In the first of our ‘social distancing’ episodes, educator Briana Zavadil White takes us to stand in front of one of her favorite paintings at the National Portrait Gallery. It commemorates a brutal boxing match that was fought 100 years ago, but Briana brings it alive… from the sound of the bell, to the smell of popcorn, to the sweltering heat.

See the portraits discussed on our website:

https://npg.si.edu/podcasts/home-gallery-dempsy-willard

Long before Coronavirus upended our lives, Will Rogers saw the United States through another difficult and divisive time. The good-humored cowboy is perhaps best remembered for his movies, but he was also a prolific social commentator who managed to cross divides with his comedic wit… and also advocated for those hardest hit by the Great Depression.

Check out the portraits we discussed on our website!

https://npg.si.edu/podcasts/will-rogers

Why was it so startling to find a photograph of Harriet Tubman as a young woman? Why did Elaine de Kooning stop painting after the assassination of John F. Kennedy? We offer a series of virtual visits to the National Portrait Gallery for all our listeners forced to hunker down during the coronavirus pandemic. Join museum director Kim Sajet as she chats with curators and educators about their favorite portraits and the remarkable stories behind the art, starting March 31.

Hugo Crosthwaite, winner of the 2019 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, traces his artistic influences to his parents' curio shop in Tijuana, where statues of Aztec gods co-existed with Bart Simpson. Fast-forward to his winning entry, and he walks us through the first scene of his stunning stop-motion drawing animation about a woman who crosses the border from Mexico into the United States.

You can see Hugo’s video at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJcmmWaW0nY&feature=youtu.be

Check out earlier episodes plus the images we discussed at our website: https://npg.si.edu/podcasts

Ann Shumard, the Gallery's senior curator of photographs, narrates the stories of Rose O'Neal

Check out the portraits we discussed in this episode on our website: https://npg.si.edu/podcasts/behind-enemy-lines

It wasn’t long after Cokie Roberts came on Portraits that we learned the sad news of her passing, on Sept. 17. We quickly realized we has a ton of great material from our interview with her on First Ladies that never made it into the final edition. So this episode we reprise some of those special moments from the cutting room floor— where her smarts, her compassion, and her moxie are on full display.

Find our original interview with Cokie at our website: https://npg.si.edu/podcasts

Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution Lonnie Bunch says a portrait can restore humanity, as in the case of Henrietta Lacks. She's the woman whose 'immortal' cells were taken without her knowledge and then used to pioneer important medical advances. Bunch, a scholar of American history, also describes images of one of his favorite presidents, Lyndon B. Johnson. As a lawmaker, Johnson had a 20-year record of voting against civil rights. Then he became a force for racial justice.

Check out the images we discuss on our website: https://npg.si.edu/podcasts/speaking-secretary

Classical vocalist Marian Anderson became a civil rights icon in 1939 when she sang before 75,000 spectators at the Lincoln Memorial — a concert organized after she was barred from singing at Constitution Hall because of her race. But curator Leslie Ureña wants people to know there’s much more to her story than a single performance.. including a pretty good pancake recipe.

Check out the portraits we discuss on our website: https://npg.si.edu/podcasts/remembering-marian-anderson

Journalist Cokie Roberts laments the fact that Martha Washington’s portrait depicts her as an old lady. Perhaps if it had been painted sooner, when Washington was young and vivacious, we’d have an easier time remembering her as the trailblazing, politically engaged woman she was. Roberts describes four portraits of First Ladies, outlining their bold contributions and the challenges that come with the job.

You can see the portraits we discuss on our website: https://npg.si.edu/podcasts/firsts

If the 1995 animated Disney film is your guide, Pocahontas was a free-spirited Native American heroine who sang to the wind. So why is she dressed like European royalty in her painting at the National Portrait Gallery? Curator and author Paul Chaat Smith separates out what we know and what we think we know about this iconic figure.

Check out the portraits we discuss on our website: https://npg.si.edu/podcasts/pondering-pocahontas