Arnold Newman's Americans

In recognition of the career and award-winning work of Arnold Newman, the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, will be exhibiting 100 of his portraits of individuals who have made a notable contribution to American culture and society. Included in the selection are classic portraits as varied as Igor Stravinsky, Frank Lloyd Wright, Robert Oppenheimer, Gypsy Rose Lee, Eugene O'Neill, J.F. Kennedy and Leonard Bernstein. Newman's innovative portraits were a radical step away from the traditional portraiture of the 1940s - capturing the subject in a setting reflective of his or her vocation and personal creativity. It is just this independent spirit that established him as a ground-breaking artist and made his work the subject of eight books and exhibitions the world over.