National Portrait Gallery | Face to Face blog

The Death of John James Audubon: January 27, 1851

He killed thousands of birds and cruelly experimented on many animals, including catfish, a bald eagle, and his very own hunting dog. With friends, he buried a rat in a pot, its tail protruding from the dirt, and gave the complete ensemble to another friend, claiming it was a rare flower. He served jail time for bankruptcy and knifed a man in Kentucky over ownership of a steamboat.

Today, his drawings and paintings of American wildlife are respected worldwide, and his name is synonymous with environmental concern and wildlife preservation. A true enigma, John James Audubon was not even his name until he came to America in 1803 to look after his father’s business.

Audubon, born Jean Rabin in Saint-Domingue in 1785, was something of a liar from the beginning; he told others falsely and often that he studied painting with Jacques-Louis David. Artistically and professionally, Audubon struggled to gain acceptance into the strict company of American and British scientific academies.

Although Audubon’s technique of moving nature from the outdoors to the canvas was well within the realm of the acceptable in the early nineteenth century, today his process would be anathema to the society that now bears his name.

According to Audubon biographer William Souder, “At one time or another, Audubon killed specimens of all but a handful of the more than four hundred species of birds he ultimately painted, plus most of the quadrupeds of North America, from squirrels to alligators to moose.”

Simple enough to describe, his process was to kill, clean, position, and paint. One difference, however, between Audubon and his contemporary, Alexander Wilson, is that Audubon portrayed his ornithological subject matter at life size.

A second difference is that Audubon posed his birds in nature, conducting activities that he had either imagined or witnessed. For example, his Black Vulture appears to be eating the flesh of a deer carcass, while his female Great Cormorant is portrayed tending her young through tall grass.

With the exception of the display of birds in the Peale Museum in Philadelphia, wildlife work for the scientific community was usually posed and drawn on a small scale and without the aesthetic benefit of habitat, weather, and fauna in the forms of prey or predator.

By 1823, Audubon was living in Louisiana, drawing and teaching, having amassed great debt but also having assembled a vast portfolio of American wildlife art. When he arrived in Philadelphia in 1824, he hoped his art would receive acclaim, but his work was received poorly by the Academy of Natural Sciences and George Ord, a friend of the late Alexander Wilson. As Souder states, “Against Ord’s energetic opposition to him throughout the city and the orchestrated campaign to prevent his election to the academy, Audubon never had a chance.”

His work was well received throughout Britain, however. The Scots elected him to the elite scientific Wernerian Society in 1827, and he was elected to the Royal Society in London in 1830.

These successes coincided with the publication of Audubon’s most lasting achievement—what he called his “great work,” The Birds of America, containing 435 hand-colored images and distributed in 87 parts. A stunning achievement, also recognized in the United States, the publication of The Birds of America eventually propelled Audubon into the ranks of the Academy of Natural Sciences in 1831, seven years after his initial rejection.

Audubon spent most of his last decade in New York, having succumbed to various illnesses, and died there on January 27, 1851. He is buried in Trinity Church Cemetery at 155^th Street and Broadway in Manhattan.

—Warren Perry, Catalog of American Portraits, National Portrait Gallery

 

Cited:
William Souder, Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of “The Birds of America (New York: North Point Press, 2004).

 

John James Audubon / Unidentified artist /  Oil on canvas, c. 1841 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; transfer from the National Gallery of Art; gift of the Avalon Foundation through the generosity of Ailsa Mellon Bruce, 1951

 

 

Pop Quiz Trivia: From Rags to Riches, Thursday, January 26

 

While walking through the halls of the National Portrait Gallery you will find countless examples of people in the collection who came from humble beginnings, but through perseverance and determination built very successful lives. For example, did you know that Cary Grant (above) was homeless as an adolescent and performed for circuses before finally making it big as an actor? These sorts of rags-to-riches stories are the foundation of the American Dream.  

Come test your knowledge on Thursday, January 26, at 6:30 p.m., when the National Portrait Gallery will be hosting our collections-inspired trivia game, Pop Quiz, in the Kogod Courtyard. This month’s theme, “From Rags to Riches,” is centered on our collection of portraits featuring American icons who have overcome adversity and have gone on to have find success as artists, athletes, musicians, authors, and entrepreneurs.

Here is a sneak peek look at the 10-point bonus question for this month’s Pop Quiz:

LeBron James was born to a single mother in Akron, Ohio. For much of his childhood, James’s family struggled financially and was forced to move frequently. James received international fame playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers and has won several of basketball’s highest honors, such as being named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player in both the 2008 and 2009 seasons.

Before James played a single NBA game, he famously signed a deal with Nike for how much?

A) $35 million

B) $67 million

C) $75 million

D) More than $90 million

Snacks and beverages will be available for purchase in the Courtyard Café.

Pop Quiz trivia is played once a month in the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard in the National Portrait Gallery. The next Pop Quiz is “Road Trip USA” on Wednesday, February 22, at 6:30 p.m. DJ Micah Vellian begins to play tunes at 5:00 p.m.

—Claire Lucas, Public Programs Intern, National Portrait Gallery

 

Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, Claude Rains / Morini / Print, c. 1950 / Color photolithographic poster with halftone / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

LeBron James / Michael O'Brien / Gelatin silver print, 2002 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Bill and Sally Wittliff, © Michael O'Brien

Staff Profile: Molly Grimsley, Registrar

Q: What is your job title and what do you do at the National Portrait Gallery?

A: I am the registrar for exhibitions and loans. I deal mostly with artwork coming into the Portrait Gallery for special exhibitions or inclusion in permanent exhibitions, as well as work we lend to other museums. The Registrar’s Office works very closely with the Conservation and Design & Production departments to ensure the artwork is maintained safely and securely.

When NPG borrows or lends artwork, with conservation and curatorial input, I negotiate loan agreements, setting in place the legal, conservation, packing and shipping, insurance, and art handling requirements that have to be adhered to.

Working with other NPG conservators, other museums, art packers, craters, and shippers, I coordinate the special packing and shipping needs—I’m a travel agent for artwork. When we ship artwork overseas, I work closely with customs brokers and freight forwarders to ensure that all of the import or export documents and permits are in place.

Sometimes I courier artwork, which means I travel with it to the borrowing museum, ensuring its safety during transit. Upon arrival, I oversee its unpacking and installation. Along with our art-handling staff, I unpack and condition-report artwork for the Portrait Gallery’s special exhibitions and coordinate de-installations.

Q: Where did you attend college, and how did you train to do what you do?

A: I have a studio art degree with an emphasis in drawing and design from George Mason University. By studying visual art, I gained knowledge about various art mediums and how works of art are constructed. This helps me greatly in my job as we complete what’s called “condition reports” on every artwork that enters and leaves the Portrait Gallery.

These reports document, by photography and the written word, any sort of damages, problems, or weaknesses that the artwork contains. When it leaves NPG’s custody, the artwork is examined again to ensure there aren’t any new problems. 

I also gained knowledge and hands-on experience on the job; out of college I began working as a volunteer in art storage at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, where I was mentored by a wonderful staff member. This led to a permanent position in their Registrar’s Office, which eventually led to becoming the assistant registrar at the National Museum of African Art. This led me to the Portrait Gallery. 

Q: What is your favorite object in the collection and why?

A: I have two favorites: the John Singleton Copley self-portrait (right) is one of them. It’s a beautifully painted portrait—very romantic and delicate—and it captures an otherworldly mood. Also, I like our portrait of Pocahontas for personal reasons.

Q: Do you have a favorite NPG story you would like to share?

A: I’ve been so fortunate in that through my position at NPG, I’ve traveled to wonderful places, made friends with colleagues all over the world, met famous people, and have physically touched incredible art that you see in art history books.

One favorite story is when NPG borrowed the Oscar that director Vincent Minnelli won for Gigi from his wife for our “Red, Hot, and Blue” exhibition. I traveled to Beverly Hills, where I visited Mrs. Minnelli’s house (was escorted through the servants’ door!). She regaled me with wonderful old Hollywood stories as I packed the Oscar in her living room filled with photographs and memorabilia of Hollywood stars and politicians past and present.

After I finished, she gave me a tour of the house, ending in Vincent Minnelli’s bedroom, which she had left exactly as it was when he died—his glasses on his desk, robe on the bed, slippers on the floor, book opened, exercise bike in the middle of the room—it was like a Hollywood set.

I hand-carried the Oscar from LA to DC via a commercial airline; we had to buy an additional seat for the Oscar, which sat next to me for the five-hour flight. No one else on the plane knew there was an Oscar on board; discretion is one of the main tenets of a museum career. 

More recently I traveled to Moscow, Russia, to oversee the deinstallation and packing of two paintings the Portrait Gallery lent to an exhibition at the Russian Academy of Art, Tsereteli Art Gallery. Though it sounds like a glamorous trip, I arrived on Sunday and departed on Tuesday—courier trips are very quick and can be grueling.

It was an amazing experience, though, as I was able to visit the Basilica of St. Basil, the Kremlin, Red Square—places I never in my life thought I would see. The gallery was from the eighteenth or nineteenth century and had no freight elevator, so our large paintings had to be hand-carried down two flights of marble staircases that were lined on either side with marble sculptures on pedestals.

After the niceties of having tea with our Russian host, we packed in a huge atrium where, staring down as us from on high, were Communist-era statues reaching several stories high. Working with the Russian museum staff was especially challenging—out of the several people I worked with, only one spoke limited English, so we communicated mostly by sign language.

Luckily, another American colleague from Dubai was working on the exhibition, too, so between the two of us we were able to get the paintings packed safely and quickly. All in all, the Russian museum staff was a pleasure to work with, and it was an experience I would have never wanted to miss.

Packing paintings at the Russian Academy of Art, Tsereteli Art Gallery, in Moscow.

 

John Singleton Copley, Self-Portrait / Oil on canvas, 1780-1784 /   National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation with matching funds from the Smithsonian Institution; Frame conserved with funds from the Smithsonian Women's Committee

Alice Waters: Turning the Tables

Food pioneer Alice Waters and top DC chefs all in one place -- Friday, January 20 at NPG.

The National Portrait Gallery will celebrate its newest acquisition with a reception featuring renowned chef Alice Waters and some of the Washington region’s most acclaimed masters of the kitchen. NPG will install the portrait of Alice Waters on Friday, January 20, and as a part of the evening, the gallery will host a conversation between Waters and José Andrés in the McEvoy Auditorium at 6:00 p.m.

Following the portrait presentation will be a chefs’ reception with light fare by Andrés, Cathal Armstrong, Adam Bernbach, Todd Gray, Haidar Karoum, Nora Pouillan, Adam Smith (representing Cowgirl Creamery) and Susan Gage. Information to purchase tickets for the event can be found here.

One remarkable component of Alice Waters’s culinary philosophy is that she teaches us what we already should instinctively know: the wisest meal begins close to home. Fresher ingredients, which do not require processing, naturally yield a higher-quality dining experience. Ironically, advancements in agriculture, the food industry, and technology have combined to remove us from the intimacy of meals featuring food we have seen cultivated and prepared. Alice Waters has been at the forefront of changing that concept.

“The Portrait Gallery recognizes Waters for changing the way the nation thinks about how people are connected to food and the environment,” notes Dr. Martin Sullivan, NPG director. Dave Woody, winner of the NPG's 2009 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition (OBPC), was the artist commissioned to create the Waters portrait.

The journey from blank canvas to portrait on the wall is a lengthy one, with both the sitter and the artist being taken into consideration. Brandon Fortune, NPG’s chief curator, said of the process, “The National Portrait Gallery Commission reviewed a number of worthy candidates and finally voted to ask Dave Woody to create a portrait of Alice Waters.”

Woody received his bachelor of fine arts in photography from Colorado State University and his master of fine arts in studio art from the University of Texas at Austin in 2007. His photograph Laura (left) received the first prize in the 2009 OBPC, and he has also received multiple awards and honors while studying at the University of Texas. His work has been exhibited widely throughout the United States and internationally.

Waters, chef, author, and founder of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, is a pioneer of a culinary philosophy based on using only the freshest organic products, served only in season. Over the course of forty years, Chez Panisse has developed a network of local suppliers whose dedication to sustainable agriculture assures the restaurant a steady supply of pure, fresh ingredients.

Waters’s commitment to education led to the creation of The Edible Schoolyard, a one-acre garden and an adjacent kitchen classroom at Berkeley’s Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School. The project, started in 1996, gives nearly 1,000 students the knowledge and values they need to build a humane and sustainable future by actively involving them in all aspects of the food cycle.

The success of The Edible Schoolyard led to the School Lunch Initiative, which has as its national agenda the integration of a nutritious daily lunch and gardening experience into the academic curriculum of all the public schools in the United States.  

Meet Alice Waters, Dave Woody and top chefs from D.C.–area restaurants January 20 at this event.

 

Alice Waters / Dave Woody / Pigment print, 2010 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; acquired through the Marc Pachter Commissioning Fund as part of the first prize, Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2009

Laura / Dave Woody / Digital print, 2007 / First prize winner, Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2009

 

1862: Bloody Momentum

What Abraham Lincoln could never know, as 1861 closed its curtains, was what the second act of the Civil War would bring. The characters and the scenery would change rapidly in the coming year. The two generals whose signatures would conclude the war at Appomattox—Ulysses Grant and Robert E. Lee—would each make substantial contributions to their respective causes in 1862.

In the first six weeks of the new year, Grant (above) would begin his ascent up the ladder of command by vanquishing the Confederate forces at Forts Henry and Donelson in west Tennessee. Lee would be made commander of the southern army on June 1, 1862, and he would conclude the year with an impressive victory at Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Grant and Lee added to the roster of talented West Point graduates embroiled in the fight. And while Grant had never achieved much of merit outside of the military, Lee (below) had a fortune and a family name. Lee was taller than Grant, but Grant, at five feet eight inches, was not a short man for his day. Lee is credited with being more elegant and handsome, though, as Harold Holzer notes, “Lee had by this time lost much hair, and what remained had turned grey.” And though both men have been immortalized in equestrian statuary, Grant’s horsemanship is thought to have been one of his strongest assets.

Of Robert E. Lee's military pedigree, his general and memoirist A. L. Long writes:

From the date of its origin members of the family have gained distinction as warriors, until, through Launcelot Lee, Lionel Lee, and "Light-horse Harry," the culminating point is reached in Robert E. Lee, the greatest commander of modern times, and a military genius who may fairly be placed in comparison with the noted captains of the world as in some respects the noblest and ablest of them all.

Adjectives like “noble” are usually not assigned to Ulysses Grant. Often comparisons are made between Lee and Grant as they appeared at Appomattox; Lee is usually described as resplendent while Grant is pictured as grizzled and war-torn. How Ulysses Grant is depicted by historians matters significantly less than the single word that describes him at the end of the war: victorious.  

The war picked up speed and intensity in 1862, and as it did, both generals' roles would be increased. After Forts Henry and Donelson, large and horrible battles would be fought at Shiloh, Manassas, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. The war, by the end of 1862, was fought from Maryland to Missouri and from the Gulf Coast to the Shenandoah Valley.

—Warren Perry, Catalog of American Portraits, National Portrait Gallery

 

Ulysses S. Grant / Samuel Bell Waugh / Oil on canvas, 1869 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Robert E. Lee / Edward Caledon Bruce / Oil on canvas, 1864-1865 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

 

Cited:
Harold Holzer, "Virginians See Their War," in Virginia at War: 1862, ed. William C. Davis and James I. Robertson Jr. (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2007)

A. L. Long, Memoirs of Robert E. Lee: His Military and Personal History (reprint; Secaucus, N.J.: Blue and Grey Press, 1983).

A Portrait of Santa?

This time of year, visitors to the National Portrait Gallery often ask our docents, “Where is your portrait of Santa?” Although the question might sound like a simple one, the answer is actually complex.

First, Santa is truly a universal individual, and as much as we would like to place his picture among the noble Americans on display at the National Portrait Gallery, we simply cannot. “It would be super to have a picture of Santa in the collection, and we’ve tried for many years to get one, but Santa doesn’t like to confine himself to canvas or print—he also, I really believe, is bigger than any way we could possibly portray him,” notes Linda Thrift, keeper of the Catalog of American Portraits. Santa belongs to the whole world, it would seem, and not just to a single country or on a wall in a museum—even a portrait gallery.

Second, Santa is a very busy individual; he rarely has time to sit for the long hours it would take to accomplish a portrait. When Santa is not supervising his elves, he is preparing for his annual toy-delivery tour de force.

Last, painting portraits is a very difficult task, which requires a steady hand and ideal conditions. Most portrait artists cannot paint in cold weather, and Santa spends every night of the year but one at the North Pole. Deb Sisum, National Portrait Gallery new media expert, observes, “Of the portrait painters represented in our collection, I cannot think of a single one who could work in such a cold environment as the North Pole. Imagine painting at the North Pole! Your fingers would be cold, and you would have snow in your oils, inks, and acrylics; it would be tantamount to madness!”

Although the National Portrait Gallery does not have a portrait of Santa yet, the quest continues to locate a picture of the man who brings so much joy to so many. And who knows? Maybe sometime soon Santa will see the letters written by all our curators and historians and leave a special gift in a frame underneath the NPG tree.

 

—Warren Perry, Catalog of American Portraits, National Portrait Gallery

 

NPG Intern Profile: Laura Conte

Q: Where are you attending college, and what are you studying?

A: I am a senior art history major at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Q: Why did you want to intern at NPG?

A: The National Portrait Gallery has a certain charisma that distinguishes it from other museums. As an art history major, I’d taken a variety of classes in different areas of study, but the one that had resonated with me most focused on nineteenth-century American art.

When I first applied, I did so partly because I have always had an interest in American art and portraiture. I’d never visited the Portrait Gallery prior to being selected to my intern position, but I really appreciated the idea of using art to tell a story. I was excited by an opportunity to intern at the NPG because it combined both art and history in telling stories about great Americans.

Q: What do you do typically during your days at NPG?

A: As an intern with the Cultures in Motion performance series, my responsibilities are primarily centered around research. Cultures in Motion creates staged performances from the biographies of sitters from the NPG collection.

I do a lot of reading and searching in the library stacks and through Internet sources seeking interesting biographical information on important Americans for future shows. I have the unique opportunity to sit in on meetings with playwrights and contribute my research, which will be used in the creation of a script.

Q: Tell us about an interesting project in which you have participated here at NPG.

A: I think the most interesting project I have participated in is my research on the first ladies of the Civil War. I don’t think I ever realized how nuanced those five years in American history were. I read a couple of different biographies on Mary Todd Lincoln (below), as well as a plethora of her correspondence. She had a tragic life, but it was so interesting!

My research also included reading the autobiography of a dressmaker named Elizabeth Keckley, who had worked for both both Varina Davis (first lady of the Confederacy) and Mrs. Lincoln. If it were not for this internship, I would never have learned about Keckley, who played a substantial role in Mrs. Lincoln’s life, especially after President Lincoln’s assassination.

Mary Ann Todd Lincoln / Mathew Brady Studio / Albumen silver print, 1861 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Pearl Harbor: The Seventieth Commemorative Anniversary

The following is from President Franklin Roosevelt’s speech to the Congress of the United States, December 8, 1941.

. . . Yesterday, December 7th, 1941—a date which will live in infamy— the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu…

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.

                                                 ********

We recently asked Stanley Weintraub, author of Pearl Harbor Christmas (Boston: Perseus Books, 2011) to give us some thoughts on this commemorative event.

Weintraub will be joining us this evening, December 7, in the “America’s Presidents” gallery on the second floor of the Donald W. Reynolds Center at 6:00 p.m. He will give a short talk in front of NPG’s portrait of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, followed by a book-signing.

Q. Seventy years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, do you see Americans as still appreciating the gravity and resonance of December 7, 1941?

A. No. I think too many catastrophic events have intervened—such as 9/11.

Q. Why did you choose that particular image of FDR for the cover of Pearl Harbor Christmas? Can you tell us a little about that picture? 

A. He appears to be signing the declaration of war against Japan the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The black armband and black tie are in mourning for his mother who had died at age eighty-eight in September 1941.

Q. Are you pleased with the efforts—monumental, written, cinematic, and otherwise—that Americans have made to pay tribute to the men and women who fought and won World War II?

A. Not really. A proliferation of memorials is not as significant as the recognition that peace is harder to make than war.

 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt/Douglas Granville Chandor, 1945/Oil on canvas/National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

 

The Atlantic Commemorative Civil War Issue, Featuring Portraits from NPG

“Lincoln is a president I turn to often…” begins President Barack Obama’s essay in the current Atlantic Civil War commemorative issue.  This edition, to released today, features a special partnership with the National Portrait Gallery in which NPG Civil War images, as well as images from other Civil War collections, are paired with original Atlantic features by such writers as Mark Twain, Charles Francis Adams, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. 

Of the many excellent moments in this journal, the first is a short essay by President Obama in which he discusses one of the NPG’s prize works, the portrait of Abraham Lincoln by Alexander Gardner in which the photographic plate is cracked.

NPG Historian David C. Ward and Associate Curator of Photographs Frank Goodyear selected the images and worked with the editors of The Atlantic to place them in historical context. Ward and Goodyear note, “In the writings from The Atlantic and photographs from the National Portrait Gallery . . . one can see a people grappling to make sense of life in the cauldron of war. And one can see, in hesitant and undeveloped ways, the emergence of the modern United States of America.”

In late 2010, Ward gave a tour of the NPG “Hide/Seek” exhibition to the Atlantic editors (Ward was a co-curator of the exhibition). Members of The Atlantic staff returned for a visit to the Patent Office Building and the NPG collections.

“That tour sparked the idea of a cooperative venture in which the magazine drew on the NPG’s intellectual and artistic resources in publishing its commemorative issue on the Civil War. Both sides are very pleased with how things worked and hope to do more of this kind of collaborative programming and publishing in the future,” Ward said.

The 150^th anniversary of the American Civil War is being remembered by institutions across the nation in many ways. Few of them, however, have the memory of the Smithsonian or the Atlantic; fewer still have visual and written archives of America’s most divisive years.

Since the magazine’s inception in 1857, it has documented and commented on America’s progress, status, and past, while the Smithsonian’s mission—“the increase and diffusion of knowledge”—and its collections, such as the Civil War holdings, tell the story of the country’s past through its material culture.

Perspectives in this commemorative issue and the accompanying images are diverse and resonant, and many of the photographs—the scars on the back of the beaten slave, the bodies of dead soldiers in the field at Antietam—implore the viewer to seek out a higher meaning in the horror. President Obama characterizes Abraham Lincoln in terms of this imperative when he writes, “But Lincoln saw beyond the bloodshed and division. He saw us not only as we were, but as we might be. And he calls on us through the ages to commit ourselves to the unfinished work he so nobly advanced—the work of perfecting our Union.” 

 

Abraham Lincoln/Alexander Gardner, 1865/Albumen silver print/National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Gordon / Mathew Brady Studio / Albumen silver print, 1863 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

 

Woody Allen’s 76th Birthday, December 1, 2011

By the numbers, he is one of the most successful filmmakers and entertainers of all time. Woody Allen has three Oscars and twenty-one nominations; another twenty-one nominations with ten prizes from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA); eleven Golden Globe nominations with one Golden Globe; and nineteen nominations and four awards from the Writers Guild of America. The litany of his honors begins in 1966, and he has nominations and prizes from each decade since that year.

Allen has scores of other accolades from institutions, domestic and foreign, and, interestingly, he couldn’t care less about them. In his 1991 biography of Allen, Eric Lax writes, “As everyone knows, despite however many nominations he has, Woody will not campaign for them, nor will he attend the ceremony—or any awards ceremony.”

Allen is prolific in his directing and writing, and the roll call of his films contains many monuments of the cinematic landscape. Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Purple Rose of Cairo, and Deconstructing Harry are among his critically acclaimed works. The box office does not necessarily go the way of the critics, however. His films often play on his obsessions and fears—sex and death are two key themes in his work—and however founded or unfounded his neuroses, they serve his comedy well.

As a rule, Allen’s work is set in New York; a notable exception is his 2011 release, Midnight in Paris. He does not film in New York out of a desire to use a familiar setting, but out of an allegiance to his hometown (he was born and grew up in Brooklyn). Of the gestures made to the city after the attacks of September 11, 2001, perhaps Woody Allen’s was one of the most unusual. “I plead with you, please come make the films there; it [New York] remains a great, great city,” he said to the audience at the 2002 Academy Awards. Although he would not ascend the Oscar stage to accept any of the awards he had previously received, Allen did not hesitate to do the bidding of his hometown in its sad hour.

—Warren Perry, Catalog of American Portraits, National Portrait Gallery

 

Woody Allen / John Kascht / Watercolor, colored ink and graphite on pape, 1997 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, © John Kascht

Cited:
Eric Lax, Woody Allen (New York: Knopf, 1991).