The National Portrait Gallery in Washington tomorrow opens a new exhibition of portraits of 32 celebrities—ranging from Marlon Brando to Meryl Streep—originally commissioned as covers for Time magazine. It also will display a portrait, by Everett Raymond Kinstler, of actor Gregory Peck from April 1 to 10 on its first floor "Celebrate" wall, marking what would have been his 100th birthday.
All but the Kinstler portrait are part of the Portrait Gallery’s Time collection. In 1978 the magazine, which was founded in 1923, donated almost 800 original paintings, drawings and sketches of newsmakers, a collection that has since grown to over 2,000 pieces of original cover art. Beside Hollywood celebrities, the covers feature all U.S. presidents since Franklin Delano Roosevelt and other people of note in the 20th and 21st centuries.
The new exhibition of magazine covers, “Hollywood and Time: Celebrity Covers”—on display through September 11—includes vintage portraits of stars like Tom Cruise, Jody Foster, Dustin Hoffman, Diane Keaton, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Sylvester Stallone, Barbra Streisand, Elizabeth Taylor and Robin
Marking what would have been Peck’s 100th birthday on April 5, the exhibition devoted to this actor—who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, AFI Life Achievement Award and National Medal of Arts—will include a double feature of his films, To Kill a Mockingbird and A Conversation with Gregory Peck on April 3. There will also be a discussion of the latter film with its producers, Barbara Kopple and Linda Saffire, and Cecilia Peck, the actor’s daughter.
The National Portrait Gallery, part of the Smithsonian Institution, tells the story of America through individuals who have shaped its culture.
