Wednesday, February 27, 2019
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Lecture by Kim Sajet, Director, National Portrait Gallery
Rockwell Members: Free, Not-Yet-Members: $10, Students: $5
Advance reservations recommended; walk-ins welcome.
Lecture Description
There are three people and a world of ideas involved in a portrait. The first is the sitter, who especially if they are a public celebrity, has a vested and sometimes uncompromising opinion on how to control their image. Then there is the artist, who wants to build his or her own legacy by presenting to the public a unique artistic vision. And the third is us, the audience, who remain long after the sitter and artist have left. Making each picture contemporary, no matter when it was taken, how we approach a portrait tells us perhaps more about ourselves as anything else. In conjunction with National Portrait Gallery’s Yousuf Karsh: American Portraits exhibition, the director of the National Portrait Gallery, Kim Sajet, will talk about the dynamic relationships that lie at the heart of visual biography.
Exclusive Opportunity for Silver Dollar Society Members
Members of the Silver Dollar Society are invited to join an exclusive dining experience with leaders from the Smithsonian. As part of our Questioning Identity lecture series, a post-lecture dinner with the speaker will be offered in the Museum galleries following the February, March and April lectures.
Space is extremely limited and will be reserved on a first come, first served basis. Register now
*Due to limited space, interested parties are asked to register for only one opportunity. Dinner selections and dietary restrictions will be collected via email closer to the event.
About Kim Sajet
As the first woman to serve as director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, Kim Sajet (pronounced Say-et) has been exploring new ways to place personal experience and creativity at the center of learning and civic awareness. Not just a place to see famous Americans, the museum explores identity as a social construct that has been shaped in equal measure by opportunity and ability, prejudice and fear. By taking a cross-disciplinary approach that merges the traditional forms of painting, sculpture, drawing and printmaking with poetry, installation art, video and performance, Sajet aims to bring history alive.
Lecture by Kim Sajet, Director, National Portrait Gallery
Rockwell Members: Free, Not-Yet-Members: $10, Students: $5
Advance reservations recommended; walk-ins welcome.
Lecture Description
There are three people and a world of ideas involved in a portrait. The first is the sitter, who especially if they are a public celebrity, has a vested and sometimes uncompromising opinion on how to control their image. Then there is the artist, who wants to build his or her own legacy by presenting to the public a unique artistic vision. And the third is us, the audience, who remain long after the sitter and artist have left. Making each picture contemporary, no matter when it was taken, how we approach a portrait tells us perhaps more about ourselves as anything else. In conjunction with National Portrait Gallery’s Yousuf Karsh: American Portraits exhibition, the director of the National Portrait Gallery, Kim Sajet, will talk about the dynamic relationships that lie at the heart of visual biography.
Exclusive Opportunity for Silver Dollar Society Members
Members of the Silver Dollar Society are invited to join an exclusive dining experience with leaders from the Smithsonian. As part of our Questioning Identity lecture series, a post-lecture dinner with the speaker will be offered in the Museum galleries following the February, March and April lectures.
Space is extremely limited and will be reserved on a first come, first served basis. Register now
*Due to limited space, interested parties are asked to register for only one opportunity. Dinner selections and dietary restrictions will be collected via email closer to the event.
About Kim Sajet
As the first woman to serve as director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, Kim Sajet (pronounced Say-et) has been exploring new ways to place personal experience and creativity at the center of learning and civic awareness. Not just a place to see famous Americans, the museum explores identity as a social construct that has been shaped in equal measure by opportunity and ability, prejudice and fear. By taking a cross-disciplinary approach that merges the traditional forms of painting, sculpture, drawing and printmaking with poetry, installation art, video and performance, Sajet aims to bring history alive.