Inside The National Portrait Gallery Gala: Ava DuVernay, Clive Davis, Venus And Serena Williams, Anthony Fauci, Marian Wright Edelman And José Andrés Honored With Newly Commissioned Works

14.11.2022 - 01:07 / deadline.com

Anthony Fauci said that when he was approached by the National Portrait Gallery of an “unusual person” they suggested to create his portrait, “not only was I not reluctant about it, I got very excited about it.”

The result, a five-minute stop-motion drawing animation of Fauci’s career, is perhaps the most unconventional of all of the portraits at the center of the Smithsonian gallery’s biennial Portrait of a Nation Gala on Saturday, an event that nearly rivals the Kennedy Center Honors for drawing Beltway insiders, billionaires and celebrity.

The Fauci work from artist Hugo Crosthwaite covers the bookends of his career, from his work on HIV/AIDS in the 1980s to the current Covid pandemic.

“He showed so many subtle things in there,” Fauci told Deadline. “If you watch it more than once, you will see it is not only about the illness and the suffering, but about what the reaction to society was and how they were contrasts and comparisons. The guy’s a genius. He really is.”

We are excited to share an excerpt of "A Portrait of Dr. Anthony Fauci" by Hugo Crosthwaite. You'll have to come by the museum in person to see the full stop-motion animation and drawings. On view starting Nov. 10.