reflection

The portrait gallery trip has been my favorite trip thus far during my time at American. The funny thing is that if I was not forced to go, I probably would have turned down the idea. I think I may be a visual learner because the pictures just captured me. I had two pictures that were my favorite. The first was the JFK picture and the second was the Christopher Reeves one. I like these two because they captured the people in their true identities and communicated their performances without words. Today if you talked about Christopher Reeves many people would think of Superman and how he was in a wheelchair. I liked how his portrait captured him being superman, while in his wheelchair. It felt like he was flying and that he was still that icon he once was. In the portrait his eyes told his entire story and the clouds behind him was the inspiration he provided to everyone around him. The other picture that I liked was the JFK picture. It was art and a portrait at the same time. I liked the fact that it was different, yet at the same time it was the "same" as all the other portraits. The Presidential Portraits captured the person and the time that particular president was in. JFK's picture did just that. It was a changing time, He was a different kind of President so he required a different kind of painting. It expressed the time he was in and thats what I liked about it. The purpose of the National Portrait Gallery is to tell the story of the people through art. I feel like it really is no different than a written biography except for the fact that it is more interesting. It captures the persons identity and their performance through picture. It brings the person more alive than a piece of paper does. I just loved all of it.