American Cool

From jazz stars Lester Young, Billie Holiday and Miles Davis to actors such as Robert Mitchum, Faye Dunaway and singers like Elvis Presley and Patti Smith, this exhibition examines the notion of ‘American Cool’. With a series of portraits of iconic figures, the show unravels what ‘cool’ really means and how it came to connote certain qualities – bohemianism, dynamic performance, a balanced state of mind, a stylish stoicism.

• National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC, United States, North America: at Sep 07, 2014