[Portrait] Arturo Toscanini claimed that contralto Marian Anderson had a voice that came along "once in a hundred years." But because she was black, Anderson's prospects as a classical singer in this country were initially quite limited.

Eventually, however, the magnitude of her talent won her broad recognition in the United States. When she began touring regularly in this country in 1935, she was quickly acknowledged as the world's greatest contralto.

Betsey Graves reyneau pastarted this portrait for the Harmon Foundation, founded to promote awareness of African American achievement.

Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery; gift of the Harmon Foundation.

Portrait of Marian Anderson (1897-1993), 1955, by Betsy Graves reyneau (1888-1964), oil on canvas

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