Showing posts with label Michelle Obama portrait. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michelle Obama portrait. Show all posts

Thursday, March 22, 2018

Smithsonian moves Michelle Obama portrait due to 'high volume of visitors'

Michelle Obama was so popular she needed more space.

The distinctive Amy Sherald painting of the former first lady, unveiled at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery last month, has relocated to a different part of the museum due to demand.

"We're always changing things up here. Due to the high volume of visitors, we've relocated Michelle Obama's portrait to the 3rd floor in our 20th-Century Americans galleries for a more spacious viewing experience," the National Portrait Gallery tweeted.

The museum has been inundated with visitors since the portraits of the Obamas were unveiled; 176,700 people visited the gallery in February 2018, its biggest month in three years, per Smithsonian Institution data. Last weekend, nearly 45,000 visitors stopped by from Thursday to Sunday.

[SOURCE: CNN]

Tuesday, March 06, 2018

Michelle Obama meets 2-year-old who was mesmerized by her new portrait

Parker Curry, 2, went from standing in awe before a painting of Michelle Obama at the National Portrait Gallery to having a Taylor Swift dance party with the former first lady in her living room.

At the portrait's unveiling last month, Obama said she was thinking of girls who "will come to this place and they will look up and they will see an image of someone who looks like them hanging on the wall of this great American institution." When Curry went to the gallery last week, another visitor took a photo of her staring intently at the modernist painting of Obama, and it went viral. Her mother, Jessica, took Parker and her infant sister, Ava, specifically to see the portraits of the Obamas, and told BuzzFeed News she "was trying to get her to turn around so I could take a picture, but she wouldn't cooperate. She just wanted to stare at it. She was fascinated."

On Tuesday, Obama tweeted that she just had just met Curry at her house for one incredible play date, and shared a video of the pair dancing. "Parker, I'm so glad I had the chance to meet you today (and for the dance party)!" Obama said. "Keep on dreaming big for yourself...and maybe one day I'll proudly look up at a portrait of you!"

[SOURCE]

Monday, February 12, 2018

Do you like the official portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama?

The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery unveiled the official portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama. Barack Obama's portrait was created by Kehinde Wiley, a black artist best known for his vibrant, large-scale paintings of African Americans. Michelle Obama's portrait was created by Amy Sherald, the winner of the Portrait Gallery's 2016 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. Some people like them while others hate them. What do you think?