"Eye Contact: Modern American Portrait Drawings from the National Portrait Gallery," a major traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian gallery's collection, opened May 25, 2002, at the Amon Carter Museum. The exhibition featured 50 of the gallery's most significant works on paper. "Eye Contact" introduced life portraits of renowned Americans from politicians and inventors to writers, artists and musicians and highlights the work of such artists as Mary Cassatt, Edward Hopper, Stuart Davis, Jacob Lawrence and Andy Warhol. It is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, edited by exhibition curator Wendy Wick Reaves. This exhibition was organized by the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
The exhibition showcased aesthetic masterpieces that have been assembled since the National Portrait Gallery's collection originated in 1964. Encompassing a variety of media, including watercolors, pastels, charcoals and pen and ink drawings, most of these images are unfamiliar to the public.
"A good portrait is like a biography of a subject," said Amon Carter Museum Director Rick Stewart. "It shows not only the realistic aspects of a person, but it hints also at the invisible qualities that make that person truly individual. I hope everyone has the opportunity to see the outstanding portraits in this exhibition. It is portraiture at its very best."
"'Eye Contact' provided a unique opportunity for people to see the finest drawings in the National Portrait Gallery collection," added Marc Pachter, director of the gallery. "This is the first time we have assembled such a wide-ranging selection of drawings, which includes an array of modern American personalities."
"Eye Contact" examined the diversity of portraiture and includes such classic images as Luther "Bill Bojangles" Robinson by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld and William Zorach's pen-and-ink image of a young Edna St. Vincent Millay just after she won the Pulitzer Prize. The oldest piece in the exhibition, a watercolor self-portrait of Mary Cassatt, dated from the 1880s.
Catalogue
Eye Contact: Modern American Portrait Drawings from the National Portrait Gallery
by Wendy Wick Reaves et al.
(2002; 256 pages) 55 color and 65 b/w illustrations.
ISBN: 0-295-98267-5
Fifty graphic masterpieces representing the American artistic tradition from 1880 to the present day are showcased in Eye Contact. Reproduced as full-page color images, they range from portraits of Theodore Roosevelt by Charles Dana Gibson to Robert F. Kennedy by Roy Lichtenstein, and self-portraits by artists Mary Cassatt, Edward Hopper, Joseph Stella, and Jacob Lawrence. Essays discuss the changing nature of portrait drawings in the twentieth century and the intellectual developments that influenced artists' conceptualization of the figure.
Works included in the exhibition: (Title, artist)
Milton Avery
Self-portrait
Ink on paper, 1938
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
(C) 2001 Milton Avery Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Christopher Isherwood
Don Bachardy (born 1934)
Ink wash and graphite on paper, 1976
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
gift of the Mildred Andrews Fund
© Don Bachardy
Truman Capote
Don Bachardy (born 1934)
Graphite on paper, 1964
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
© Don Bachardy
Ralph Barton
Self-portrait
Watercolor and graphite on paperboard mounted on illustration board, circa 1925
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Rico Lebrun
Leonard Baskin (1922–2000)
Ink on paper, 1968
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Henry James
Cecilia Beaux (1855–1942)
Charcoal on paper, 1911
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
W. C. Fields
Thomas Hart Benton (1889–1975)
Graphite on paper, 1937
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
© T. H. Benton and R. P. Benton Testamentary Trusts / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Mary Cassatt
Self-portrait
Watercolor and gouache over graphite on paper, circa 1880
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Frances Perkins
William Henry Cotton (1880–1958)
Pastel on illustration board, circa 1935
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Stuart Davis
Stuart Davis (1892–1964)
Graphite on paper, circa 1927
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
© Estate of Stuart Davis/ Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Ornette Coleman
Elaine de Kooning (1918–1989)
Graphite on paper, circa 1965
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
© Elaine de Kooning Trust
Harold Rosenberg
Elaine de Kooning (1918–1989)
Ink wash on laid paper, 1967
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
© Elaine de Kooning Trust
James Baldwin
Beauford Delaney (1901–1979)
Pastel on paper, 1963
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Agnes Ernst Meyer
Marius de Zayas (1880–1961)
Pastel over graphite on paper, circa 1912–1913
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Anne Meyer
Paul Haviland
Marius de Zayas (1880–1961)
Charcoal on paper, circa 1910
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry H. Lunn Jr.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Harrison Fisher (1877–1934)
Sanguine conté crayon and white paint on paperboard, 1927
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of his daughter, Mrs. Scottie Smith
Zelda Fitzgerald
Harrison Fisher (1877–1934)
Sanguine conté crayon and white paint on paperboard, 1927
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of her daughter, Mrs. Scottie Smith
John Steinbeck
James Fitzgerald (1899–1971)
Charcoal on paper, 1935
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edgar F. Hubert
John Barrymore
Alfred J. Frueh (1880–1968)
Ink, ink wash, and graphite on illustration board, circa 1909
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the children of Al Frueh
Fritz Kreisler
Paolo Garretto (1903–1989)
Collage of airbrushed gouache and crayon on wood laminate and illustration board, 1933
Original illustration for Vanity Fair, March 1934
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
© Vanity Fair, Condé Nast Publications Inc.
Paul Robeson
Hugo Gellert (1892–1985)
Lithographic crayon and graphite on paper, 1928
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Theodore Roosevelt
Charles Dana Gibson (1867–1944)
Graphite and conté crayon on paper, 1898
Original drawing for Scribner's magazine, January 1899
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Luther (Bill "Bojangles") Robinson
Al Hirschfeld (born 1903)
Ink on illustration board, 1939
Original illustration for the New York Herald Tribune, March 19, 1939
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
© Al Hirschfeld
Edward Hopper
Self-portrait
Charcoal on paper, 1903
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Hart Crane
Gaston Lachaise (1882–1935)
Graphite on paper, circa 1923
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the Lachaise Foundation
Jacob Lawrence
Self-portrait
Ink and gouache over charcoal on paper, circa 1965 and 1996
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
© Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence
Stokely Carmichael
Jacob Lawrence (1917–2000)
Ink, gouache, and charcoal on paper, circa 1966
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
© Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence
Igor Stravinsky
Rico Lebrun (1900–1964)
Charcoal on paper, 1947
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Robert Kennedy
Roy Lichtenstein (1923–1997)
Felt-tip markers over graphite on mat board, 1968
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Time magazine
© Estate of Roy Lichtenstein
John Marin
Self-portrait
Graphite and charcoal pencil on transparent film, circa 1945
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
© 2001 Estate of John Marin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Beauford Delaney
Georgia O'Keeffe (1887–1986)
Pastel on paper, 1943
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation
© 1938 The Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation
Mark Strand
Philip Pearlstein (born 1924)
Watercolor on paper, 1983
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Mark and Julia Strand
Countee Cullen
Winold Reiss (1896–1953)
Pastel on illustration board, circa 1925
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Lawrence A. Fleischman and Howard Garfinkle with a matching grant from the National Endowment for the Arts
J. Robert Oppenheimer (enlargement unavailable)
Ben Shahn (1898–1969)
Ink on paper, 1954
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
© Estate of Ben Shahn / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Everett Shinn
Self-portrait
Pastel on paper, 1901
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Joseph Stella
Self-portrait
Gouache, graphite, metalpoint, watercolor, and crayon on prepared paper, circa 1940
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Alice B. Toklas
Pavel Tchelitchew (1898–1957)
Gouache on paper, circa 1926–1928
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Jamie Wyeth
Andy Warhol (1928–1987)
Graphite on paper, 1976
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
© 2001 Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / ARS, New York
John Twachtman
Julian Alden Weir (1852–1919)
Charcoal on paper, circa 1895
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Lincoln Kirstein
Jamie Wyeth (born 1946)
Graphite and crayon on paper, 1965
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
© Jamie Wyeth
Andy Warhol
Jamie Wyeth (born 1946)
Gouache, watercolor, and graphite on illustration board, 1976
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
gift of Coe Kerr Gallery © Jamie Wyeth
Edna St. Vincent Millay
William Zorach (1887–1966)
Ink, charcoal, and colored pencil on paper, circa 1923
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
An exhibition organized from the Carter's print collection, "Striking Likeness: Portrait Prints from the Permanent Collection," was on display in conjunction with "Eye Contact." With works from the late 19th to the mid-20th century, the exhibition brought together more than 40 portraits, self-portraits and group portraits. Mary Cassatt, James McNeill Whistler, John Sloan and George Bellows are among the artists whose works will be on view. Highlights include portraits of such well-known individuals as actor Paul Robeson and former slave turned activist, Sojourner Truth. Also included in the exhibition are self-portraits by Milton Avery, Thomas Hart Benton and Rockwell Kent, who probed their identities as artists through printmaking.
