Richard Avedon's JFK photos at Smithsonian for centennial

To mark the centennial of John F. Kennedy's birth, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. will display nine private photographs of JFK and Jackie Kennedy taken by Richard Avedon. The exhibition runs from May 25 to August 27, 2017. Avedon shot the images on January 3, 1961, at the Kennedy family's private residence in West Palm Beach, Florida, just weeks before JFK's inauguration. The date also marked the severing of U.S. diplomatic and economic ties with Cuba. Commissioned by Harper's Bazaar, the black-and-white portraits capture the president-elect with his wife and children in an intimate, informal style. The exhibition is part of broader U.S. celebrations for Kennedy's centennial on May 29.