Tony Bennett will present his watercolor painting of Duke Ellington to the National Portrait Gallery Wednesday, April 29 at 10AM. This date was chosen as it is the 110th anniversary of Ellington's birth and the end of Jazz Appreciation Month.
Immediately following the presentation, the portrait will be hung in the museum's “New Arrivals" gallery. It will be on view when the museum opens to the public at 11:30AM.
The painting depicts Ellington with a bouquet of pink roses in the background. Bennett, who considered Ellington a mentor, chose this motif to celebrate Ellington's habit of sending the singer a dozen pink roses whenever Ellington composed a new song.
Bennett, a 15-time Grammy Award-winning singer, has been painting all his life and has a reputation as an accomplished visual artist. This donation marks the third painting he has donated to the Smithsonian.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
