" exhibition are two of Finster's painted, wood-cutout Elvis images: Elvis at Three and Elvis in Army Uniform, both done in 1990 and from the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Elvis at Three, which features a baby Elvis Presley adorned with angel wings and inscribed with Bible verses, conjures Finster's idea of Elvis as a special Christian emissary on earth. Elvis in Army Uniform presents a more secular image of Presley with a reference to his military service. Recorded at NPG, May 6, 2010. Image: Elvis in Army Uniform / Howard Finster / Paint on Wood, 1991 / High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia; purchase with funds from the Cousins Foundation, Inc., and donors to the Paradise Project Campaign

Ann Shumard, curator at NPG, discusses Lena Horne and her portrait by Florence Homolka. Singer and actress Lena Horne helped break the color barrier in mainstream popular culture in the mid-twentieth century, beginning her stage career in the chorus at Harlem's Cotton Club in 1933, where Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway mentored her. In 1942 Hollywood beckoned, but her roles were often musical cameos that southern theaters could cut; Horne once said that Stormy Weather and Cabin in the Sky were the only films "in which I played a character who was involved in the plot." She became Hollywood's highest-paid African American actor, and her renditions of "Stormy Weather" and "Just One of Those Things" were considered classics. During this time, Horne also became a vocal spokesperson for civil rights. She also continued to enjoy a successful nightclub and recording career, and triumphed in the 1980s with her one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music.Recorded at NPG, April 29, 2010. Image: Lena Horne / Florence Homolka / Silver gelatin print, c.1950 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; acquired through the generosity of Elizabeth Ann Hylton

Acclaimed Civil War historian James M. McPherson delivered the first talk of the 2010 "American Pictures" Series before an enthusiastic audience at the Smithsonian. The series, a co-production of Washington College, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the National Portrait Gallery, pairs great works of art with leading figures of contemporary American culture. Each talk features an eminent writer, artist, critic or historian who chooses a single, powerful image and investigates its meanings, revealing how artworks reflect American identity and inspire creativity in many different fields. McPherson chose Alexander Gardner's stirring 1862 photograph "Confederate Dead by a Fence on the Hagerstown Road, Antietam," one of the first pictures to bring the shocking realities of war before the eyes of the American public. Introduction by Adam Goodheart, head of washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience. Recorded at NPG, April 10, 2010. Image: "Antietam, Md. Confederate dead by a fence on the Hagerstown road" by Alexander Gardner, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Curatorial assistant Amy Baskette speaks about 1960s San Francisco rock groups, particularly Janis Joplin, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and The Grateful Dead. Recorded at NPG, April 22, 2010. Image: Rock groups, San Francisco, 1967 / Irving Penn / Platinum-palladium print / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Irving Penn

Warren Perry, curator of "Echoes of Elvis" discusses a portrait of Elvis Presley by Red Grooms. Red Grooms, like fellow Tennessean William Eggleston (whose work is also featured in the exhibition), has often memorialized Elvis in his art. In this image, he arms Elvis with his trademark flashy apparel and accompanying guitar, but a slightly closer observation will yield several other components of Elvis's iconographic ensemble-the lip curl, the slick, combed-back hair, the omnipresent Cadillac, Graceland, and the stylized stage posture. One of the famous gates of Graceland is swung open behind the entertainer while a woman in a red dress and black high heels observes the singer from the porch of the mansion. Grooms is to American art as Mark Twain is to American writing; he is the foremost humorist in his discipline. He is also a prolific artist who works in many media. Recorded at NPG, April 8, 2010. Image: Elvis Presley / Red Grooms (born 1937) / Lithograph, 1987 / Copyright 2010 Red Grooms / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Wendy Wick Reaves, curator at NPG, discusses Gertrude Stein and her portrait by Jo Davidson. American expatriate writer Gertrude Stein was a high priestess of early-twentieth-century modernism for the many who visited her fabled Paris apartment. She collected and promoted the art of the avant-garde, including that of Picasso and Matisse, and her own abstract, repetitive prose inspired the experiments of playwrights, composers, poets, and painters. "There was an eternal quality about her," sculptor Jo Davidson wrote. "She somehow symbolized wisdom." He chose to depict her here as "a sort of modern Buddha." Delighted by the sculpture, Stein composed one of her famous prose portraits of Davidson, later published in Vanity Fair alongside a photograph of this work. The sculpture is on view at the National Portrait Gallery in the exhibition "Twentieth-Century Americans" on the museum's third floor. Recorded at NPG, March 25, 2010. Image: Gertrude Stein / Jo Davidson / Terra cotta, 1922-1923 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Dr. Maury Leibovitz

Rayna Green, curator at the National Museum of American History, discusses Julia Child and her portrait by David Martin. With the 1961 publication of her groundbreaking cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking(co-authored with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle), Julia Child launched a highly successful effort to demystify French cuisine by enabling American cooks "to create French dishes in American kitchens with American foods." Mastering the Art of French Cooking sold more than 100,000 copies in its first year and also provided the springboard to Child's improbable career in television. In February 1962, just four months after her cookbook's release, Child appeared on a local interview program on WGBH in Boston and matter-of-factly prepared a mushroom omelet. Viewers were enchanted, and letters poured in asking for more opportunities to see Child in action. The result was the debut on July 26, 1962, of The French Chef--the half-hour cooking show on public television that would make Julia Child a household name and a culinary icon. Rayna Greene, curator at the National Museum of American History, discussed Child and her portrait by David Marlin. Greene was instrumental in bringing Julia Child's kitchen to the Smithsonian. Recorded at NPG, March 18, 2010. Image: Julia Child / David Marlin / Gelatin silver print, 1971 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; acquired through the generosity of Ann M. Shumard in honor of Thomas D. Matteson

On Friday, March 5, 2010 the National Portrait Gallery paid tribute to one of the United States's greatest historical preservation advocates and public servants. Order of speakers: architect David Childs; current president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation Richard Moe; and Public Buildings Service Commissioner Robert Peck. Ashton Hawkins, former Metropolitan Museum vice president was not included in the recording, due to technical issues. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003) was a member of four successive presidential administrations: those of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, and Gerald R. Ford. He was both ambassador to India and to the United Nations and later served four terms in the United States Senate, beginning in 1976. The late senator was a dedicated and frequent visitor to the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum. He was also passionate about the Penn Quarter revitalization. Recorded at NPG, March 5, 2010. Image: Daniel Patrick Moynihan / Ross Barron Storey / Acrylic on board, 1975 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Time magazine . More information at: http://face2face.si.edu/my_weblog/2010/03/daniel-patrick-moynihan-lecture-historic-preservation-and-architecture.html

Amy Henderson, historian at NPG, discusses Katharine Hepburn's four Oscars and her portrait by Everett Raymond Kinstler. Screen legend Katharine Hepburn fashioned herself into a cultural icon by sheer will and a shrewd business sense. She won the first of her record four Best Actress Oscars in 1933 for Morning Glory and made several popular films in the mid-1930s. But her subsequent choices like Christopher Strong and Sylvia Scarlett baffled her audience, and by 1938 she was branded "box office poison." Even such screwball comedies as Bringing Up Baby (1938) failed to renew her popularity, and it wasn't until The Philadelphia Story (1940) that she was back on top. Hepburn partnered in nine films with Spencer Tracy, winning an Oscar for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. She also won Oscars for The Lion in Winter and On Golden Pond. She received a Kennedy Center Honors award in 1990. In 2009, the National Portrait Gallery acquired Hepburn's four Oscar statuettes as a gift from the Katharine Hepburn estate. They are now on view in the "Twentieth-Century Americans" gallery on the museum's third floor, next to a 1982 portrait of Hepburn by artist Everett Raymond Kinstler, which she termed her "favorite." Recorded at NPG, March 11, 2010. Image: Katharine Hepburn's four Best Actress Academy Awards (Morning Glory, 1933; Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, 1967; The Lion in Winter, 1968; On Golden Pond, 1981) / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the estate of Katharine Hepburn . In background: Katharine Hepburn / Everett Raymond Kinstler, 1982 / Oil on canvas/National Portrait Gallery; gift of Everett Raymond Kinstler / Copyright 1982 Everett Raymond Kinstler

David Ward, historian at NPG, discusses art critic Clement Greenberg. Art critic and public intellectual Clement Greenberg was one of the most important advocates for American abstract painting after World War II. Championing such artists as Barnett Newman, Clyfford Still, and especially Jackson Pollock, Greenberg provided the art-historical background to what he called "abstract expressionism." Pugnacious and driven by a sense of cultural mission, Greenberg, in his criticism and in articles like "'American Type' Painting" (1955), became the model of the engaged intellectual, making as many enemies as he did friends. As he said, "The first obligation of an art critic is to deliver value judgments." The art world eventually turned on Greenberg, but his four volumes of collected writings are an unmatched survey of American art and culture in the mid-twentieth century. Rene Bouche's 1955 portrait of Greenberg was praised as an abstraction "softening the edges of representation." Recorded at NPG, March 4, 2010. Image info: Clement Greenberg / Rene Bouche / Oil on canvas, 1955 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Denise Bouche Fitch