Episode notes
Geologist Walter Alvarez was working away on some limestone samples in Gubbio, Italy, when he became intrigued by an odd layer of rock. He was looking at the K-T boundary. Underneath it, there are dinosaur fossils. Above it, there are none. And Walter was about to stumble on the reason why. In this final episode of our science series, we pair a rock sample from the K-T boundary with a unique portrait by Carmen Lomas Garza to tell the story of the dinosaur extinction -- how it happened, why it happened, and who figured it out. With Kirk Johnson , director of the Smithsonian's National Museum…
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PORTRAITS
National Portrait Gallery · Arts & Books · English
Art, biography, history and identity collide in this podcast from the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Join Director Kim Sajet as she chats with artists, historians, and thought leaders about the big and small ways that portraits shape our world.
More from PORTRAITS All episodes →
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S6 · E12 · 15 Apr 2025 · 25 min
How Do You Portray A Dinosaur?
We have portraits of people in our galleries. But what if you’re a natural science museum? How do you portray a dinosaur? We talk with Kirk Johnson , Sant Director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, about the ways our portrayals of dinosaurs have evolved, from sluggish and lizard-like to warm-blooded, colorful and spry. Then Matthew Carrano , curator of dinosauria, explains how the museum put T. rex into a striking new pose. The trick, he says, is to convey how cool dinosaurs were, without making them seem alien. We also tie in a couple portraits from the National…
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S6 · E11 · 1 Apr 2025 · 8 min
Blink: A Flower Is Not Just A Flower
This mini 'Blink' episode celebrates the cherry blossoms that are blooming all over Washington D.C. at the moment by taking a closer look at portraits that feature flowers. Kim visits three paintings in the National Portrait Gallery that use specific blooms to convey coded information about the sitter, including the experiences that shaped them and the roles they took on. Sarah Weston Seaton with her Children, by Charles Bird King Barack Obama , by Kehinde Wiley George Washington Carver , by Betsy Graves Reyneau
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S6 · E10 · 4 Mar 2025 · 31 min
The Vanishing Bison
When William Temple Hornaday's exhibition of stuffed bison went on display at the Smithsonian Institution in 1888, it caused a sensation. Most visitors had never seen this majestic, hulking animal up close. And most probably thought it would be their only chance, since the bison had all but vanished from the wild. Some 140 years later, Kirk Johnson , director of the National Museum of Natural History, realized that the iconic display itself had vanished from the museum's collection. So he went on the road to see what had happened to it. In this episode, we trace the story of how the bison -…
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S6 · E9 · 4 Feb 2025 · 35 min
Bonus: The Whole Truth
From the Smithsonian's Sidedoor podcast: sorting fact from fiction to find the real Sojourner Truth. As a prominent woman's rights activist and abolitionist, Sojourner Truth gave hundreds of speeches and sold countless images of herself. And yet the words that define her in our popular imagination - "Ain't I a woman?" - were actually made up. Host Lizzie Peabody went looking for the real Sojourner Truth and she found a woman with a much more complicated and fascinating life than any slogan can capture. Guests: Nell Irvin Painter, author of Sojourner Truth: a Life, a Symbol; Edwards Professor…
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S6 · E8 · 21 Jan 2025 · 24 min
Who Built This Place?
We follow a paper trail back in time to learn about the laborers -- some of them enslaved -- who put their backs into the graceful old building that now houses the National Portrait Gallery. When construction began on the building in the 1830s, Washington D.C. was in the midst of a mini building boom as a seat of freedom and democracy. Yet the city also had an active slave trade. By sifting through reams of microfilm and estate records, historian Michael Hussey was able to establish that at least 17 men who worked at this site were enslaved. His next step was to try to sketch a portrait,…
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