Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery has acquired a Tyler Mitchell portrait of Beyoncé for its permanent collection. Mitchell announced the acquisition, which the Portrait Gallery confirms, on Twitter Tuesday. “We are delighted to acquire this magnificent portrait of Beyoncé,” the museum’s associate curator of photographs, Leslie Ureña, tells Washingtonian.
A year ago today we broke the flood gates open
Now I’m glad to share this picture is being acquired into the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery’s permanent collection pic.twitter.com/T97rHU9u8J
— Tyler Mitchell (@Tyler_Mitchell_) August 6, 2019
Mitchell is the first African American and among the youngest photographers to ever shoot a Vogue cover, which he did for the magazine’s September 2018 issue. He’s a skater from Marietta, Georgia, and began his career shooting music videos. A Portrait Gallery spokesperson says the museum does not yet have a date when the portrait will go on view.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. His book A Bigger Field Awaits Us: The Scottish Soccer Team That Fought the Great War was published in 2018. He lives in Del Ray.
