Face-to-Face, from the National Portrait Gallery

Frank Aucella, executive director at the Woodrow Wilson House, discusses a portrait of Wilson by John Christen Johansen, on view at the National Portrait Gallery in the exhibition "America's Presidents."Elected to the White House after winning wide acclaim as the reforming governor of New Jersey, Woodrow Wilson left an impressive legacy of change that sought to curb abusive business practices and improve conditions for workers. But Wilson was not as successful in winning approval for his international idealism during World War I. Determined to make this conflict "the war to end all wars," he sought at its end to create a world order that put peace ahead of national self-interest. America's European allies, however, undermined these hopes, insisting on a postwar peace settlement that contained the seeds of another war. A far worse disappointment for Wilson himself was his failure to persuade his own country to join the League of Nations, an organization he had conceived as the best hope for avoiding future wars. Having suffered a stroke while campaigning for American entry into the league, he left office in 1921, broken in both health and spirit. Recorded at NPG, September 24, 2009. Image info: Woodrow Wilson / John Christen Johansen / Oil on canvas, c 1919 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; transfer from the Smithsonian American Art Museum; gift of an anonymous donor, 1926

New Yorker art critic Calvin Tomkins talks with the Anne Goodyear, associate curator of prints and drawings at NPG. Tomkins has been a staff writer and art critic for the New Yorker since 1960. He has written profiles on Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Frank Stella, among many others. Recorded at NPG, June 20, 2009. Image info: Profile Portrait of Marcel Duchamp / Man Ray (1890-1976) / Gelatin silver print, 1930 (printed later) / Gelatin silver print, 1930 (printed later) / Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. / Copyright 2009 Man Ray Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY / ADAGP, Paris

The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery installed a portrait of Tommy Lasorda, Hall of Fame manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers Tuesday, Sept. 22.Painted by artist Everett Raymond Kinstler, the life-sized portrait measures 60 by 50 inches and was commissioned to commemorate Lasorda's legacy as part of the Dodger's organization. September 22 was Lasorda's 82nd birthday and the first night of a three-game series between the Dodgers and the Washington Nationals in Washington, D.C. The portrait is on view in the museum's exhibition "New Arrivals" on the first floor through Nov. 15, 2009. After a brief Major League career as a left-handed pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Lasorda became one of the most enthusiastic and successful managers in baseball history. In his 20-year career as the Dodgers' manager, Lasorda led the team to eight division titles and two World Championships. After his retirement, he became a Dodgers executive, and this year marks his 60th season with the Dodger organization and his fifth year as special advisor to the chairman. Lasorda was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997, and he managed the U.S. team to its first-ever baseball gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.Kinstler has painted more than 1,200 portraits of well-known personalities and public figures. The Portrait Gallery's collection includes paintings and sketches of Katharine Hepburn, Tony Bennett, Richard Nixon, Norman Rockwell and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Lasorda sat for the portrait at Kinstler's National Arts Club studio in New York City in June 2009. The portrait is a gift from friends of Lasorda. Recorded at NPG, Sept 22, 2009. Image info: Thomas Charles Lasorda / Everett Raymond Kinstler / Oil on canvas / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

David Ward, historian at the National Portrait Gallery, discusses a portrait of Albert Einstein by Max Westfield, on view at the National Portrait Gallery in the exhibition "Twentieth Century Americans."The most brilliant scientist of the twentieth century, physicist Albert Einstein inspires comparisons to Isaac Newton. By the time he reached thirty, his theory of relativity and work in quantum mechanics had revolutionized physics and profoundly altered our perception of the world.Einstein naturally commanded great prestige in the United States when he sought refuge from the Nazi regime of his native Germany in 1933. His words thus carried enormous weight in 1939 when he wrote a letter alerting President Roosevelt that Germany was moving toward the development of nuclear weaponry. Eventually, that warning gave impetus to the Manhattan Project, the top-secret venture that in 1945 produced the world's first atomic bomb. While sitting for this likeness in 1944, Einstein mused to his portraitist, "After fifty years they will say of me, either he was a great man or a fool!"Recorded at NPG, September 3, 2009. Image info: Albert Einstein / Max Westfield / Oil on canvas, 1944 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the artist

Chrysanthe Broikos, curator at the National Building Museum, discusses a portrait of Thomas Jefferson by Mather Brown,on view at the National Portrait Gallery in the exhibition "America's Presidents."As the new American republic emerged from its war with the mother country, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, collaborators in the formulation of the Declaration of Independence (although Jefferson wrote the final document), were brought together as trade negotiators in France, where their mutual respect turned into friendship. In the spring of 1786-when Jefferson was the American minister to France and Adams the American minister to England-Jefferson visited Adams, who suggested that he pose for the young Boston-born artist Mather Brown. An exchange of portraits between the two colleagues ensued. This painting, the earliest known likeness of Jefferson, remained in Adams's family until given to the nation in 1999. The background contains the classical figure of Freedom holding a staff topped by a cap, which had its origins in the conical cloth cap adopted by freed Roman slaves as the symbol of their liberty. Recorded at NPG, July 30, 2009. Image info: Thomas Jefferson / Mather Brown / Oil on canvas, 1786 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; bequest of Charles Francis Adams; Frame conserved with funds from the Smithsonian Women's Committee

Sid Hart, senior historian at NPG, discusses a portrait of Andrew Jackson by Ralph E. W. Earl,on view at the National Portrait Gallery in the exhibition "America's Presidents." With the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln, no nineteenth-century president wielded his powers more aggressively than Andrew Jackson, which is confirmed by his use of the presidential veto over Congress. Unlike his predecessors, who invoked that power on strictly constitutional grounds, Jackson vetoed key congressional measures, not because he deemed them illegal, but simply because he did not like them. In doing so, he set a precedent that vastly enlarged the presidential role in congressional lawmaking.Among Jackson's opponents, this executive activism drew charges of dictatorship. Those accusations, however, carried little weight among yeoman farmers and laborers, who doted on Jackson's professed opposition to elitism. This portrait, showing Jackson in military uniform, recalls his early fame as the general who roundly defeated the British at New Orleans during the War of 1812. The painter of the picture, Ralph E. W. Earl, eventually attached himself to Jackson's household and spent much of his time filling the considerable demand for Jackson's likeness. Recorded at NPG, July 23, 2009. Image info: Andrew Jackson / Ralph Eleaser Whiteside Earl / Oil on canvas, 1836 - 1837 / Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian Institution; Transfer from U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

Ray Beldner makes art from the stuff of everyday life. His works can be found in public and private collections, including the Federal Reserve Board, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and here at the National Portrait Gallery. Two of Ray Beldner's works, "Avec Ma Langue Dans Ma Joue," or "With My Language in My Game," and "Duchamp Tout Fait" are on display as part of the museum's exhibition "Inventing Marcel Duchamp: The Dynamics of Portraiture." This exhibition showcases approximately 100 never-before-assembled portraits and self-portraits of Marcel Duchamp ranging from 1912 to the present, including works by his contemporaries Man Ray, Alfred Stieglitz, Francis Picabia, and Florine Stettheimer, as well as portraits by a more recent generation of artists, such as Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Sturtevant, Yasumasa Morimura, David Hammons, Beatrice Wood, Douglas Gordon, and Ray Beldner. Recorded at NPG, July 25, 2009. Image info: "Avec Ma Langue Dans Ma Joue," or "With My Language in My Game" / Ray Beldner / Wood and plaster, flocked with ground money dust, 2007 / Courtesy of Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco and Caren Golden Fine Arts, New York City

NPG director Martin Sullivan discusses a sculpture of Margaret Sanger by Joy Buba, on view at the National Portrait Gallery in the exhibition "20th Century Americans." As a visiting nurse among the immigrants of New York City's Lower East Side in the early 1900s, Margaret Sanger was profoundly affected by the physical and mental toll exacted on women by frequent childbirth, miscarriage, and self-induced abortion. Sanger declared that "no woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body. No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother." She spent the rest of her life promoting the availability and use of birth control and is recognized nationally and internationally as a leader in the field. Recorded at NPG, July 9, 2009. Image info: Margaret Higgins Sanger / Joy Buba / Bronze, 1972 cast after 1964 original / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Mrs. Cordelia Scaife May

Laura Simo of Washington's Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens, discusses a portrait of George Washington by artist Robert Edge Pine, on view at the National Portrait Gallery in the exhibition "America's Presidents." George Washington, appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental army, took command of a ragtag force of some 17,000 men in July 1775. He kept an army together for the next eight-and-a-half years--losing more battles than he won--but effectively ended the war with his victory at Yorktown in October 1781. Mission accomplished, Washington--a hero who could have been king--resigned his military commission before Congress on December 23, 1783, and retired to Mount Vernon. Here, the man all artists yearned to portray posed in his uniform for English artist Robert Edge Pine. He wryly observed, "I am so hackneyed to the touches of the Painter's pencil, that I am now altogether at their beck, and sit like patience on a Monument." Recorded at NPG, July 2, 2009. Image info: George Washington / Robert Edge Pine / Oil on canvas, 1785 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

With "Portrait of Marcel Duchamp, 3 leads," one of sixteen parts of his "Portrait of Marcel Duchamp," Brian O'Doherty sought to bring to life the images produced by the first three leads of Duchamp's electrocardiogram. On the front of the box he attached a carpenter's spirit level with three windows, each etched with an image of the line produced by one of the three leads. Inside, a cylindrical celluloid sleeve moves around a central light, but in reverse, suspending Duchamp in time and making him a living masterpiece. Duchamp spent considerable time looking at this piece at the Byron Gallery in New York City in 1966. Unknown to others, he was carrying a folded piece of paper secreted in a pocket inscribed with his now-famous epitaph, "Besides it is always the others who die." Recorded at NPG, June 25, 2009. Image info: Portrait of Marcel Duchamp, 3 leads / Brian O'Doherty (born 1928) / Wood, glass, Liquitex, motor, 1966 / Brian O'Doherty

Jennifer Quick, research assistant at NPG, discusses Marcel Duchamp's "Wanted" poster, on view in the exhibition "Inventing Marcel Duchamp: The Dynamics of Portraiture." Originally created in 1923, Duchamp's Wanted: 2,000 Dollar Reward was the last work of art he completed before leaving New York that year to return to Paris. Duchamp based the work on a joke notice designed for tourists that he found in a New York restaurant. He pasted two head shots of himself on the poster and had a printer add another alias to those already listed: that of his recently created alter ego Rrose Selavy. Although Wanted challenges traditional conceptions of the creative process, the work, which Duchamp re-created at key moments in his career, also played a significant role in the construction of his artistic identity. This version, based on the now-lost original, is a replica intended for Duchamp's Boite-en-valise, a portable museum of his work. Wanted is on display at the National Portrait Gallery, in the exhibition "Inventing Marcel Duchamp: The Dynamics of Portraiture" on the second floor. Jennifer Quick, research assistant at NPG, recently spoke about the work in a Face-to-Face portrait talk. Recorded at NPG, June 11, 2009. Image info: Wanted: 2,000 Dollar Reward / Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) / Lithograph, 1961 (replica of 1923 original) / Frances Beatty and Allen Adler Copyright 2009 Man Ray Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY / ADAGP, Paris / Succession Marcel Duchamp

Wendy Wick Reaves, curator of prints and drawings, discusses two self-portraits by Isabel Bishop in the NPG's exhibition "Reflections/Refractions." Isabel Bishop chose her subject matter from the New York street life that flowed through Union Square, beneath her studio window. Although she moved to the Bronx after her marriage, Bishop continued to travel almost daily to her studio to observe and sketch laborers, shopgirls, children, and unemployed men. While Bishop's art focused on the urban street life, there were two moments-in her youth and old age-when self-portraiture played an important role. These two self-portraits by Isabel Bishop are on display at the National Portrait Gallery, in the exhibition "Reflections/Refractions: Self-Portraiture in the Twentieth Century" on the second floor. Wendy Wick Reaves, curator of prints and drawings, recently spoke about the pieces in a Face-to-Face portrait talk. Recorded at NPG, June 5, 2009. Image info: Ink wash on paper, c. 1984-85 / The Ruth Bowman and Harry Kahn Twentieth-Century American Self-Portrait Collection / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. AND: Etching, 1929 (printed c. 1988-89) / The Ruth Bowman and Harry Kahn Twentieth-Century American Self-Portrait Collection / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

A tenacious competitor with an impressive work ethic, Carlton Fisk was one of major league baseball's most capable and durable catchers. During twenty-four seasons in the American League (first with the Boston Red Sox and later with the Chicago White Sox), Fisk caught a record-setting 2,226 games and posted home-run tallies that ranked him among the top-hitting catchers of all time. Fisk's accomplishments were all the more remarkable because he repeatedly overcame career-threatening injuries. In 1975, after battling back from reconstructive knee surgery and a broken arm, Fisk gave Red Sox fans a never-to-be-forgotten thrill in the sixth game of the World Series when he drilled a twelfth-inning home run to win the game. Fisk always demanded the best, not only of himself but of his teammates. As he once observed, "You don't play baseball. . . . You work at it." This portrait of Fisk by artist Susan Miller-Havens is on display in the National Portrait Gallery's "Champions" exhibition, on the third-floor mezzanine. Recorded at NPG, May 8, 2009. Image info: Carlton Fisk / Susan Miller-Havens / Oil on cotton duck, 1993/ gift of Peter C. Aldrich, in memory of Duane C. Aldrich of Atlanta, Georgia/ copyright Susan Miller-Havens

Rachael Penman, of the National Museum of Crime and Punishment, discusses images of Lyndon Johnson on view in the NPG's exhibition "Presidents in Waiting"In 1955, with only seven years of seniority, Johnson was elected Senate majority leader. Through his successful courting of the "old bulls" of the "southern caucus," particularly Richard Russell of Georgia, Johnson controlled the agenda of the Senate as no majority leader has before or since. Another element of his mastery was the "Johnson treatment," as displayed here with Senator Theodore Green of Rhode Island. Newspaper columnist Mary McGrory described it as "an incredible, potent mixture of persuasion, badgering, flattery, threats, reminders of past favors and future advantages"; Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee recalled feeling that "a St. Bernard had licked your face for an hour, [and] had pawed you all over"; and Hubert Humphrey described it as a "tidal wave." Johnson's most notable victory as majority leader was the passage of the 1957 Civil Rights Act, the first such legislation since Reconstruction. Rachel Brenman of the International Spy Museum discussed this photograph by George Tames, along with other images of Lyndon Johnson, at a Face-to-Face portrait talk. The 1957 photograph is on view at the National Portrait Gallery, in the exhibition "Presidents in Waiting" on the museum's second floor. Recorded at NPG, May 21, 2009. Image info: Lyndon Johnson and Theodore Green / George Tames, 1957 / Gelatin silver print / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Frances O. Tames / Copyright The New York Times/George Tames

Steve Pyke readily admits that his life in photography has been propelled largely by his fascination with the face. Born in England and now based in New York, Pyke first won notice for his distinctive close-up portrait style in the 1980s, with editorial work for the music press and magazines such as Britain's popular "style bible," The Face. In the intervening decades, Pyke's photographs have reached a wide audience through their publication in major magazines around the world and their exhibition in museums and commercial galleries. In 2004, Steve Pyke joined the New Yorker. "Working as a staff photographer at the New Yorker magazine gives me the immediacy of making portraits and seeing them appear in an editorial context," Pyke explains, "and this has always surprised and stimulated me." In tandem with his career in editorial photography, he has maintained a strong commitment to personally driven projects, including his portrait series documenting the world's leading thinkers and philosophers. A common thread running through both Pyke's editorial and personal work is his abiding interest in what a face can tell us. "The way we live our lives is etched into the landscape of our faces," Pyke observes. "We create the face with which we live." Recorded at NPG, May 2, 2009. Image info: Sir Ian McKellen / Steve Pyke / Gelatin silver print, 2007 / Published in the New Yorker, August 27, 2007 / Collection of the artist, courtesy Flowers Gallery, New York City / Copyright Steve Pyke