“Recent Acquisitions” showcases 21 additions to the National Portrait Gallery’s collection. The latest iteration of this annual display focuses exclusively on portraits representing women or made by women. Subjects include singer Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, artists Ruth Asawa, Shigeko Kubota, Nellie Mae Rowe and Betye Saar, philanthropist and social activist Madam C. J. Walker, Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writer Octavia Butler, astronomer Vera Rubin, photographer Ming Smith, actress and dancer Carmen de Lavallade, and actress Greta Garbo. This exhibition also presents the portraits of Professor Walter Alvarez by Carmen Lomas Garza and Rabbi Sally Priesand by Joan Roth, which were recently commissioned by the Portrait Gallery.

“Recent Acquisitions” is curated by Robyn Asleson, curator of prints and drawings; Taína Caragol, curator of painting, sculpture and Latino art and history; Rhea Combs, director of curatorial affairs; Charlotte Ickes, curator of time-based media and special projects and Ann Shumard, senior curator of photographs.