Sometimes even presidents let their guard down. And now, the public has an opportunity to see just how much in some lesser-known photographs.
The traveling exhibition The Presidential Image: 60 Years of the Best of White House Photography is making a stop at the University, in conjunction with the Oct. 8 presidential debate.
The exhibition opened Sept. 25 and will continue in the lobby of Olin Library’s Level 1 through Oct. 11. It comprises 68 prize-winning photographs culled from the current administration back to the Franklin D. Roosevelt years.
Included are some of the more famous photographs, such as a young John F. Kennedy Jr. saluting his father’s casket, and some more obscure photos from behind the scenes.
“The Presidential Image exhibit on campus is great preparation for the upcoming presidential debate,” said Shirley K. Baker, vice chancellor for information technology and dean of libraries. “The photographs are stunning and, being in the lobby of Olin Library, are a magnet for students entering or leaving the building.
“We are pleased that the redesign of Olin provides such a good venue for this exhibit.”
The exhibit is produced by the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism and the University of Miami’s School of Communication. The images were selected from the winning photos in the University of Missouri’s annual Pictures of the Year International photo competition.
The images have been designed into a freestanding exhibition of 16 3-foot-by-4-foot panels. National Public Radio’s Scott Simon wrote the foreword, which is featured on the first panel.
Award-winning University of Miami faculty member Loup Langton edited the exhibit, and U.S. News and World Report‘s Director of Visuals David Griffin designed it.
The exhibition will also travel to Arizona State University, thus covering the three presidential debate sites.
“It is a wonderful set of pictures and a great stimulus and backdrop for discussions about our history, the political process and how we remember these world leaders,” said David Rees, director of Pictures of the Year International.
Olin Library will also showcase the exhibit Presidential Debates at Washington University, which will be on view from Oct. 5-Nov. 3 in Whispers Café during normal café hours.
The exhibit will include memorabilia and photographs from the 1992 showdown with Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and H. Ross Perot and the 2000 debate between George W. Bush and Al Gore.
A third exhibit, featuring 16 rare and historically important American flags, is on display at various locations within the Athletic Complex.
Included in this collection is an extremely rare and original 13-star flag from the early 19th century with blue stars on a white star field. This unusual and visually striking flag was later modified for the 1880 presidential campaign when Democrats Winfield S. Hancock and William English placed their names prominently on the flag.
Also on display is a large flag associated with Abraham Lincoln’s funeral. The flag flew over the Albany railroad station in New York when Lincoln’s body arrived to be placed in the state Capitol rotunda on April 25, 1865.
The flags are part of the much larger collection of WUSTL alumni Louise Veninga (1972) and Ben Zaricor (1972).
Flags are on display on various walls inside the debate media center, as well as in hallways, alcoves and lobbies surrounding the media center. The flags inside the media center will only be able to be seen through limited public tours of the debate venue Oct. 4-5.
Tours will begin at 10 a.m., with the final tours concluding by 6 p.m. Groups (including schools) should contact Bill Woodward (935-5040) in advance to make arrangements. Cameras and camera phones will not be allowed inside the debate venue.
A fourth exhibit, American Presidents: Life Portraits, is sponsored by C-SPAN and the White House Historical Association. This exhibit, which will open Oct. 5 in the Athletic Complex, features the only complete collection of American presidential oil portraits by one artist, Chas Fagan.
Accompanying the Fagan portraits are biographical sketches of the 42 presidents, along with photographs and prints capturing each president’s time in the White House. The exhibit has expanded to include historical front pages of American newspapers announcing presidential election results.
Since its debut in 1999, American Presidents has traveled to many U.S. venues, including the White House Visitor Center, the Gerald R. Ford Library and Museum and the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum.
The exhibit has also been displayed at a number of campaign sites, including the New Hampshire primary and the 2004 Democratic and Republican National conventions.