Opinion | The White House and the arts

Regarding the Sept. 4 Arts & Style article "Making a mark":

Please note that the first painting by an African American artist to be part of the White House permanent collection was "Sand Dunes at Sunset, Atlantic City" by Henry O. Tanner. It's a magnificent painting that was added to the collection on Oct. 29, 1996. Jacob Lawrence's "The Builders" and Alma Thomas's "Resurrection " are recent additions to the collection. Hopefully, there will be many more to come.

Ann Stock, Washington

The writer was White House
social secretary from 1993 to 1997.

I was pleased to read about the Obamas' interest in the arts but surprised by the statement that the painter Alma Thomas was "the first African American artist featured in the building." The portraits of Bill and Hillary Clinton in the White House are by Simmie Knox, a well-known local African American artist; Bill Clinton was president when a landscape by Henry O. Tanner was acquired for display in the Executive Mansion. Acknowledgment of these artists should be part of the record.

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Alan Fern, Chevy Chase

The writer was director of the National Portrait Gallery from 1982 to 2000.

In the Sept. 4 Arts & Style section, The Post bemoaned the fact that the Obamas have rarely visited local museums, such as the National Gallery of Art. I know of two recent instances when the Obamas visited local major art museums. On the Aug.2 visit described in one of the articles, I had to wait with others in front of barriers and security guards at the gallery while Michelle Obama visited the West Building in conjunction with a special event.

I am a docent at the National Portrait Gallery. One Monday within the past year, a visitor-services employee told me that she had guided the Obama family through the portrait gallery and the adjacent Smithsonian American Art Museum the evening before, after regular museum hours; she said the president and first lady were interested and friendly. I imagine the first family’s outings are not always announced by the White House or covered in the media and, as appropriate for their private enjoyment, not widely reported.

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Walter Albano, Washington

Having served in the National Gallery of Art's press office starting in 1988 and as its head from 1996 until my retirement this year, I frequently assisted with official visits of the president and first lady to the gallery. While reading Philip Kennicott's Sept. 4 Critic's Notebook article, "Focused on the art of the moment " [Arts & Style], I recalled numerous visits by the Clintons and Bushes.

The most memorable for me took place on Oct. 23, 2001, when first lady Laura Bush brought her mother, her staff and members of the media to see the exhibition "Virtue & Beauty: Leonardo's Ginevra de' Benci and Renaissance Portraits of Women." The gallery, like many museums and monuments around the country, had seen a huge drop in attendance in the weeks following the 9/11 tragedy.

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As the first lady toured the show with gallery director Earl A. “Rusty” Powell III, I waited with the press corps. When she finished her tour, Bush turned to us and said she had something important to say to the American people. She spoke eloquently about the stunning masterpieces she had viewed and then made an impassioned plea for all Americans to come out of their homes, resume their normal lives and visit the venues in their communities that celebrate our rich cultural heritage. For a nation still in shock, it was exactly what many of us needed to hear.

Deborah Ziska, Washington

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