Coretta Scott King

Artist

Diane Arbus, 14 Jul 1923 - 26 Jul 1971

Neil Selkirk, born 1947

Sitter

Coretta Scott King, 27 Apr 1927 - 30 Jan 2006

Exhibition Label

Diane Arbus's portrait of Coretta Scott King pictures her standing on the front lawn of her Atlanta home only a short time after the assassination of her husband, Martin Luther King Jr., in April 1968. While grieving his loss, Mrs. King continued to be involved in the campaigns that had so profoundly shaped their relationship. Two months after the assassination, she delivered the Class Day address at Harvard's graduation and used the occasion to speak out against the conflict in Vietnam, "a war that outrages our moral sensibility and insults our political intelligence." Several days later, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial-where her husband had spoken so eloquently five years earlier-she called on women to "lead the way of non-violence as a way of life." By the year's end, she had also announced the initiative to develop a memorial in Atlanta to honor her late husband.

Credit Line

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

1968 (printed later)

Object number

NPG.2006.19

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Copyright

© The Estate of Diane Arbus

© Neil Selkirk

Type

Photograph

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Dimensions

Image: 36.3 x 36.2cm (14 5/16 x 14 1/4")

Sheet: 50.4 x 40.7cm (19 13/16 x 16")

Mat: 71.1 x 55.9cm (28 x 22")

Place

United States\Georgia\Fulton\Atlanta

National Portrait Gallery

Topic

Exterior

Coretta Scott King: Female

Coretta Scott King: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Activist\Civil rights activist

Coretta Scott King: Congressional Gold Medal

Portrait

Record ID

npg_NPG.2006.19

Usage of Metadata (Object Detail Text)

Usage conditions apply

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm42b6f436b-fe8b-4158-901b-bd29cfc33d1f