Beyoncé Photograph Added to Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery
Written by SOURCE on August 7, 2019
A Tyler Mitchell-shot portrait of Beyoncé circa 2018 is being added to the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery’s permanent collection.
In a statement to CNN, who reported on the acquisition of the Vogue-published image Wednesday, Associate Curator of Photographs Leslie Ureña said the team was “delighted to acquire this magnificent portrait” of Beyoncé in a Valentino dress and Philip Treacy hat.
In his own statement one day earlier, Mitchell—who became the first black photographer to shoot an American Vogue cover—looked back on the portrait’s original publication as the day “we broke the flood gates open.”
As for when the portrait will make its way into public exhibition at the D.C.-located gallery, its acquisition is said to have been approved “and is underway,” with no additional info yet released.
Speaking on the history-making photograph upon its original Vogue publication in September 2018, Beyoncé noted it was difficult for her to get on such covers when she first broke into the industry “because black people did not sell.” That, she added, is merely a myth.
“Not only is an African American on the cover of the most important month for Vogue, this is the first ever Vogue cover shot by an African American photographer,” she said at the time.
Last month, Beyoncé bagged her third Billboard top 10 album entry this year alone with The Lion King: The Gift.
