Elvis and Ali are Coming!

Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali – “the King” and “the Greatest” – will meet each other for the first time at the Michener Art Museum Feb. 19, when Ali and Elvis: American Icons, opens.

 This exciting exhibition is actually two exhibits in one: In Elvis at 21: Photographs by Al Wertheimer, the young documentary photographer spends several weeks with a very young Elvis on the brink of superstardom, documenting a remarkable time when Elvis could sit alone at a drugstore lunch counter. In Muhammad Ali: The Making of an Icon, the life and times of a now-iconic figure who was simultaneously the most beloved and most hated man in boxing and who still engenders a strong emotional response, more than 50 photographs by such distinguished photographers as Annie Leibovitz, Gordon Parks and Art Shay provide a glimpse of rarely seen moments of his personal life as well as more famous episodes from his career. 

In the weeks leading up to the exhibition opening, the Michener has planned a number of ways for our visitors to experience the two American Icons.

• An Elvis impersonator will be making live appearances at First Fridays in Doylestown, at the Museum, throughout Doylestown and in Philadelphia
•  The Museum is hosting an Elvis Look-alike contest on Flickr. Submit your image to our Flickr group, and the Michener will periodically select winners and offer prizes to the best Elvis look-alikes! http://www.flickr.com/groups/americanicons/ Prizes include discounts on admission to Ali and Elvis: American Icons, as well as gift memberships.
• Elvis and Ali will be touring the Museum, Doylestown and Bucks County. Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/MichenerArt and guess the answer to our trivial questions to win discounted admission to Ali and Elvis: American Icons.

 Keep checking our blog(s) for further updates, and don’t forget to sign up for our e-newsletter for up-to-date announcements of happenings at the Michener. Even better, become a member and enjoy discounts.

Images above:

1. Going Home © Alfred Wertheimer. All rights reserved. (Elvis)
2. Muhammad Ali, c. 1970, Gordon Parks, courtesy of the Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, N.Y. (Ali)