International Art Treasures Web Magazine

January  2005  

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American Women

Title: The National Portrait Gallery
Image Courtesy: The National Portrait Gallery

Royalty, First Ladies, Prime Ministers, Actresses, Authors and more are included in an exhibit honoring famous female achievers of the USA.

Marc Pachter, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, explains, "American Women brings together a wide array of personalities and fields of achievement. These role models may vary in their accomplishments, but they are all bound together by their uncommon supply of determination."

The women and the artists that captured them tell an incredible story of American history and portrait development.

As Beverly Cox, Director of Exhibitions and Collections Management at the National Portrait Gallery observes, "When the National Portrait Gallery opened to the public in 1968, it contained very few images of women. This exhibition not only recognizes the impact of women in our culture, but demonstrates how far the museum has come in acquiring their likenesses."

Title: Naples, Florida
Image Courtesy of: VISIT FLORIDA

The Illustrator

Boris Chaliapin was an incredible illustrator with memorable works of Martin Luther King and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Time Magazine commissioned multiple illustrations for their covers from the Moscow born painter. The first cover subject Chaliapin produced was of Nehru. The son of the Opera Singer Feodor Chaliapin, his earliest works depicted his famous father. Eventually he moved to New York City and supported himself through his talent for illustration.

Chaliapin added elements to his works that presented his view of the subject besides their features. Hardly surprising that Jacqueline Kennedy was painted standing before the White House, and in the background is a small baby carriage. It combined the two roles that would become forever associated with Mrs. Kennedy, one of the most sophisticated First Ladies of the United States, coupled with her devotion to her children.

The Social Realist

Raphael Soyer and his twin brother Moses emigrated from their native Russia to the United States, officially becoming American citizens in 1925. The twins were both painters and developed a keen gift for Social Realism in their work, particularly of the Great Depression. Each brother was a respected author naturally favoring art as their main subject.

Golda Meir was born in Kiev but emigrated with her family to the USA, settling in Milwaukee. Her lifelong service to Israel began as Israeli Ambassador to the Soviet Union. She was later elected to the Knesset and she became Israel's Prime Minister in 1969.

The Photographer

Sid Avery will forever be associated with Hollywood thanks to the incredible eye he had when focusing his lens at the stars. One of his most celebrated images is Elizabeth Taylor on the set of the movie Giant, catching some sun, relaxed and unaware of the camera. It is a private moment that lets the beauty of the actress shine during what was the height of her career.

The Collaborator

Certainly a look at American Women should focus not only on the subject but the artist wielding the paint brush. Mildred Nungester Wolfe, like her subject in this exhibition, is a Mississippian.

Title: Mildred Nungester Wolfe, 2002
Image Courtesy: The Wolfe Studio

The artist will soon publish a book on the life of her subject, Eudora Welty. Mildred Wolfe kindly provided the following excerpt describing the creative process.

"I had always wanted to paint Eudora Welty. She reminded me of a woman in one of Rembrandt’s portraits, holding a fan. She, like Eudora, is not exactly pretty, but not ugly either; and it’s a beautiful painting. I asked Eudora to pose for me, but her mother was ill and she was going over to Vicksburg all the time to see her in the nursing home, and she said she just couldn’t do it. Later, after her mother had passed away, I asked her again. I decided to paint a watercolor portrait, which wouldn’t take much of her time. She came out to the studio with a book on Chekhov, a biography. She sat reading it, not looking up, laughing at what she was reading and every now making a comment to me with a glance and a twinkle in her eye. It’s a very immediate and intimate portrait, done all on the spot.

A few years later she told me that the National Portrait Gallery in Washington had asked her about a portrait. Eudora owned a portrait of herself, done when she was a young woman. The artist who painted it, a woman, wanted to buy the painting back. This woman, apparently, wanted it back so she could sell to the National Portrait Gallery herself. Eudora thought it was outrageous. She didn’t want to sell the painting; she wanted to keep it in the house. She said, “I just wish somebody would paint another portrait and keep that woman silent, so I don’t have to hear from her again.” She didn’t outright ask me to paint one, but she suggested it would be a good idea.

In fact, I waited for about a year. Then in 1988, I thought, well, I might as well try it. I asked her if I could come and make a drawing of her in her house. It was very cold that day, the heat was off in her house and she was sitting in her chair in the living room with her coat on. I didn’t take my coat off either. I made a full scale drawing in charcoal, very carefully. I took a photograph too and made some color notes and used all this information to start on the canvas in the studio so Eudora would not have to sit for the portrait. When I was satisfied, I had her come and look. She liked it. I packed it up and sent it, with some trepidation, to Washington. They sent word back: the committee loved the composition and the hands and head, but they thought the colors of the blue coat and the red scarf were too loud to go with their other works and that it should be more somber. If I was willing to revise it they would be happy to reconsider it. They sent it back and I darkened the color of the coat and borrowed Eudora’s scarf and carefully painted in its printed pattern, toning down the color at the same time. They loved it and were very pleased I was willing to change it. I charged them more than I ever charged for a portrait before, and used the money on a trip to Europe with Bebe in 1989, the year the Berlin wall came down. "

The National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian

Title: Hall of Presidents, National Portrait Gallery
Image Courtesy: National Portrait Gallery

The museum is currently being renovated and is scheduled to reopen in 2006.

Naples, Florida

Title: Beachfront Naples, Florida
Image Courtesy of: VISIT FLORIDA

The hurricanes are but a distant memory and Florida is open for business and certainly a welcoming warm climate to those in the Northern regions.

Title: Naples, Florida
Image Courtesy of: VISIT FLORIDA

Delicious dining, exquisite shopping opportunities and fine art all are reasons to make a visit to Florida. Add to that, glorious weather, sandy beaches and an opportunity to relax away from the day to day pressures and stresses makes a trip to Naples very inviting indeed.

Exhibition Schedule

American Women A Selection from the National Portrait Gallery
Naples Museum of Art:
January 7 - April 3, 2005
Columbia Museum of Art:
April 30 - July 10, 2005