Object Details
- Artist
- James Amos Porter, 22 Dec 1905 - 28 Feb 1970
- Sitter
- Dorothy Porter, 25 May 1905 - 17 Dec 1995
- Exhibition Label
- Born Warrenton, Virginia
- For forty years, until her retirement in 1973, Dorothy Porter built the collections focused on African American history at Howard University into the great Moorland-Spingarn Research Center. Trained as a librarian at Howard and Columbia Universities, she was renowned for her tenacity—discovering books, ephemera, and manuscript materials in private collections, from book dealers, in attics, and even in trash cans. In 1930, she married James Amos Porter, a painter and important historian of African American art who was a Howard faculty member. His portrait depicts his wife in front of a Haitian landscape, perhaps referencing their travels to that country.
- Provenance
- Dorothy Porter Wesley, widow of artist; gift through the Westport Foundation, 1992 NPG
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the Wesport Foundation, Dorothy Porter Wesley, Trustee
- 1952
- Object number
- NPG.92.32
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Painting
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 76.2 x 61cm (30 x 24")
- Frame: 92.7 x 78.1 x 5.7cm (36 1/2 x 30 3/4 x 2 1/4")
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Location
- Currently not on view
- National Portrait Gallery
- Topic
- Costume\Jewelry\Necklace
- Costume\Headgear\Hat
- Nature & Environment\Clouds
- Exterior\Landscape\Rural
- Nature & Environment\Plant\Tree
- Costume\Dress Accessory\Glove\Gloves
- Dorothy Porter: Female
- Dorothy Porter: Arts and Culture\Education and Scholarship\Educator\Librarian
- Portrait
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.92.32
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm468418d1d-cd39-49dc-8aa3-8eca3c4ff379
