Ali and Elvis: American Icons

After an attendance breaking run at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington Alfred Wertheimer’s Elvis at 21 exhibition traveled in February to The James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. This past Sunday The James A. Michener Museum presented a program called Elvis at 21: Why Elvis Matters featuring a presentation and discussion with exhibition co-curators Chris Murray and Warren Perry along with project director Marquette Folley.

The James A. Michener Art Museum presented Elvis at 21: Photographs by Alfred Wertheimer along with another photography exhibition; Muhammad Ali: The Making of an Icon. I was thrilled to see the two exhibitions together as Muhammad Ali is a great personal hero of mine. It was indeed a dynamic pairing of images of two truly extraordinary personalities. It was a great pleasure for Govinda Gallery to celebrate it’s 20th anniversary in September of 1995 with an exhibition of Howard Bingham’s photographs of Muhammad Ali. Muhammad attended the opening of the exhibition with Howard Binghaman and it was for me the most magical evening in the 35 year history of Govinda Gallery.

Elvis at 21: Photographs by Alfred Wertheimer continues at the James A. Michener Museum through May 15th, 2011. It then travels to The William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum in Little Rock Arkansas where the exhibition begins on May 28, 2011.

Here are a couple of photographs at the Michener program last Sunday, the invitation card for the exhibition, and a photograph of Muhammad Ali at Govinda Gallery’s exhibition of Howard Bingham’s photographs.

Invitation card for The James A. Michener Art Museum exhibition American Icons: Ali/Elvis.

S.I.T.E.S. project director Marquette Folley, James A. Michener Museum Director of Programs Zoriana Siokalo, Chris Murray, and National Portrait Gallery’s Warren Perry. Copyright © Carlotta Hester. All Rights Reserved.