The National Portrait Gallery is an odd museum among D.C.’s many Smithsonian gems. For a hall full of paintings, it isn’t particularly concerned with any particular Art Historical ideas, and instead focuses on the paintings’ subjects and how they fit into the scheme of American history. 
The latest exhibit in the Gallery, entitled “Presidents in Waiting,” continues to straddle this line between art and Americana, but with more exciting subject matter than ever. In an attempt to turn the world on its head, the exhibit aims its blurry focus at the office of the Vice Presidency, one that “has often been a subject of ridicule and dismissal rather than serious analysis,” according to the plaque that greets visitors at the entrance.
In a misguided attempt to show the “actual power” of the position, the exhibit focuses on the fourteen VPs who later became president. Unfortunately this slant undermines the exhibit’s core assertion that the Vice Presidency is a position with merit in its own right rather than a stepping stone to the most powerful office in the world.
Still, it’s interesting to focus on these lads’ ascension to the presidency, which took a much different route than most of their presidential peers. Many of them were less obvious candidates for the office and found themselves accidentally in the Oval Office and leading their country.
Unfortunately, the Gallery drops the ball here as well. Although it is interesting to hear about the Watergate scandal and Teddy Roosevelt’s antics, these are the few oddball stories we already know well. At the same time, Millard Fillmore and John Tyler are barely discussed, two presidents who seem to legitimatize the entire exhibit. Sure, they didn’t do very many important things, but the whole point of the exhibit is to glorify and revel in the unimportant and the mundane.
Which begs to question: why go see it? That building alone offers far more interesting exhibits just one floor up, not to mention what’s within a metro stop or two. If nothing else, though, it’s refreshing to go to the exhibit and see that Sarah Palin isn’t hanging in the Smithsonian’s hallowed halls.
The National Portrait Gallery is located at Eighth and F Streets NW. “Presidents in Waiting” will be showing through January 3, 2010.
