Art, biography, history and identity collide in this podcast from the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Join Director Kim Sajet as she chats with artists, ...
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
--------
34:30
Who Built This Place?
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.
--------
24:02
In Memoriam: Former President Jimmy Carter
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
--------
21:01
Blink: Carter's Smile
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
--------
7:16
From The Vault: Brilliant Exiles
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
Art, biography, history and identity collide in this podcast from the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Join Director Kim Sajet as she chats with artists, historians, and thought leaders about the big and small ways that portraits shape our world.
New Zealand