A rare collection of photos that documents John F. Kennedy's public and private life will be on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum 鈥� just in time for the centennial celebrations of Kennedy鈥檚 birth. (Photos)
Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “American Visionary” exhibit, running May 3- Sept. 17, 2017: Jack with daughter Caroline, Georgetown, Washington, DC, March 25, 1958. 漏 Ed Clark
(Courtesy The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)
Courtesy The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “American Visionary” exhibit, running May 3- Sept. 17, 2017: Kennedy boards the Caroline, 1960. 漏 Jacques Lowe
(Courtesy the Jacques Lowe Estate)
Courtesy the Jacques Lowe Estate
Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “American Visionary” exhibit, running May 3- Sept. 17, 2017: Democratic National Convention, Los Angeles, July 13, 1960. 漏 Ralph Crane
(Courtesy the LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)
Courtesy the LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “American Visionary” exhibit, running May 3- Sept. 17, 2017: Kennedy preparing a speech, Baltimore, September 1960. 漏 Paul Schutzer
(Courtesy The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)
Courtesy The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “American Visionary” exhibit, running May 3- Sept. 17, 2017: Waiting for election results, Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, November 9, 1960. 漏 Jaques Lowe
(Courtesy the Jacques Lowe Estate)
Courtesy the Jacques Lowe Estate
Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “American Visionary” exhibit, running May 3- Sept. 17, 2017: The First Couple head to the inauguration ceremony, Washington, DC, January 20, 1961. 漏 Paul Schutzer
(Courtesy The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)
Courtesy The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “American Visionary” exhibit, running May 3- Sept. 17, 2017: Caroline and John Jr. at play in the Oval Office, Washington, DC, October, 10, 1962 漏 Cecil Stoughton
(Courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum)
Courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “American Visionary” exhibit, running May 3- Sept. 17, 2017: Traveling Europe on break from College, The Hague, 1937
(Courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum)
Courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “American Visionary” exhibit, running May 3- Sept. 17, 2017: Oval Office, Washington, DC, January 1961. 漏 Jacques Lowe
(Courtesy The Jacques Lowe Estate)
Courtesy The Jacques Lowe Estate
Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “American Visionary” exhibit, running May 3- Sept. 17, 2017: President Kennedy tours NASA facilities in Huntsville, Alabama, September 11, 1961. 漏 Bob Gomel
(Courtesy The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)
Courtesy The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “American Visionary” exhibit, running May 3- Sept. 17, 2017: Arrival in Dallas, November 22, 1963. 漏 Art Rickerby
(Courtesy The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)
Courtesy The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “American Visionary” exhibit, running May 3- Sept. 17, 2017: Jacqueline Kennedy departs the White House the day of her husband鈥檚 state funeral, Washington, DC, November 25, 1963. 漏 I. C. Rapoport
(Courtesy Archive Photos/Getty Images)
Courtesy Archive Photos/Getty Images
Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “American Visionary” exhibit, running May 3- Sept. 17, 2017: Photo booth portrait, 1953.
(Courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum)
Courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “American Visionary” exhibit, running May 3- Sept. 17, 2017: Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, 1957. 漏 Philippe Halsman
(Courtesy Magnum Photos)
Courtesy Magnum Photos
Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “American Visionary” exhibit, running May 3- Sept. 17, 2017: Senator Kennedy鈥檚 return home, Barnstable Municipal Airport, Hyannis, Massachusetts, July 1960. 漏 Paul Schutzer
(Courtesy The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)
Courtesy The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “American Visionary” exhibit, running May 3- Sept. 17, 2017: Movers transport Kennedy fashion mannequins, New York City, 1961. 漏 Yale Joel
(Courtesy The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)
Courtesy The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “American Visionary” exhibit, running May 3- Sept. 17, 2017: Televised address, Los Angeles, October 22, 1962. 漏 Ralph Crane
(Courtesy TheLIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)
May 2, 2026 | The Smithsonian offers a new way to view JFK (草莓传媒's Rachel Nania)
WASHINGTON 鈥� Some of the most iconic moments of John F. Kennedy鈥檚 life were captured on film 鈥� from his fairy-tale wedding to Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953 to his final moments in Dallas just 10 years later.
Kennedy鈥檚 career in politics coincided with a 鈥済olden age鈥� in photojournalism, when images were increasingly used to tell the stories聽behind such monumental events as the civil rights movement and the Cuban missile crisis.
This summer, a collection of 77 photos that document the former president鈥檚 public and private life throughout this era will be on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum 鈥� just in time for the centennial celebrations of Kennedy鈥檚 birth. The exhibit opens Wednesday.
Lawrence Schiller, a motion picture producer and director who worked as a photojournalist during Kennedy鈥檚 time in office, is the curator of the new Smithsonian exhibit, 鈥�.鈥� He says what makes this collection so unique is that it鈥檚 arranged in a way one might have seen events unravel in real time in the 1960s.
鈥淸Visitors] are going to have an experience that they didn鈥檛 expect to have. That experience will be putting them in the time and the place in which Kennedy lived,鈥� said Schiller, who was on assignment in Dallas during Kennedy鈥檚 assassination and was later on the road with Bobby Kennedy at the time of his death.
In addition to photos of Kennedy 鈥� which were pulled from family archives, individual photographers, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and news wire services 鈥� the exhibit chronicles other coinciding worldly events.
鈥淲e see the times in which he lived and what was happening in the world,鈥� Schiller added. 鈥淚t鈥檚 JFK鈥檚 life and times, and the times is maybe just as important or more important than JFK鈥檚.鈥�
When asked what he hopes the exhibit accomplishes, Schiller said, 鈥淗ow one individual can inspire, not only individuals, but a country, and how an individual can change the course of one鈥檚 thinking.鈥�
He added, 鈥淸Kennedy] laid the foundation for modern America. What the exhibit says is, 鈥楢ny individual coming, no matter what your background, has the ability to inspire.’ All people have the ability to change another鈥檚 way of thinking and, therefore, change the direction of your life and those around you and your country. And that鈥檚 what JFK did. He inspired us to think about the future.鈥�
The Smithsonian exhibition is based on the forthcoming book, 鈥淛FK: A Vision for America,” and will run through Sept. 17, 2017.
