Clive Davis, Ava DuVernay & More Are 2022 Portrait of a Nation Honorees
Clive Davis, chief creative officer of Sony Music Entertainment, has received many awards and honors in his six-decade career, but an accolade announced on Wednesday (Jan. 26) is special: He is one of seven 2022 Portrait of a Nation honorees, as selected by The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.
Established in 2015, the Portrait of a Nation Award recognizes “extraordinary individuals who have made transformative contributions to the United States and its people across numerous fields of endeavor, ranging from the arts and sciences to sports and humanitarianism,” according to a statement.
This year’s other honorees are filmmaker Ava DuVernay; tennis legends Serena Williams and Venus Williams; Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health; Marian Wright Edelman, president emerita of the Children’s Defense Fund; and José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen.
The awards will be presented at the Portrait of a Nation Gala on Nov. 12. Following tradition, each honoree’s portrait will be displayed as part of the museum’s “Recent Acquisitions” exhibition from Nov. 10 through Oct. 22, 2023.
“The Portrait of a Nation Award is an expression of gratitude for the leaders in our country who have made a difference and continue to advocate for a better future,” said Kim Sajet, director of the National Portrait Gallery, in a statement. “These honorees are innovators in their respective disciplines and advocates for social causes who use their voices to care for and lift up others. The Portrait of a Nation Award reminds us that history is living and the choices people make have an impact on the nation’s legacy.”
After a one-year delay due to the pandemic, the biennial Portrait of a Nation Gala (previously the American Portrait Gala) will welcome guests for a black-tie event at the museum in Washington, D.C. Guests will enjoy cocktails and a private viewing of the Portrait Gallery’s “Recent Acquisitions” exhibition featuring the honorees’ portraits, followed by a seated dinner, award presentations and a special performance.
Past recipients of the Portrait of a Nation Award include Earth, Wind & Fire, who Davis signed to Columbia Records in 1971, and Aretha Franklin, who he signed to Arista Records in 1980.
Other past recipients include Henry “Hank” Aaron, Cpl. Kyle Carpenter, Carolina Herrera and Maya Lin in 2015; Madeleine K. Albright, David D. Ho, M.D., Bill T. Jones, Spike Lee and Rita Moreno in 2017; and Frances Arnold, Jeffrey P. Bezos, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Indra Nooyi and Anna Wintour in 2019. Portraits of all past honorees are included in the museum’s collection.
The Portrait of a Nation Gala supports the nation’s premier collection of visual biographies. Proceeds support the Portrait Gallery’s endowment for exhibitions, collections, commissions and education programs. For more information, visit npg.si.edu/gala.
