Smithsonian American Art Museum

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's largest and most inclusive collections of art made in the United States from the colonial period to the present. More than 7,000 artists are represented in the museum's collection. Most exhibitions are held in the museum's main building, the Old Patent Office Building (which is shared with the National Portrait Gallery), while craft-focused exhibitions are shown in the Renwick Gallery.

Exterior of a large building made of grey stone. Columns mark the entrance and a wide set of stairs lead up to the columns. Three cars are parked in front of the building. The sun peeks through the cloudy sky above. Several people are walking toward the entrance.
Exterior of the building shared by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery

The museum provides electronic resources to schools and the public through its national education program. It maintains seven online research databases with more than 500,000 records, including the Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture that document more than 400,000 artworks in public and private collections worldwide. Since 1951, the museum has maintained a traveling exhibition program; as of 2013, more than 2.5 million visitors have seen the exhibitions.

Attendance

In 2022 the museum received 1,100,000 visitors, ranking it seventh in the List of most-visited museums in the United States.<ref>[1]|Smithsonian Institution News Desk, retrieved July 22, 2023</ref>

History

The museum's history can be traced to the creation of the Smithsonian Institution in 1846. The act of Congress establishing the Smithsonian called for it to include "a gallery of art".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In its early years, however, little effort was put into developing the art collection, as Smithsonian Secretary Joseph Henry preferred to focus on scientific research.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The collection was first on display in the original Smithsonian Building (now known as the Castle). In 1865, a fire destroyed much of the collection.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Those art holdings that survived were mostly loaned to the Library of Congress and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in the following decades.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1896, the artworks were brought back to the Smithsonian, after Congress appropriated money to construct a fireproof room for them.<ref>Template:Cite report</ref>

The Smithsonian began to refer to its art collection as the National Gallery of Art in 1906, in connection with efforts to receive Harriet Lane Johnston's art collection, which she had bequeathed to the "national art gallery".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The collection grew as the Smithsonian buildings grew, and the collection was housed in one or more Smithsonian buildings on the National Mall.<ref name="fact sheet">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1920, the National Gallery of Art was separated from the National Museum, becoming its own branch of the Smithsonian, with William Henry Holmes as its first director.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> By this time, space had become critical: "Collections to the value of several millions of dollars are in storage or temporarily on exhibition and are crowding out important exhibits and producing a congested condition in the Natural History, Industrial Arts, and Smithsonian Buildings".<ref name=Proceedings-page654-5>Template:Citation</ref> In 1924, architect Charles A. Platt drew up preliminary plans for a National Gallery of Art to be built on the block next to the Natural History Museum.<ref name=Proceedings-page654-5 /> However, this building was never constructed.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1937, the National Gallery of Art became the National Collection of Fine Arts (NCFA), because Andrew Mellon insisted that the previous moniker be given to a new institution formed through his donation of a large art collection.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

By the 1950s, the NCFA still occupied a small space in the Natural History Building.<ref name=sampson>Template:Cite news Template:Subscription required</ref> In 1958, Congress finally granted the NCFA a home, the Old Patent Office Building, which was about to be vacated by the U.S. Civil Service Commission.<ref name=sampson /><ref>Template:USStatute</ref> The building would be shared with the planned National Portrait Gallery, with the NCFA occupying the northern half of the building.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Subscription required</ref><ref>Template:Cite news Template:Subscription required</ref> Renovation work on the building began in 1964.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Subscription required</ref> The NCFA opened in its new home on May 6, 1968.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The museum's relocation came at an unfortunate time, as the neighborhood had been devastated a month earlier by the Martin Luther King assassination riots.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The NCFA struggled to attract visitors over the following decades, as the streets around it remained bleak and lonely.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This would remain a factor until the late 1990s, when the work of the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation and the opening of the MCI Center (now Capital One Arena) across the street from the museum sparked a revitalization of the neighborhood.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The NCFA gained a new branch in 1972, opening the Renwick Gallery, dedicated to design and crafts, in a historic building near the White House.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1980, the name was changed to the National Museum of American Art, to better distinguish it from other federal art museums and to emphasize its focus on American artists.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news Template:Subscription required</ref> From 1982 to 1988, Charles C. Eldredge served as the museum director, followed by the tenures of Elizabeth Broun and Stephanie Stebich.

In January 2000, the museum closed to begin a planned three-year, $60-million renovation of the Patent Office Building.<ref name=sands>Template:Cite news</ref> To keep the museum's collection accessible to the public during the closure, many of the artworks were sent out in a "Treasures to Go" series of traveling exhibitions, billed as "the largest museum tour in history".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The museum's name was changed to the Smithsonian American Art Museum in October 2000 so that the museum and its traveling exhibitions could benefit from the Smithsonian's brand recognition.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

After renovations were underway, the plans were broadened in an effort to restore much of the building's original elegance.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Many of the building's exceptional architectural features were restored: porticos modeled after the Parthenon in Athens, a curving double staircase, colonnades, vaulted galleries, large windows, and skylights as long as a city block.<ref name="O'Rourke">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="15 March SI arch info">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="NPR 13 April 2006">Template:Cite episode</ref> New features added to the building included the Lunder Conservation Center, the Luce Foundation Center for American Art, Nan Tucker McEvoy Auditorium, and the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard.<ref name="15 March SI arch info"/> Meanwhile, the museum's offices, library, and storage were moved to the nearby Victor Building, freeing up valuable space and allowing the museum to display four times as many artworks as before.<ref name=sands /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The renovation ultimately took six years and $283 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The museum and the National Portrait Gallery reopened their combined building, renamed as the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture, on July 1, 2006.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

File:Old Patent Office, Washington, D.C. 2011.jpg
The Smithsonian American Art Museum's main building is shared with the National Portrait Gallery, as seen from G Street NW in 2011.

Affiliated museums

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The Smithsonian American Art Museum shares the historic Old Patent Office building with the National Portrait Gallery, another Smithsonian museum. Although the two museums' names have not changed, they are collectively known as the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture.<ref name="O'Rourke"/><ref name="mag July 2006">Template:Cite news</ref>

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File:Renwick Gallery - Pennsylvania Avenue.JPG
The Renwick Gallery is located on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Also under the auspices of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Renwick Gallery is a smaller, historic building on Pennsylvania Avenue across the street from the White House.<ref name="Architectural History of the Renwick Gallery">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The building originally housed the collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art.<ref name="Architectural History of the Renwick Gallery"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In addition to displaying a large collection of American contemporary craft, several hundred paintings from the museum's permanent collection — hung salon style: one-atop-another and side-by-side — are featured in special installations in the Grand Salon.<ref name="Architectural History of the Renwick Gallery"/>

Features and programs

Collections

Template:Category see also Part of the Smithsonian Institution, the museum has a broad variety of American art, with more than 7,000 artists represented,<ref name="SI Fact Sheet 2012">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> that covers all regions and art movements found in the United States. SAAM contains the world's largest collection of New Deal art; a collection of contemporary craft, American impressionist paintings, and masterpieces from the Gilded Age; photography, modern folk art, works by African American and Latino artists, images of western expansion, and realist art from the first half of the twentieth century. Among the significant artists represented in its collection are Nam June Paik, Jenny Holzer, David Hockney, Richard Hunt, Georgia O'Keeffe, Ching Ho Cheng, John Singer Sargent, Albert Pinkham Ryder, Albert Bierstadt, Frances Farrand Dodge, Edmonia Lewis, Thomas Moran, James Gill, Edward Hopper, John William "Uncle Jack" Dey, Karen LaMonte<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Winslow Homer.<ref name="fact sheet"/>

SAAM describes itself as being "dedicated to collecting, understanding, and enjoying American art. The museum celebrates the extraordinary creativity of artists whose works reflect the American experience and global connections."<ref>Smithsonian American Art Museum's Strategic Plan, 2012-2016</ref>

Galleries and public spaces

The American Art's main building contains expanded permanent-collection galleries and public spaces.<ref name="About 15 March">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The museum has two innovative public spaces. The Luce Foundation Center for American Art is a visible art storage and study center, which allows visitors to browse more than 3,300 works of the collection.<ref name="About 15 March"/> The Lunder Conservation Center is "the first art conservation facility to allow the public permanent behind-the-scenes views of the preservation work of museums".<ref name="About 15 March"/>

The Luce Foundation Center for American Art

File:Luce Foundation Center for American Art 13.jpg
The Luce Foundation Center for American Art on the third floor of the Smithsonian American Art Museum

The Luce Foundation Center, which opened in July 2000,<ref name="NYT July 9">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Numismatic News 12 Sept 2006">Template:Cite news</ref> is the first visible art storage and study center in Washington, D.C.,<ref name="O'Rourke"/> and the fourth center to bear the Luce Family name.<ref name="O'Rourke"/><ref name="AAR vol XVIII">Template:Cite journal</ref> It has 20,400 square feet on the third and fourth floors of American Art Museum.<ref name="O'Rourke"/><ref name="off limits"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Luce Center">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

It presents more than 3,300 objects in 64 secure glass cases, which quadruples the number of artworks from the permanent collection on public view.<ref name="NYT July 9"/><ref name="O'Rourke"/> The purpose of open storage is to allow patrons to view various niche art that is usually not part of a main exhibition or gala special.<ref name="off limits">Template:Cite news</ref> The Luce Foundation Center features paintings densely hung on screens; sculptures; crafts and objects by folk and self-taught artists arranged on shelves.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Lipske 2004">Template:Cite news</ref> Large-scale sculptures are installed on the first floor.<ref name="NYT July 9"/> The center has John Gellatly's European collection of decorative arts.<ref name="O'Rourke"/><ref name="Luce Center"/>

Lunder Conservation Center

File:The Lunder Conservation Center Laboratory.jpg
Lunder Conservation Center Laboratory where the public is shown behind-the-scenes views of essential art preservation work

The Lunder Conservation Center, which opened in July 2006,<ref name="August 7 USInfo">Template:Cite news</ref> is the first art conservation facility that allows the public permanent behind-the-scenes views of preservation work.<ref name="August 7 USInfo"/> Conservation staff are visible to the public through floor-to-ceiling glass walls that allow visitors to see firsthand all the techniques which conservators use to examine, treat, and preserve artworks.<ref name="Arts Wash 2006">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="August 7 USInfo"/><ref name="NPR 30 June">Template:Cite episode</ref> The Lunder Center has five conservation laboratories and studios equipped to treat paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, sculptures, folk art objects, contemporary crafts, decorative arts, and frames.<ref name="Arts Wash 2006"/><ref name="August 7 USInfo"/> The Center uses various specialized and esoteric tools, such as hygrothermographs, to maintain optimal temperature and humidity to preserve works of art. Staff from both the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery work in the Lunder Center.<ref name="August 7 USInfo"/>

Selected exhibitions

The museum has put on hundreds of exhibitions since its founding. Many exhibitions are groundbreaking and promote new scholarship within the field of American art.

What follows is a brief list of selected, and more recent, examples:<ref name="PastEx">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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  • We Are Made of Stories: Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection (2022-2023)
  • Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> (2021)

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  • ¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now (2020-2021)
  • Ginny Ruffner: Reforestation of the Imagination (2019–2020)
  • Artists Respond: American Art and the Vietnam War, 1965–1975 (2019–2019)
  • Between Worlds: The Art of Bill Traylor (2018–2019)
  • Trevor Paglen: Sites Unseen<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> (2018–2019)

  • Diane Arbus: A box of ten photographs<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Do Ho Suh: Almost Home<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Tamayo: The New York Years<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Murder Is Her Hobby: Frances Glessner Lee and The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Kara Walker: Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Down These Mean Streets: Community and Place in Urban Photography<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • June Schwarcz: Invention and Variation<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Gene Davis: Hot Beat<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Isamu Noguchi, Archaic/Modern<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Harlem Heroes: Photographs by Carl Van Vechten<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Artworks by African Americans from the Collection<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Nam June Paik: Global Visionary (2012)
  • African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond (2012)
  • The Art of Video Games (2012)
  • Something of Splendor: Decorative Arts from the White House (2011)

Outreach

The museum has maintained a traveling exhibition program since 1951. During the 2000s renovation, a "series of exhibitions of more than 1,000 major artworks from American Art's permanent collection traveled to 105 venues across the United States," which were "seen by more than 2.5 million visitors". Since 2006, thirteen exhibitions have toured to more than 30 cities.<ref name="Outreach 15 March">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

SAAM provides electronic resources to schools and the public as part of education programs. An example is Artful Connections, which gives real-time video conference tours of American Art. In addition, the museum offers the Summer Institutes: Teaching the Humanities through Art, week-long professional development workshops that introduce educators to methods for incorporating American art and technology into their humanities curricula.<ref name="EDU Outreach">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

American Art has seven online research databases, which has more than 500,000 records of artworks in public and private collections worldwide, including the Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture. Numerous researchers and millions of virtual visitors per year use these databases. Also, American Art and Heritage Preservation work together in a joint project, Save Outdoor Sculpture, "dedicated to the documentation and preservation of outdoor sculpture". The museum produces a peer-reviewed periodical, American Art (started in 1987), for new scholarship. Since 1993, American Art has been had an online presence. It has one of the earliest museum websites when, in 1995, it launched its own website. EyeLevel, the first blog at the Smithsonian Institution, was started in 2005 and, as of 2013, the blog "has approximately 12,000 readers each month".<ref name="15 March online">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2006, fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi designed the conservators' denim work aprons.<ref name="NPR 30 June"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Mizrahi aprons">Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2008, the American Art Museum hosted an alternate reality game, called Ghosts of a Chance, which was created by City Mystery. The game allowed patrons "a new way of engaging with the collection" in the Luce Foundation Center. The game ran for six weeks and attracted more than 6,000 participants.<ref name="Luce Center"/>

See also

References

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