NPG IN YOUR CLASSROOM Volume 3, no. 2. Winter 2009

Posters to Go Interested in a set of teaching posters for your classroom? Continue reading to find out more! Posters to Go is a set of fifteen posters from the collections of the National Portrait Gallery, the Archives of American Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Each poster includes an image or primary-source document and ideas for lessons that apply these resources to classroom instruction. The five themes represented in the posters are: Westward Expansion; Civil War; Harlem Renaissance; World War II; and the Sixties. These poster sets can be used as part of classroom lessons or as pre- and/or post-visit teaching aids for student group visits to the museums.

After completing the lessons found on the posters, students will be better able to: •  Cite evidence from artworks and documents to support interpretations; •  Identify important Americans, artworks, and documents and analyze their roles in U.S. history; •  Analyze the role significant Americans and artists have played in the American experience. If you would like to receive a set of the full-size laminated posters, which measure 17 x 24 inches, please complete the application at http://www.npg. si.edu/docs/ptgapplication.pdf. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis every three months. Supply is limited. We will notify you via e-mail upon receipt of your application.

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Harlem Renaissance

William H. Johnson (1901–1970) Jitterbugs (II), ca. 1941

serigraph on newspaper 16 7/8 x 14 3/8 in. (42.8 x 36.5 cm) Gift of Mrs. Douglas E. Younger

About the Artist

Learning to Look

William H. Johnson was born to a poor African American family in South Carolina. He moved to New York in 1918 and trained at the prestigious National Academy of Design, where he received numerous awards. Johnson spent most of the 1920s and 1930s in Europe, where he was influenced by both modern styles and folk traditions. Returning to New York in 1938, African Americans became the primary subject for his art. The Works Progress Administration assigned him to teach at the Harlem Community Art Center, where he met other black artists and intellectuals. Sadly, after 1944 Johnson’s mental health deteriorated quickly due to a syphilis infection, and he spent the last twentythree years of his life in a state hospital in New York.

s*OHNSONTYPICALLYUSEDONLYFOURORlVECOLORS!SKSTUDENTSTONAME THECOLORSTHEYSEEHERE!FTEREACHCOLORISIDENTIlED ASKTHECLASSTO describe what they see that is represented in that color (i.e., what do you see that is blue?). s!SKTHESTUDENTSTOIDENTIFYWHATTHEARTISTHASREPRESENTEDWITHALL OFTHEINDIVIDUALPARTSTHEYJUSTIDENTIlED s7HATADJECTIVESDOYOUTHINKDESCRIBETHISCOUPLE s7HATMATERIALISTHISWORKPRINTEDON,OOKCLOSELYANDIDENTIFYWHAT you can see and read. How does this affect the overall impression that the artist creates? s7ILLIAM(*OHNSONWASAHIGHLYTRAINEDARTISTWHOWORKEDINMANY different styles. Why do you think he chose to portray this subject in bright colors and blocky forms instead of a more realistic way? s"ASEDONWHATYOUKNOWABOUTTHE(ARLEM2ENAISSANCE WHATDOES this work reflect about the years surrounding that time in New York City? How does it do this? s0LAYSOMEJAZZMUSICFORTHECLASSAUDIOCLIPSAREAVAILABLEONLINEAT http://www.smithsonianjazz.org/class/armstrong/kit/kit.asp or http://www.folkways.si.edu/search/AlbumDetails.aspx?ID=281#) Ask students to compare what they hear with what they see here.

Activity

William H. Johnson, Self-Portrait, ca. 1923-26, oil on canvas, 29 3/4 x 23 3/4 in. (75.5 x 60.4 cm). Gift of the Harmon Foundation

William H. Johnson, Self-Portrait, 1929, oil on canvas, 23 1/4 x 18 1/4 in. (59.0 x 46.3 cm). Gift of the Harmon Foundation

About the Artwork When William H. Johnson created this work in 1941, he was teaching at the Harlem Community Art Center, just minutes away from the Savoy Ballroom in New York City. Many jazz dance crazes, including the jitterbug, were popularized at this famous dance hall. Immersed in the vibrant African American arts and culture which had blossomed during the Harlem Renaissance, Johnson frequently turned to the sights and sounds around him for inspiration. In this work, he shows a couple of dancing “jitterbugs,” like those who flooded into the Savoy to swing to the music of jazz legends. The dance style was energetic and athletic, with women being thrown in the air and dipped down to the ground as couples tried to outdo each other. Bold blocks of color interlock at sharp angles to create a sense of energy and movement. Together with the repeated lines on the floor, these stylistic elements recall the rhythm and vitality of jazz music. In the background, parts of instruments float in the air without any players present. This print was created using a technique known as serigraphy, which was new to Johnson, in which ink or paint is applied using stencils. It allowed him to experiment repeatedly with the same composition, trying different color combinations, background designs, and materials. This work is printed on newspaper, with advertisements visible through the paint, and the resulting effect further emphasizes the urban nature of Johnson’s subject.

"OTHOFTHElGURESINTHISWORKAREANONYMOUS ANDTHEIRFACESARE almost entirely blank. Students should work independently to research the Harlem Renaissance and create identities for the couple. They SHOULDCREATENAMESFORTHElGURESANDWRITEANARRATIVEDESCRIBING where they came from and what they experienced in their daily lives. 4HISSHOULDBEASSPECIlCASTHEYCANMAKEIT%XAMPLESOFINFORMATION to include in the narrative: s)NFORMATIONABOUTTHEIRCHILDHOODANDWHERETHEYGREWUP s!DESCRIPTIONOFTHENEIGHBORHOODWHERETHEYLIVE s!DESCRIPTIONOFWHERETHEYDANCEANDWHYTHISACTIVITYISANIMPORtant part of their lives In their research, students should look for photos of Harlem to include as part of their story. As an additional activity, students could create an artwork in Johnson’s style depicting their own neighborhood, childhood, or dance moves and then write a few sentences, similar to an interpretive label found in a museum, explaining the work. © 2008 Smithsonian Institution. This project has been supported by the Smithsonian School Programming Fund.

Sample posters of the Harlem Renaissance from the National Portrait Gallery, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Archives of American Art

NPG Acquires Hope Portrait of Barack Obama

Visitors can now view the portraits of President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush that were commissioned for the National Portrait Gallery. On December 19, 2008, President and Mrs. Bush unveiled their portraits in a private ceremony at the museum. This is the first time that the National Portrait Gallery has presented the official likenesses of a sitting president and first lady.

On January 20, 2009, Barack Obama was sworn in as the forty-fourth president of the United States. Obama is the first African American nominated as a presidential candidate for a major political party in the U.S. and is the first African American president. Shepard Fairey’s portrait of Obama is a large-scale handmade stenciled collage based on the image that he created both as a limited-edition print and as a free image meant to be posted online during the campaign. His style grew out of alternative artistic media, including street art and graffiti, but it also has a subtlety and sophistication derived from fine-arts sources as diverse as constructivism, art nouveau, and Andy Warhol. Fairey originally printed 700 copies of his poster, but once the “Obama for America” campaign picked up the image, that number increased to 300,000 copies. The National Portrait Gallery is pleased that this portrait, which is considered the iconic image of Obama’s campaign, has found its home in the museum.

George W. Bush by Robert A. Anderson, oil on canvas, 2008. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the friends of President George W. Bush

“It is always a great moment for the National Portrait Gallery to unveil the portraits of presidents and first ladies,” said Martin E. Sullivan, director of the museum. “I am thrilled that the museum is able to install these two works while President Bush is in the White House.” The White House selected Robert Anderson to paint the president’s portrait. Anderson was a classmate of Bush’s at Yale University and received his training in fine arts at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Bush’s portrait is installed in the exhibition “America’s Presidents.” Aleksander Titovets was selected by the White House to paint Laura Bush’s portrait. Titovets is a native Russian painter who trained at St. Petersburg State University College. He now lives in El Paso, Texas. The portrait of Laura Bush will hang on the first floor in the north hall of the Portrait Gallery.

Laura Bush by Aleksander Titovets, oil on canvas, 2008. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. O. Stewart

Barack Obama by Shepard Fairey, hand-finished collage, stencil, and acrylic on paper, 2008. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the Heather and Tony Podesta Collection in honor of Mary K. Podesta © Shepard Fairey/ObeyGiant.com

NPG Presents President and Mrs. Bush’s Portraits

Special Exhibitions

The “Portraiture Now” school program gives students an opportunity to explore portraiture as a vibrant, contemporary art form. The “Feature Photography” exhibition highlights six fine-art photographers whose editorial assignments have allowed their work to be seen by a broader audience. The portraits include well-known figures such as Barack Obama, Angelina Jolie, and Norman Mailer, as well as everyday individuals. In our school program, students will be introduced to the work of all six photographers, and will enter into a conversation about contemporary portraiture by considering the compositional choices that these artists make in their work.

FL, Buck Hill, Minnesota by Alec Soth, pigmented ink print, 2007. Printed in Fashion Magazine. Collection of the artist, courtesy Gagosian Gallery, New York City © Alec Soth

Whether or not you can visit the exhibition at the Portrait Gallery, be sure to check out the online exhibition at www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/feature/, where you can learn more about the artists and view many of the images.

“Presidents in Waiting” Through January 3, 2010 A “Presidents in Waiting” school program is available for grades 4–12 The “Presidents in Waiting” teacher workshop is Tuesday, February 10, 2009, 5:00–8:00 p.m. Although John Adams, the nation’s first vicepresident, once referred to the vice presidency as “the most insignificant office” ever invented by man, fourteen of the nation’s vice presidents have gone on to become president of the United States. In our school program, students will examine the portraits in the exhibition in order to discover the different ways in which these men assumed the office of the presidency. Although they might have all held John Adams’s “insignificant office,” the men explored in this exhibition played significant roles in American history. Join us for our “Presidents in Waiting” Teacher Workshop on February 10, 2009, where you can explore strategies for using these presidential portraits as a creative teaching tool in your classroom. Martin Van Buren by David Claypoole Johnston, lithograph, 1840 National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Portraiture Now: Feature Photography Through September 27, 2009 A “Portraiture Now: Feature Photography” school program is available for grades 5–12

Please contact the school and teacher program coordinator at [email protected] to register for a school or teacher program, request additional information, or contribute to this newsletter.

John Adams (1735–1826)

John Adams by Mather Brown, oil on canvas, 1788 The Boston Athenaeum, Massachusetts

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)

Thomas Jefferson by Mather Brown, oil on canvas, 1786 National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; bequest of Charles Francis Adams

About the Portraits In 1786, Thomas Jefferson, the American ambassador to France, visited his friend John Adams in London, where Adams was serving as the American ambassador to Great Britain. Adams and Jefferson had served together in the Second Continental Congress in 1776, where they had both been on the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence. While in London, Jefferson sat for a portrait by American-born artist Mather Brown. Adams also sat for Brown, and he and Jefferson exchanged their portraits as a symbol of their friendship. Adams even requested that Brown include Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia in the background of his portrait, in order to show his esteem for the book’s author. The two men became political opponents when Adams served as the nation’s first vice president under George Washington and Jefferson served as the first secretary of state. The strain on their friendship grew when Jefferson served as Adams’s vice president and then when Jefferson defeated Adams in the presidential election of 1800. After years of not speaking to each other, Adams and Jefferson resumed their friendship when they began writing letters to each other in 1812, upon the encouragement of a mutual friend. They wrote each other until their deaths, which happened on the exact same day—July 4, 1826. The portrait of Adams remained in Jefferson’s possession at his home, Monticello, until his death in 1826. It was then sold at auction and ultimately bequeathed to the Boston Athenaeum in 1908. The portrait of Jefferson, his earliest known formal portrait, remained in the Adams family until it was bequeathed to the National Portrait Gallery in 1999.

Learning to Look

Activities

1. Compare and contrast the two portraits. How are they similar? How are they different? Would you have guessed that they are by the same artist? Why or why not?

For younger students: Adams asked the artist to include Jefferson’s book in his portrait as a symbol of Adams’s respect for its author. If Jefferson had wanted to include something in his portrait to show his respect for Adams, what might he have included? Research Adams’s life and career, and then choose one symbol or object that represents his accomplishments to add to Jefferson’s portrait.

2. What color is most dominant in the background of both of these portraits? What effect does the use of this color have on the portraits? 3. What specific elements (objects, symbols, etc.) does the artist include to show that Adams and Jefferson are important statesmen? 4. The statue shown behind Jefferson is a GrecoRoman figure known as the Goddess of Liberty. The cap that she carries on a pole is a Roman symbol of liberation. Why might the artist have included this figure in the background? What effect does it have on the portrait?

For older students: Research the lives and careers of both Adams and Jefferson. Then make a timeline that maps their relationship, from being allies in the Continental Congress to fellow ministers in Europe, rivals in Washington’s administration, enemies as president and vice president, and, eventually, reconciled correspondents. For each phase in their relationship, include on your timeline dates, relevant information, additional portraits, and at least one symbol that represents that period in their lives.