PORTRAITS

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