Lynn Gilbert, photographer and author, will share her story: “How my Portrait of Louise Nevelson became Iconic”. On view in the gallery is an exhibition by Lynn Gilbert titled “Women”.

In 1976 Lynn Gilbert photographed Louise Nevelson, one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. This was the first portrait Lynn Gilbert captured of an adult, after a decade of being a children’s photographer. Recognized as a timeless image of a powerful woman, Gilbert’s portrait of Louise Nevelson became the face of the 2022 Venice Biennale. Half a century later this portrait was acknowledged to be the single most used of portrait of Nevelson.

How did a children’s photographer, capture the soul of a prominent, world – renowned artist? How did she get to take the original portrait? What goes into making a portrait? Why is this portrait always chosen to represent Nevelson who has been photographed by all the great photographers?

Nevelson was the inspiration for Gilbert’s book Particular Passions: Talks with Women Who Have Shaped Our Times, published in 1981. Gilbert’s photographs and text illuminate the lives of these women. Accompanying the talk is an exhibition titled “Women,” inspired by this book, which includes the portrait of Nevelson, as well as portraits of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Julia Child, Alice Neel, and Billie Jean King.

Come May 4th to the Roosevelt Library, to hear this exciting story about the 50-year history of a portrait. It is also a rare opportunity to acquire a signed print from five of these limited-edition portraits.