And the winner is…

Earlier this month, we asked friends and fans of the National Portrait Gallery to help decide which portrait to feature in our new Recognize space. Thousands voted, andthe results are in!

Recognize is an opportunity for people to help us decide what will go on display as we continue to acknowledge those who have influenced American politics, history, and culture. Twice a year, we will present three portraits, and visitors can vote for the person and the portrait they would like to see on the Recognize wall. The inaugural candidates, selected by our curators and historians, were civil rights activist James Meredith, artist Georgia O’Keeffe, and entertainer Bette Midler.

Of these three outstanding contenders, Georgia O’Keeffe received 43 percent of the votes, and so Arnold Newman’s portrait of her will appear on the Recognize wall in early November! The installation will be announced here.

Georgia O'Keeffe was one of the most dynamic and compelling artists of the twentieth century, known for both her large-scale paintings of detailed, magnified flowers as well as her kinetic cityscapes. Her paintings played an integral role in the development of the art movement called American Modernism. O’Keeffe initially studied at the Art Institute of Chicago but felt unfulfilled. She left the fine arts behind, working instead as a commercial artist and later as a teacher. In 1916, famed photographer Alfred Stieglitz gave O’Keeffe her first show at his 291 gallery. The two married in 1924. Following Stieglitz’s death in 1946, O'Keeffe moved permanently to New Mexico and created paintings inspired by the stark, powerful beauty of the rugged landscape. Her fame continued to rise through the 1950s and 1960s, and her work was featured in a number of major retrospectives. In 1985 President Ronald Reagan awarded her the Medal of the Arts.

Thank you to all who voted. Stop by the Portrait Gallery this fall to see the photograph, as well as our many other fantastic portraits and exhibitions.