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From all of us at the Interior Museum, may this holiday season and the year ahead bring you comfort and joy. We appreciate your sustained interest in the museum and look forward to connecting with you in ways old and new in 2021!
What's New
 Images (left to right): Former secretary Ryan Zinke giving remarks prior to the portrait unveiling (DOI photo | Tami Heilemann); close-up of the official portrait (photo courtesy Brent Cotton); Interior Museum's registrar installing the portrait (INTR 07776) at the Main Interior Building (Interior Museum photo).
A Tradition Continued
The official portrait of the 52nd Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, was unveiled on December 8, 2020. Mr. Zinke's gift of this portrait to the Interior Museum ensures our ability to continue to display a complete collection of secretarial portraits within the halls of the headquarters building. The sequence of portraits serves as a tangible reminder of the service to the nation of the men and women who have, since 1849, fulfilled the role as the Department's leader and steward of some of the country's most treasured public resources.
This oil on board painting of the secretary on horseback was completed earlier in the year by the award-winning, Montana-based artist, Brent Cotton. It is based upon photographs from the secretary's 2017 visit to Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. It is the first Interior portrait to show a secretary in an active pose and the first to include an animal.
Many secretarial portraits contain elements of symbolism. Among the ones here: the U.S. Park Police emblem on the horse's martingale references the secretary having ridden a Park Police horse to Interior on his first day. The military patch on the jacket sleeve signifies his 23 years as a U.S. Navy SEAL and the fact that he is the first former Navy SEAL to serve as a Cabinet secretary. The six desert wildflowers in the foreground are tributes to his wife, children, and grandchildren.
Awash with Color
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Is it a photograph? A painting? Or both? In our newest blog post, explore the art and history of hand-tinted photography through colorful examples from the Interior Museum's collection. Guaranteed to appeal to your sense of wanderlust!
Read on…
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Collections Spotlight
Rocky Mountain National Park
Donald F. Moss (1920–2010), circa 1970
Watercolor on paper, 31" x 36.5" (framed)
U.S. Department of the Interior Museum, OSAC 02728
This peaceful winter scene was painted by Donald Moss. It is one of three pieces in our collection inspired by Moss's experiences as a National Park Service artist in residence at Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park a half-century ago.
Moss attended design school at the Pratt Institute on the G.I. Bill, after serving in the Marines in World War II. He is perhaps best known for his 30 years as a freelancer with Sports Illustrated, during which time he completed more covers and editorial illustrations for the magazine than any other American artist. You might also recognize his art from having appeared on Super Bowl posters, on a dozen U.S. postage stamps, and even as the official mascot logo for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.
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