Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery Announces Spring–Summer 2022 Exhibitions

Watergate: Portraiture and Intrigue
March 25–Sept. 5, 2022

After the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate Complex were broken into on June 17, 1972, the crime quickly escalated to become a political and legal crisis that reached the highest levels of the United States government. Today, fifty years after the incident, “Watergate” stands for much more than the burglary itself, conjuring the subsequent cover-up of White House complicity and President Richard M. Nixon’s use of federal agencies to obstruct justice. This exhibition combines portraiture and visual biography from the National Portrait Gallery’s collection to bring visitors face-to-face with the event’s cast of characters. In addition to the former president, “Watergate: Portraiture and Intrigue” presents portraits of some of the story’s other key players, including Mark Felt, Barry Goldwater, Katharine Graham, Barbara Jordan, John Mitchell, Martha Mitchell, and Rose Mary Woods. On view will be the work of artists Richard Avedon, Marisol Escobar, George Giusti, and Dirck Halstead, as well as illustrators and political cartoonists of the era, notably Jack Davis, Patrick Oliphant and Edward Sorel. Time magazine devoted more than forty cover stories—and portraits—to the scandal, many of which are presented in this exhibition.

The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today
April 30, 2022–Feb. 26, 2023

“The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today,” curated by the National Portrait Gallery’s Taína Caragol and Leslie Ureña, reveals the power of portraiture to probe history and shed light on contemporary experience. The exhibition comprises 42 artworks that were selected as finalists by a jury as part of the museum’s sixth triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. Ranging from traditional likenesses to conceptual portraiture, and including painting, photography, drawing, sculpture, video, and performance, the upcoming exhibition reflects the evolving democratization of portraiture and underscores the genre’s ability to tell once-hidden stories. The show features works by established and emerging artists living in the United States and its territories. Through examining some of the most remarkable portraits made since 2019, the 2022 presentation offers a powerful affirmation of the human experience as it focuses on the pain of the COVID-19 pandemic, demands for social justice, personal isolation, familial ties, community support, love and loss. For more on the 2022 Competition finalists, visit portraitcompetition.si.edu.

Out of Many: Portraits from 1600 to 1900
July 1, 2022–ongoing
Reinstallation

“Out of Many: Portraits from 1600 to 1900” presents more than 180 objects depicting notable individuals who helped shape the nation’s early development. Spanning the east wing of the museum’s first floor, the exhibition includes portraits of Indigenous Americans, European colonists, clergymen, soldiers, abolitionists, writers, performers, scientists, and others. Reopening July 1, 2022, the first phase of the museum's ongoing reinstallation of these permanent galleries presents some new faces while recognizing the unequal economic and social structures that influenced portraiture prior to the advent of photography in 1839, and the biases that influenced museum collecting practices in the decades that followed. This initial phase also includes the premiere of both a newly installed Civil War gallery and another dedicated to the nation’s Reconstruction period. The reinstallation of the museum’s permanent collection galleries and lighting track renovations continues through 2024.

Powerful Partnerships: Civil War-Era Couples
July 1, 2022–May 18, 2025

Long before the term “power couple” found its way into English lexicon, dynamic duos had been making their mark on U.S. history. “Powerful Partnerships: Civil War-Era Couples” sheds light on the stories and faces of five couples whose work and lives shaped the nation around them during tumultuous times. Featuring photography by the iconic Mathew Brady Studio, the exhibition introduces visitors to the exploits of Nathaniel and Mary Banks, John and Jessie
Frémont, Ulysses and Julia Grant, George and Ellen McClellan, and Charles and Lavinia Stratton (better known to the public as Mr. and Mrs. Tom Thumb).

Family Ties: Daguerreotype Portraits
July 1, 2022–June 11, 2023

Within a decade of its introduction in 1839, the daguerreotype—the first commercially viable form of photography—emerged as a highly popular means of documenting family relationships. Affordable pricing fueled the popularity of the daguerreotype and technical innovations made it possible to produce successful images of multiple sitters. This paved the way for the boom in family portraiture. The portraits in this exhibition reflect the range of familial relationships documented by the camera during the daguerreian era. While they include nuclear family groups, they also speak to other meaningful family bonds— those shared by a young brother and sister; an aunt and a beloved niece; a young man and his father-in-law; a caring uncle and his nieces and nephews; and long-married couples.

I Dream a World: Selections from Brian Lanker’s Portraits of Remarkable Black Women
Part I: July 8, 2022–Jan. 29, 2023
Part II: Feb. 10, 2023–Aug. 27, 2023

This exhibition features more than 25 photographs by Brian Lanker, the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer who, in 1989, published the extraordinarily popular book “I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America.” Presented in two parts, the first group of portraits will be on view from July 8, 2022, through Jan. 29, 2023, and the second group will be on display from Feb. 10, 2022, through Aug. 27, 2023. The show represents women who have made
significant contributions to the United States, whether through writing, activism, theater, athletics, journalism, or other disciplines. Sitters featured in the first part will include Maya Angelou, Septima Poinsette Clark, Lena Horne, Barbara Jordan, Rosa Parks, Leontyne Price, Wilma Rudolph, and Alice Walker. Sitters featured in the second part will include Althea Gibson, Odetta, Cicely Tyson, and Oprah Winfrey. “I Dream a World” is co-curated by Ann Shumard, senior curator of photographs, and Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw. National Portrait Gallery