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5/2/2004

Women of Our Time

Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach

Twentieth-Century Photographs from the National Portrait Gallery

Long Beach, CA. - The Long Beach Museum of Art and the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery celebrate women who have challenged and changed America in Women of Our Time: Twentieth-Century Photographs from the National Portrait Gallery, featured in the Long Beach Museum of Art's Ackerman Family Gallery from February 6 through April 4, 2004. Women of Our Time presents a stunning collection of photographic portraits of women whose brilliance, courage, style and unflagging spirit have helped shape America as we know it. The Long Beach Museum of Art is proud to be the sole Southern California venue for the traveling exhibition.

Women of Our Time includes photographs of activists and artists, designers and dancers, politicians and poets, all of them agents of change in their field or society at large. Many of the photographs reveal their subjects at pivotal moments in their lives ­ Eleanor Roosevelt just after the passage of the Declaration of Human Rights, Jessye Norman the year she made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera, Joan Baez at the 1963 March on Washington ­ lending each image the poignancy of a struggle overcome and a triumph earned.

Featuring the work of some of the most distinguished photographers of the 20th century, including Edward Steichen, Lotte Jacobi, Irving Penn, Philippe Halsman, Adolph de Meyer, Lisette Model and Arnold Newman, Women of Our Time is as much about the art of photographic portraiture as it is a celebration of its subjects.

'Photographic portraits are biographical documents,' said Frederick Voss, senior historian at the National Portrait Gallery and curator of the exhibition. 'These pictures do more than tell us how these women looked. They also capture significant moments of their careers and, at their best, add to our understanding of the nature of their achievements.'

Highlights of the exhibition include:
Helen Keller, photographed by Charles Whitman in 1904, in a portrait that shows Keller holding a book written in braille with one hand, while with the other hand she grasps a flower.
Josephine Baker, photographed by Stanislaus J. Walery in 1926, in Baker's first revue at the Folies-Bergère. She appears dancing, having just made a dramatic entrance from a flower-covered globe lowered from the ceiling. Georgia O'Keeffe, photographed by Irving Penn in 1948. Penn's portrait, like the artist herself, conveys an enormous dignity and sense of enigma.
Judy Garland, photographed by Bob Willoughby in 1954 during the filming of A Star Is Born.

The Women of Our Time exhibition catalog is available in the Museum Store. With a foreword by National Portrait Gallery Director Marc Pachter, a preface by broadcast journalist Cokie Roberts, and an introduction by exhibition curator Frederick S. Voss, the catalog includes full-page images of every portrait in the exhibition. Accompanying text features biographical details and information on each portrait and photographer.

Women of Our Time is the fourth exhibition in the 'Portrait of a Nation' initiative, in which five major Gallery shows are touring nationally and internationally. The National Portrait Gallery is closed to the public while its home, the historic Patent Office Building in Washington, D.C., undergoes massive renovations; it is scheduled to reopen in 2006.

The Long Beach Museum of Art¹s presentation of Women of Our Time is made possible by a grant from The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation, with additional support from Diane Creel, BP, Frieda's Inc. ­ The Specialty Produce People, Yellow Book USA and Marsha Naify.

About The Long Beach Museum of Art
Located on a magnificent bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, The Long Beach Museum of Art features a lively schedule of changing exhibitions, artmaking workshops for all ages, an historic mansion and carriage house, expansive galleries and gardens, a café (Craig's at the Museum), and a popular Museum Store. Hours are 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday, Museum Café opens at 8 a.m. (and stays open late on Thursdays); admission is $5/adults, $4/students & seniors, free for Museum Members and children under 12, and free for everyone the first Friday of every month. For information, call (562) 439-2119 or visit the website.

About the National Portrait Gallery
The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery is a landmark destination for people interested in learning the fascinating stories of great Americans who have shaped our country. It is the only museum of its kind in the United States to combine the aspects of American history, biography and art. The National Portrait Gallery was established by an Act of Congress in 1962 and was opened to the public in 1968. The museum's collection includes 19,000 works ranging from paintings and sculpture to photographs and drawings.

Opening Day is Free Friday ­ The Museum is free and open to the public!

Image: Dorothy Parker (1893-1967)

Writer
George Platt Lynes (1907-1955)
Gelatin silver print, 1943
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution © Estate of George Platt Lynes

Long Beach Museum of Art
2300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90803
Contact: Cari Marshall, Manager of Marketing & P.R.
(562) 439-2119, ext. 229

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