AMERICAN ARCHIVE
STORIES FROM THE WHITE HOUSE
An Artful Takeover
First Lady Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson in the East Garden Room with paintings by Willem de Kooning and others, 1965.
White House Historical Association
65 works of art were borrowed for a one-day exhibition at the White House.
On June 14, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson and First Lady Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson hosted the White House Festival of the Arts—the largest assembly of American art and artists ever brought together at the White House. The event transformed the White House into a temporary gallery, with paintings, photographs, films, and readings located within the house and outside on the grounds. Washington D.C. native Duke Ellington, among other artists, performed in the evening.
Poet Robert Lowell declined to participate due to the president’s policies abroad, particularly in Vietnam, where President Johnson had sent troops for the first time just months earlier.
Guests view sculptures in the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, 1965.
White House Historical Association
First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, center right, in the East Colonnade with paintings by Grace Hartigan and others, 1965.
White House Historical Association
First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, right, in the East Garden Room with paintings by Robert Rauschenberg and others, 1965.
White House Historical Association
AMERICAN ARCHIVE
STORIES FROM THE WHITE HOUSE
