The writer, artist, musician, or otherwise creative individual who abuses alcohol or drugs is something of a cliché in the art world. And yet, some of these same individuals are anything but cliché, and occasionally one of them is responsible for an artistic revolution. Is the chemistry behind creation a catalyst or just a common denominator? In the tragic instance of Edgar Allan Poe, his dependencies were often all that he seemed to have—his vices and his immeasurable talent. Orphaned as a ... Read Full Story

Dave Woody of Fort Collins, Colorado has received first prize in the National Portrait Gallery’s 2009 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition.  His photograph titled “Laura” (shown on right) was chosen as the winner from a field of over three thousand entries.  First prize was a cash award of $25,000 and a commission from the museum to portray a remarkable living American for the NPG permanent collection.  The portrait by Dave Woody, as well as works from forty-eight other arti... Read Full Story

Gertrude Stein rings bells, loves baskets, and wears handsome waistcoats. She has a tenderness for green glass, and buttons have a tenderness for her. In the matter of fans you can only compare her with a motion-picture star in Hollywood, and three generations of young writers have sat at her feet. She has influenced without coddling them. In her own time, she is a legend in her own country. . . . Keys to sacred doors have been presented to her, and she understands how to open them. She writ... Read Full Story

Martin Schoeller has exhibited his portraits internationally and has received numerous awards. His photographs have appeared in many prominent magazines, including the New Yorker, Gentleman’s Quarterly (GQ), Vanity Fair, and Rolling Stone. A native of Germany who now lives and works in New York, Schoeller honed his skills by working with Annie Leibovitz. “Watching her deal with all of the elements that have to come together—subjects, lighting, production, weather, styling, location—gave me ... Read Full Story

“I have tried to get from my Great Father what is right and just,” exclaimed Red Cloud to government officials at the conclusion of his first trip to the East in 1870. Two years earlier, the celebrated Lakota leader had forced U.S. authorities to abandon a series of newly constructed forts meant to protect settlers moving across traditional Native lands. Beginning in 1870, however, Red Cloud would choose diplomacy, not warfare, to protect the Lakota’s land base and to ensure the tribe’s pol... Read Full Story

If you did not write a term paper on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter, it is possible you did not go to high school in the United States. Having to write a comparison paper on The Scarlet Letter and Arthur Miller's The Crucible is almost as ubiquitous as having to memorize the prologue to The Canterbury Tales, or at least it was at one time.Later on, if you went to an American college or university and took a literature course, you probably were hit with “Rappaccini’s Daug... Read Full Story

Photo by Warren Perry Today, baseball great Tommy Lasorda became part of the collection of the National Portrait Gallery. The former manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers also celebrated his eighty-second birthday at NPG with many other baseball greats and the current commissioner of major league baseball, Bud Selig. Selig said that Lasorda was the perfect ambassador for baseball. Steve Garvey, one of the greatest first baseman ever to play the game, said of his old boss, Lasorda, “It is ... Read Full Story

James Fenimore Cooper wrote the first great American novel, and then he wrote the second, third, and fourth as well.  Born in New Jersey as James Cooper on this date in 1789, he added Fenimore (his mother’s maiden name) as a middle name years later.  His family moved to Otsego County, New York when he was a child and James’ father founded the community now called Cooperstown, home to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Cooper’s “Leatherstocking Tales” are the fictional stories of Natty Bumpoo and the... Read Full Story

Everyone knows cigarettes are evil, but they are still powerful symbols of both sophistication and febrile intelligence. The very fine African-American painter Beauford Delaney (1901-1979), did this pastel drawing of his friend, the poet May Swenson in 1960 back when everyone smoked but the addition of the cigarette enhances the edginess of the portrait.  Just as Delaney was a realist painter in an age of abstraction, Swenson, not unlike her contemporary Elizabeth Bishop, was interested in c... Read Full Story

Eight years ago today, America was stunned to see the skyline of Manhattan consumed in fire and smoke. Within hours, thousands of Americans had died not only in the World Trade Center buildings, but also in attacks on the Pentagon and at a crash site in a remote Pennsylvania field. In New York alone, several hundred firemen, police personnel, and Port Authority employees were killed. The terror of that day impacted millions of lives both domestic and overseas. The ramifications of the attacks... Read Full Story