Museum of Modern Art
Mo Ma: Artists in the Collection: Richard Avedon
Browse the museum's holdings of works by Avedon, which include several iconic portraits as well as some fashion photography. Also includes a biographical note, excerpted from Grove Art Online.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Artistic and Literary Trends
The arts blossomed in the Gilded Age, aided by the wealth of the business tycoons. Read about the artists who flourished at the time, along with the realism in literature that ranged from poetry to novels.
University of Florida
University of Florida: James Joyce's "Portrait of an Artist"
University professor Brandon Kershner maintains this site about James Joyce, which places special emphasis on the novel "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man."
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: Daguerreotypes by Augustus Washington
Augustus Washington, son of a former slave, learned to make daguerreotypes in 1843 to offset his college expenses, during his freshman year at Dartmouth College. Biographical notes and details about his work are provided in an annotated...
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: Portrait of the Art World: Everett Shinn
Brief essay about the artistic interests of American artist Everett Shinn.
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: Portrait of the Art World: Adolph Gottlieb
Brief essay about the artistic interests of American artist Adolph Gottlieb.
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: American Women: Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney
Read about how Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney supported young artists with her wealth. You can also see a bronze bust of her sculpted by Jo Davidson.
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: American Women: Cecilia Beaux
A brief biography of Cecelia Beaux, portraitist and one of the most successful female artist of her era. Included is a self-portrait.
Tate
Tate: Artist's Study of the "Portrait of Mme Gautreau"
A reproduction of a study made by John Singer Sargent in preparation for painting his famous "Portrait of Mme Gautreau." The "Portrait of Mme Gautreau," or, as it is more commonly called, "Madame X," closely parallels the finished portrait.
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: Eye Contact: Stuart Davis
Wendy Wick Reaves,a curator at the National Portrait Gallery, discusses the pencil drawing by Stuart Davis and explains how he achieves the look of his self-portrait.
ArtLex
Art Lex: Sculpture in the Round Making a Portrait in Clay
Artlex discusses two kinds of portraiture, caricatures and realistic portraits, as part of a lesson plan with step-by-step instructions on how to make a bust out of clay. An interesting game, "Who the Heck Is That?," asks the participant...
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: Eye Contact: Beauford Delaney by Georgia O'keeffe
Fascinating observations of Georgia O'Keeffe's portrait of Beauford Delaney. Listen to Wendy Wick Reaves, a curator at the National Portrait Gallery, explain O'Keeffe's use of pastels.
Other
National Portrait Gallery: Artists a to Z: Nicholas Hilliard
Access the museum's collection of portraits by the sixteenth-century goldsmith and painter Nicholas Hilliard. Find miniature portraits of many well-known figures from the Tudor and Stuart periods in British history, including Elizabeth,...
Art Institute of Chicago
Modern Collection: Vincent Van Gogh Self Portrait, 1887
Click to enlarge Van Gogh's self-portrait from 1886-87, and read the paragraph of text explaining his methods.
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: American Women: Georgia O'keeffe
A picture of a bust of Georgia O'Keefe is accompanied by some information about her painting style and place among modern American artists.
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: Asian American Portraits of Encounter
Exhibition of the work of seven contemporary Asian American artists considers the genre from a distinctly Asian American point of view.
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: Le Tumulte Noir: Paul Colin's Jazz Age Portfolio
The spirit of Jazz Age Paris, as captured by French poster artist Paul Colin. Includes portraits of Josephine Baker and of other musicians and dancers of the time who were the undisputed stars of Parisian theater.
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: Picturing Business in America: Jerry Yang
From an exhibit of hedcuts from the Wall Street Journal are these two hedcuts by two different artists of Jerry Yang, developer of Yahoo. Included is a brief chronology of his business.
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: American Women: Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a fiery advocate for women's rights. Read an account of her actions and see a portrait of her painted by American artist, Anna Klumpke.
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: Eye Contact: Ethel Rosenberg
Listen to Wendy Wick Reaves, curator at the National Portrait Gallery, discuss this pencil drawing of convicted spy, Ethel Rosenberg, and what the drawing meant to the artist, Elizabeth Catlett.
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: Portrait of the Art World: Willem De Kooning
Brief essay about the artistic interests of Dutch-born American art legend Willem de Kooning.
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: Ballyhoo! Posters as Portraiture: Lillian Russell
This poster of Lillian Russell, star of light opera, was produced by the Strobridge Lithography Company. Find out how it was produced and why the artistic choices were made in designing it.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Artists, Making of African American Identity: V. 1
The artwork of four nineteenth-century free blacks expressed in portraits, landscapes, sculpture, and photography. Links to works from Joshua Johnson, Robert Scott Duncanson, Edmonia Lewis, and Augustus Washington are provided.
Other
Musee D'orsay: James Abbott Mc Neill Whistler, Portrait of the Artist's Mother
From the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, this is an image, description and explanation with an accompanying link to other facts about the American Impressionist painting "Portrait of the Artist's Mother" by James Abbott McNeill Whistler.