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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10. 2014
PAGE 3A
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NATIONAL
'American Cool' portrait exhibit opens in DC
MCCLATCHY TRIBUNE
MCCLATCHY TRIBUNE
The National Portrait Gallery sets out to define what cool is and display the top 100 examples in a new photography exhibition, "American Cool."
WASHINGTON — James Dean is leaning back, drawing on a cigarette, looking away from the camera as a mirror behind him in the black and white photograph creates a shadow image of a good-looking young man who, even in a quiet moment, seems remote, resistant to what's expected of him. He's cool.
But who else is? What does it take? And what is it about America that's defined cool to the world?
The National Portrait Gallery has decided it knows, and on Friday it opened a unique exhibit, "American Cool," with 100 photographs of American men and women who define "cool."
"American Cool' is about America's greatest cultural export — cool — and who embodies it," Kim Sajet, the director of the National Portrait Gallery, said at the media preview for the exhibit.
what they did, not necessarily in making a lot of money but
Certainly Dean, during his brief life, created a new American icon — the rebellious teen — in the stifling, strict atmosphere of the 1950s. He defined himself in the film "Rebel Without a Cause," his most celebrated role, before dying in 1955 at age 24 in a crash while driving his Porsche.
style; the embodiment of cultural rebellion or transgression
And being cool, according to this exhibit, is very much tied to being a rebel.
Most of the personalities photographed here are in the arts: actors Marlon Brando, Paul Newman and Audrey Hepburn; jazz musicians Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker; singers Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and Chrisie Hynde; painters Georgia O'Keeffe and Jackson Pollock.
A few sports figures make the
"Cool is an American concept. It comes out of our culture, being middle class and creating a new persona. It is a singular American self-identification."
grade, such as boxer Muhammad Ali and basketball legend Michael Jordan.
But there are no elected politicians or anyone from the business world beyond Apple's co-founder, the late Steve Jobs.
JOEL DINERSTEIN Exhibit curator
The show's curators, Joel Dinerstein and Frank Goodyear III, who described themselves in an interview as cultural historians, are quick to say they aren't making subjective judgments. They aren't deciding who's in with the in crowd.
They've laid out four criteria to be cool, and each of the 100 photos picked for the show had to have at least three of the elements:
"An original artistic vision carried off with a signature
Goodyear, a former curator of photographs at the gallery, is now a co-director of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Maine.
for a given generation; iconic power, or instant visual recognition; and a recognized cultural legacy."
in excelling at singing, writing painting, performing.
"Cool is an American concept," said Dinerstein, a professor at Tulane University
"They are the successful rebels of American culture," said Goodydey, who added that the criteria came down to being "edgy, dark, mysterious." They were also successful at
wno teaches a class called "The History of Being Cool in America." "It comes out of our culture, being middle class and creating a new persona. It is a singular American self-identification."
The curators have even pinpointed the birth of cool:
"Cool' was a 1940s jazz slang term," Dinerstein said. "Cool was born in New York City and became a national sensation and a global obsession."
Lester Young, the Mississippi- born jazz tenor saxophonist who honed his craft in Kansas City, would say "I'm cool" and wear a porkpie hat and sunglasses in the darkened clubs, creating a style standard for musicians for generations.
It's never too early to start the job search! The University Career Fair is in the Union ballroom from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday. Come network with potential employers.
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