National Portrait Gallery Presents “From FDR to Obama: Presidents on Time”

The only magic formula for getting one’s image on the cover of Time magazine is to become President of the United States. The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery presents the exhibition “From FDR to Obama: Presidents on Time,” which will explore the modern presidency through the covers of America’s oldest weekly news magazine. This exhibition is open at the museum from Feb. 12 through Sept. 6.

“The National Portrait Gallery is known for its collection of American presidential portraits,” said Brandon Fortune, acting director and curator of painting and sculpture for the museum. “In addition to what people might expect us to have in our collections—paintings, sculpture and photographs—the Portrait Gallery also holds cover-art portraits from Time magazine. This exhibition brings the two together for a lively discussion that is fueled by art, history and biography.”

Founded in 1923, Time magazine commissioned original portraits for many of its covers. Of these commissions, a large amount have been of American Presidents. “From FDR to Obama: Presidents on Time” includes 30 works of presidential cover art, representing a wide variety of mediums, from traditional oil paintings to a pop-art sculpture bust of Richard Nixon made from strips of newspaper headlines. Since 1923 there was only one President who did not make Time magazine’s cover: Herbert Hoover.

This exhibition includes portraits of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

In 1978 Time magazine donated nearly 800 original paintings, drawings and sketches of newsmakers, and today the museum’s Time collection numbers more than 2,000 items. Historian James Barber is the curator for the Time collection and has assembled this exhibition.

The National Portrait Gallery is at Eighth and F streets N.W., Washington, D.C. It is open every day, except Dec. 25, from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Smithsonian Information: (202) 633-1000; (202) 633-5285 (TTY). Web site: npg.si.edu.

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SI-24-2010