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New: Graphic Masters II: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum
June 19, 2009 - January 10, 2010
On view are watercolors, pastels, and drawings from the 1920s to the 1960s to celebrate the extraordinary variety and accomplishment of American artists' works on paper. The works on view reveal the central importance of works on paper for American artists, both as studies for creations in other media and as finished works of art. Artists represented include such masters as Stuart Davis, Sam Francis, Edward Hopper, Willem de Kooning, Grant Wood, and Andrew Wyeth.
New: Thomas Moran Landscapes and George Catlin Indian Portraits
May 8, 2009 - New Permanent
On view are two large landscape paintings by Thomas Moran, on long-term loan from the U.S. Department of the Interior: The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (1872) and The Chasm of the Colorado (1873-1874), along with a smaller Moran painting. Also on view are 18 Indian portraits by George Catlin.
New: Jean Shin: Common Threads
May 1, 2009 - July 26, 2009
Jean Shin employs a meticulous process of dismantling, altering, and reconstructing discarded and worn materials -- such as old shoes, lost socks, lottery tickets, and broken umbrellas -- to create textural installations that give new form to life's leftovers. Some of her most compelling projects to date incorporate clothing and found objects from friends, relatives, colleagues, and the local community; this collaboration is an integral part of her process. On view are six of her recent "site-responsive" sculptures and installations and one new installation -- Everyday Monuments, in which the artist used donated old trophies -- that engage both the Smithsonian and Washington-area communities.
New: 1934: A New Deal for Artists
February 27, 2009 - January 3, 2010
On view are 56 paintings created by artists from across the United States working under the Public Works of Art Program, a federal New Deal program that lasted only six months from mid-December 1933 to June 1934. Artists participating in the program were encouraged to depict the American scene, but were free to portray any subject matter; they created works ranging from portraits to cityscapes and images of city life to landscapes and depictions of rural life. Their paintings are a lasting visual record of America at a specific moment in time.

Celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Public Works of Art Program.

New: The Honor of Your Company Is Requested: President Lincoln's Inaugural Ball
March 8, 2008 - January 18, 2010
On view in this small exhibition to celebrate Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural ball is ephemera from the ball, including the invitation and menu, as well as engravings illustrating the night's events and other artifacts. The ball took place in the building on March 6, 1865, during the final stages of the Civil War and only six weeks before Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre.
American Art through 1940
- Permanent
This exhibition links artworks to major moments in America's past in nine thematic sections in 31 galleries. The introductory area features Frederic Auguste Bartholdi's model for the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of America as a place welcoming to all immigrants whose ingenuity and creativity plays a key role throughout America's art.
American Experience
- Permanent
These introductory galleries feature paintings by Edward Hopper, 19th- and 20th-century landscapes from across the United States that convey a sense of place and the defining role of land in the American imagination, and 56 photographs from Lee Friedlander's series "The American Monument" (1963-2001) -- a new acquisition -- offer his sometimes ironic, sometimes elegiac record of outdoor sculptures across the country.
Art Since 1945
- Permanent
On view is modern and contemporary art, including works from Color Field, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art; a room-size installation Megatron Matrix by Nam June Paik; and 20th-century paintings by such artists as Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, and Helen Frankenthaler.

Related Book America's Art: $65 (cloth), $45 (paper)

David Beck's MVSEVM
- Permanent
Commissioned by the museum, David Beck created MVSEVM, an exquisitely crafted world in miniature; the work reflects the neoclassical architecture of the building, from the 1840s when it was the U.S. Patent Office to the present day.
Luce Foundation Center for American Art
- Permanent
The Luce Foundation Center for American Art is the first visible art storage and study center in Washington that showcases more than 3,300 artworks from the museum's permanent collection: paintings densely hung on screens; sculptures, contemporary crafts, and art objects arranged on shelves; and portrait miniatures, bronze medals, and contemporary jewelry in drawers that slide open with the touch of a button. The space allows the museum to display five times the number of works on public view.
Lunder Conservation Center
- Permanent
The Lunder Conservation Center -- shared with the National Portrait Gallery -- is the first facility that provides a unique opportunity for the public to view through glass walls conservators at work in several labs examining, treating, and preserving art.
Modern and Contemporary Art
- Permanent
Located in the Lincoln Gallery with soaring arches, this exhibition features modern and contemporary art.
With Liberty: Folk Art from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (new title)
- Permanent
These galleries serve as a reminder that not all artists are formally trained, and that the making of art is as much an act of passion as of intellect. Artists represented range from Mose Tolliver and Howard Finster to Felipe Archuleta and Thorton Dial, Sr. To provide the installation a particular point of view, the museum asked artist William Christenberry to curate -- choose the objects and provide the wall labels and quotes that express his deep regard for folk art.

Highlights include:
• James Hampton's The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations Millennium General Assembly (1950-64), a visionary work made from salvaged materials covered in gold and silver foil.

Sculptures by Paul Manship
- Indefinitely
From the museum's collection of nearly 500 works by Paul Manship (1885-1966) are 25 graceful sculptures -- including such mythological figures such as Atalanta and Europa, as well as a collection of gilded animal figures. As a young artist studying in Rome, Manship fell in love with both Roman and Greek sculpture and was captivated by animals and mythological figures. He also studied Egyptian, Asian, and Assyrian art. An exponent of Art Deco in the United States, he developed a style that was both representational and highly stylized.

Note: Additional works are on view in the Luce Foundation Center, 3rd floor.

Last update: June 30, 2009, 09:05

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