Selected Portraits
Reports of its death were exaggerated but persistent in the art world; in mid-twentieth century America, everyone seemed to agree that portraiture was finished as a progressive art form. A groundbreaking reassessment of the reinvention of portraiture in America between 1945 and 1975—the period when the Abstract Expressionists reached international prominence—this new exhibition presents fifty-five innovative portrait paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures. A selection of those portraits are featured below:
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
April 18, 2014 through January 11, 2015
John Ashbery (Argyle Socks)
Fairfield Porter (1907–1975)
Oil on canvas, 1952
Read More →
Interior with Leland
Louisa Matthíasdóttir (1917–2000)
Oil on canvas, 1945–46
Read More →
Jane Freilicher on Twenty-First Street
Nell Blaine (1922–1996)
Oil on paper, 1953
Read More →
Marilyn Monroe 1926–1962
Willem de Kooning (1904–1997)
Oil on canvas, 1954
Read More →
Harold Rosenberg 1906–1978
Elaine de Kooning (1918–1989)
Oil on canvas, 1956
Read More →
Frank O’Hara 1926–1966
Alex Katz (born 1927)
Oil on wood cutout, 1959–60
Read More →
Joseph H. Hirshhorn 1899–1981
Larry Rivers (1923–2002)
Oil and charcoal on canvas, 1963
Read More →
Lisa Bigelow born 1930
Alfred Leslie (born 1927)
Synthetic polymer on canvas, 1964–66
Read More →
Jackie I
Andy Warhol (1928–1987)
Serigraph, 1966
Read More →
Hugh Hefner born 1926
Marisol Escobar (born 1930)
Polychromed wood, 1966–67
Read More →
Ruth Bowman born 1923
Will Barnet (1911–2012)
Oil and graphite on canvas, 1967
Read More →
Nancy
Chuck Close (born 1940)
Acrylic on canvas, 1968
Read More →
Al Held and Sylvia Stone
Philip Pearlstein (born 1924)
Oil on canvas, 1968
Read More →
Ginny in a Striped Shirt
Alice Neel (1900–1984)
Oil on canvas, 1969
Read More →
Self-Portrait with Fish and Cat
Joan Brown (1938–1990)
Oil enamel on Masonite, 1970
Read More →
Sir Charles, Alias Willie Harris
Barkley Hendricks (born 1945)
Oil on canvas, 1972
Read More →
The Turkish Bath
Sylvia Sleigh (1916–2010)
Oil on canvas, 1973
Read More →
Mrs. Viola Andrews—My Mother
Benny Andrews (1930–2006)
Oil with fabric collage on canvas, 1974
Read More →
Andy Warhol 1928–1987
Jamie Wyeth (born 1946)
Oil on panel, 1976
Read More →
Portrait of Jamie Wyeth with Tan Background
Andy Warhol (1928–1987)
Acrylic and screenprint on canvas, 1976
Read More →
