On Stage: Portraying the Performing Arts

On Stage: Portraying the Performing Arts explores the variety of American performance through more than twenty paintings, sculptures, and other objects from the National Portrait Gallery’s permanent collection. The exhibition celebrates musicians, dancers, actors, entertainers, and arts figures, emphasizing the passion, determination, inspiration, and hard work behind their achievements and the artists who captured their likenesses.

Works created primarily over the past century portray figures including Paul Robeson, Ginger Rogers, Katharine Hepburn, Dizzy Gillespie, LL Cool J, Maria Callas, Joseph Papp, and Clive Davis. The exhibition also includes Katharine Hepburn’s four Academy Awards and a distinctive multidimensional sculpture of Afro-Caribbean lyricist Tite Curet Alonso by Adrián Román, a finalist in the 2025 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition.

When: November 6, 2026, through July 18, 2027

Venue: National Portrait Gallery, second floor, North Galleries

Description: The exhibition presents more than twenty objects examining the creative diversity of the American performing arts and the remarkable stories of the people portrayed.

Featured Figures: Paul Robeson, Ginger Rogers, Katharine Hepburn, Dizzy Gillespie, LL Cool J, Maria Callas, Tite Curet Alonso, Joseph Papp, and Clive Davis

Featured Artists: Adrián Román, Alice Neel, and David Hockney, among others

Curators: Brandon Fortune, co-acting director of curatorial affairs, and Robyn Asleson, curator of prints and drawings

Collection: National Portrait Gallery permanent collection

Tickets: Price not available