Bust of Martin Luther King Jr. (Alston)

Alston received a commission from the Reverend Donald S. Harrington, of the Community Church of New York, to create a bust of King for $5,000.

One cast was acquired in 1974 for the collection of the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC, but has been on long-term loan to the White House since 2000, under the administration of Bill Clinton.

[2] It replaced a bust of Winston Churchill by Jacob Epstein that had been a loan to George W. Bush from the British Government Art Collection.

[3] Alston's sculpture of Martin Luther King Jr. remained in a prominent position at the Oval Office when Joe Biden began his presidency in January 2021.

[4] A second cast of Alston's bust of King was donated to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in January 2016.