A rare collection of photos that documents John F. Kennedy's public and private life will be on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum — just in time for the centennial celebrations of Kennedy’s birth. (Photos)
Courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “American Visionary” exhibit, running May 3- Sept. 17, 2017: Traveling Europe on break from College, The Hague, 1937
(Courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum)
Courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “American Visionary” exhibit, running May 3- Sept. 17, 2017: Photo booth portrait, 1953.
(Courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum)
Courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
December 22, 2024 | The Smithsonian offers a new way to view JFK (WTOP's Rachel Nania)
WASHINGTON — Some of the most iconic moments of John F. Kennedy’s life were captured on film — from his fairy-tale wedding to Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953 to his final moments in Dallas just 10 years later.
Kennedy’s career in politics coincided with a “golden age” in photojournalism, when images were increasingly used to tell the stories behind such monumental events as the civil rights movement and the Cuban missile crisis.
This summer, a collection of 77 photos that document the former president’s public and private life throughout this era will be on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum — just in time for the centennial celebrations of Kennedy’s birth. The exhibit opens Wednesday.
Lawrence Schiller, a motion picture producer and director who worked as a photojournalist during Kennedy’s time in office, is the curator of the new Smithsonian exhibit, “American Visionary: John F. Kennedy’s Life and Times.” He says what makes this collection so unique is that it’s arranged in a way one might have seen events unravel in real time in the 1960s.
“[Visitors] are going to have an experience that they didn’t expect to have. That experience will be putting them in the time and the place in which Kennedy lived,” said Schiller, who was on assignment in Dallas during Kennedy’s assassination and was later on the road with Bobby Kennedy at the time of his death.
In addition to photos of Kennedy — which were pulled from family archives, individual photographers, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and news wire services — the exhibit chronicles other coinciding worldly events.
“We see the times in which he lived and what was happening in the world,” Schiller added. “It’s JFK’s life and times, and the times is maybe just as important or more important than JFK’s.”
When asked what he hopes the exhibit accomplishes, Schiller said, “How one individual can inspire, not only individuals, but a country, and how an individual can change the course of one’s thinking.”
He added, “[Kennedy] laid the foundation for modern America. What the exhibit says is, ‘Any individual coming, no matter what your background, has the ability to inspire.’ All people have the ability to change another’s way of thinking and, therefore, change the direction of your life and those around you and your country. And that’s what JFK did. He inspired us to think about the future.”
The Smithsonian exhibition is based on the forthcoming book, “JFK: A Vision for America,” and will run through Sept. 17, 2017.
