Warren Perry, researcher at NPG a portrait of Toni Morrison by Robert McCurdy. Toni Morrison has been writing about the experiences of African Americans since her first novel, The Bluest Eye, appeared in 1970. With the publication of each new work, both her fan base and critical acclaim grew, and she won the prestigious National Book Critics Circle Award for Song of Solomon (1977) and the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved (1987). In 1993 Morrison won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the first black woman to become a Nobel laureate. This 2006 portrait of Toni Morrison, by Robert McCurdy, is on view in the "Twentieth Century Americans" exhibition at National Portrait Gallery, on the museum's third floor. Warren Perry, researcher at the National Portrait Gallery, discussed the painting at a Face-to-Face portrait talk. Recorded at NPG, April 2, 2009. Image info: Toni Morrison / Robert McCurdy, 2006 / Oil on canvas / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; on loan from Ian and Annette Cumming