WASHINGTON, DC.- The
Smithsonian Institution today announced that Tony Bennett is donating his watercolor painting of Duke Ellington to the
National Portrait Gallery. The painting will be presented at the museum in April 2009 to commemorate the 110th anniversary of Ellingtons birth.
The painting depicts Ellington with a bouquet of pink roses in the background. Bennett chose this motif to celebrate Ellingtons 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. In 2006, Bennetts painting of Central Park was donated to the Smithsonian American Art Museum and, in 2002, his portrait of Ella Fitzgerald was donated to the Smithsonians National Museum of American History.
We are honored to accept this donation from Mr. Bennett to the National Portrait Gallerys collection, said Martin Sullivan, director of the museum. There was great affection between Bennett and Ellington, and both were outstanding contributors to Americas musical heritage.
