with an essay by Trevor Fairbrother and catalogue entries by Brandon Brame Fortune and Lauren Johnson (distributed by the University of Washington Press, 2009), softcover, 5 x 8 ½ in.; 80 pp., $19.95

For the National Portrait Gallery’s most recent portrait competition, held triennially, a jury chose the forty-nine works featured in this book from more than 3,300 entries in a variety of media. The finalists used portraiture or self-portraiture to explore issues of identity and test the boundaries of figurative art. Grand-prize winner Dave Woody received a $25,000 award for his photograph Laura; he will also be commissioned to create a portrait of a notable living American for NPG's collection.

Purchase from the Museum Shop or from University of Washington Press.





Faces of the Frontier
Photographic Portraits from the American West, 1845-1924

by Frank H. Goodyear III, with an essay by Richard White (University of Oklahoma Press, 2009), hardcover, 9 x 12 in.; 182 pp., $45.00

Faces of the Frontier showcases more than 120 photographic portraits of leaders, statesmen, soldiers, laborers, activists, criminals, and others, all posed before the cameras that made their way to nearly every mining shantytown and frontier outpost on the prairie. Drawing primarily on the National Portrait Gallery’s collection, this book depicts many of the people who helped transform the West between the end of the Mexican War and passage of the Indian Citizenship Act.

Purchase from the Museum Shop or from University of Oklahoma Press.





Swift to My Wounded
Walt Whitman and the Civil War

written and adapted by E. Warren Perry Jr. (National Portrait Gallery, 2009), softcover, 5 ¼ x 8 ¼ in.; 38 pp., $6.99

Swift to My Wounded was first performed on November 13, 2006, for the National Portrait Gallery’s Cultures in Motion Program, in collaboration with the Catholic University of America Drama Department. Playwright E. Warren Perry Jr. uses Walt Whitman’s writings and his own adaptation of Whitman’s writings to convey the drama of the Civil War in Washington, D.C. Whitman served as a nurse in the Old Patent Office, used as a hospital during the war and now the Portrait Gallery’s home.

Purchase from the Museum Shop or from Amazon.com.




Reflections/Refractions
Self-Portraiture in the Twentieth Century

edited by Wendy Wick Reaves (Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press/Rowman & Littlefield, 2009), hardcover,
9 ¼ x 12 in.; 190 pp., $49.95

In Reflections/Refractions, some of the greatest modern artists use self-portraiture to trace the intricacies of their personalities or artistic personas. The book is at once a catalog of twentieth-century self-portraits in the Portrait Gallery’s collection and an exploration of how modern artists view themselves and the world.

Purchase from the Museum Shop or from Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group.




Inventing Marcel Duchamp:
The Dynamics of Portraiture

edited by Anne Collins Goodyear and James W. McManus (distributed by MIT Press, 2009), hardcover, 9 x 12 in.; 320 pp., $49.95

One of the most influential artists of the twentieth century, Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968) was a master of self-invention who carefully regulated the image he projected through self-portraiture and through his collaboration with those who portrayed him.

Purchase from the Museum Shop or from MIT Press.




Ballyhoo: Posters as Portraiture

by Wendy Wick Reaves (distributed by University of Washington Press, 2008), softcover, 9 x 6 ½ in.; 160 pp., $19.95

Ballyhoo! looks at the poster as a form of popular portraiture. By interweaving the three themes of poster art, celebrity promotion, and advertising, Ballyhoo! suggests how a famous face can enhance the message of the poster and, conversely, how posters have defined and disseminated images of prominent Americans.

Purchase from the Museum Shop or from University of Washington Press.




Zaida Ben-Yusuf: New York Portrait Photographer

by Frank H. Goodyear III (Merrell, 2008), hardcover,
11 ¼ x 8 ½ in.; 240 pp., $59.95

In the early twentieth century Zaida Ben-Yusuf (1869–1933) was one of the busiest photographers in New York City, maintaining a fashionable studio on Fifth Avenue, exhibiting her distinctly modern portraits across America, Europe, and Russia, and publishing work in many magazines. Her self-portraits also challenged traditional perceptions of female identity. This striking book celebrates Ben-Yusuf ’s achievement, showcasing a significant selection of her elegant and compelling portraits.

Purchase from Merrell Publishers.




RECOGNIZE!
Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture

by Brandon Brame Fortune, Frank H. Goodyear III, and Jobyl A. Boone (National Portrait Gallery, 2008), softcover, 11 x 8 ½ in.; 32 pp., $10.00

Images of hip hop performers are as pervasive in our culture as the music itself. This full-color booklet highlights the six artists and one poet—Kehinde Wiley, David Scheinbaum, Jefferson Pinder, Tim Conlon, Dave Hupp, Shinique Smith, and Nikki Giovanni—who appear in the exhibition and captures the vibrancy and energy that characterizes hip hop.

Purchase from the Museum Shop or from Amazon.com.

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