We remember former President Jimmy Carter through a slightly different lens-- through the eyes of a longtime friend and through the portraits of Carter that are housed here at the National Portrait Gallery.

Political aide Jack Watson met Carter 10 years before he became president. He found a farmer in work clothes driving a Chevy and quoting philosophy. Over their long friendship and while serving as chief of staff, Jack came to appreciate Carter as a man who was willing to take "bitter medicine" to do what he felt was right for the country.

Jack describes a huge Polaroid portrait of Carter by the landscape photographer Ansel Adams, and he also explains why a softly lit painting depicting Carter in the Oval Office is not one of his favorites.

See the portraits we discussed:

Jimmy Carter, by Ansel Adams

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, by Ansel Adams

Jimmy Carter, by Robert Templeton

Other portraits in the collection:

Jimmy Carter, by Richard Avedon

Jimmy Carter, by Alan Reingold (Time magazine)

Jimmy Carter, by Andy Warhol

In this mini 'Blink' episode, Kim asks political aide Jack Watson for his thoughts on a couple of Time magazine covers featuring his old boss, former President Jimmy Carter.

One depicts the transition team that helped Carter sift through potential political appointees -- a team that Jack led. The other depicts Carter with his characteristic broad smile, which, Jack says, doesn't tell the whole story.

See the artwork we discussed:

The Great Talent Hunt, by Jack Davis

Jimmy Carter, by Alan Reingold

Paris in the early 1900s was a magnet for convention-defying American women. It offered a delicious taste of freedom, which they used to explode the gender norms of their day, and to explore new kinds of art, literature, dance and design. In the process, they became arbiters of modernism.

In this episode we revisit our interview with curator Robyn Asleson about the National Portrait Gallery’s “Brilliant Exiles” exhibition, which opened in April. It features 60 trailblazing women, including the dancer, singer and spy Josephine Baker, as well as the bookshop owner Sylvia Beach, who took a chance on James Joyce. Also in the lineup: Ada ‘Bricktop’ Smith, whose bustling nightclub became a hub for American jazz musicians, and Romaine Brooks, the painter who reinvented herself... and then reinvented herself again.

The exhibition runs until Feb. 23, 2025, so there's still time to catch it!

See the portraits we discussed:

Ada “Bricktop” Smith, by Carl Van Vechten

Josephine Baker, by Stanislaus Julian Walery

Gertrude Stein, by Pablo Picasso

Sylvia Beach, by Paul-Émile Bécat

Romaine Brooks, self-portrait