Ed Ruscha’s Western Horizontal Multiplicity features contemporary prints from the museum’s permanent collection. All of the prints are editions and each impression is considered a work of art. Also of interest is the fact that the works on view represent a collaboration between artist and printer. Ed Ruscha’s Western Veritcal and Western Horizontal are colorRead… Read more »
John Henry Twachtman’s The Brook, Greenwich, Connecticut is on view in the Renwick Gallery’s Grand Salon. American Art and the Renwick Gallery are open this week. If you want to take a break from all the holiday cheer, come see this winter scene, presently on display at the museum’s Renwick Gallery. While you’re there, takeRead… Read more »
Tommy Tallarico Exhibition coordinator Georgina Goodlander and curator Chris Melissinos conducted interviews with video game designers, developers, writers, and composers for the upcoming exhibition, The Art of Video Games, which opens March 16, 2012 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Clips from the interviews will be featured in the exhibition. This month, we’re featuring aRead… Read more »
The Santa Cruz Museum’s Carranza Collection I am a huge museum nerd. Well, this shouldn’t be too much of a surprise since I work in an art museum! I love finding small, sometimes off the beaten path, museums. While walking around Toledo, Spain last summer I came upon the Santa Cruz Museum. Much like ourRead… Read more »
Mousetrap, 1870, John O. Kopas (Inventor), George W. Bauer (Inventor), mixed media, 10 x 8 1/2 x 9 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Alan and Ann Rothschild, 2011.37.15 The American Art Museum is no stranger to invention. The building that houses the museum was formerly the United States Patent Office (President Andrew JacksonRead… Read more »
Curator for Latino Art, E. Carmen Ramos, shares some of her thoughts about a recent acquisition now on view in the Lincoln Gallery on the third floor. Carmen Herrera’s Blanco y Verde Take a stroll through the Lincoln Gallery and you will encounter a striking new acquisition: Carmen Herrera’s Blanco y Verde (White and Green)Read… Read more »
Sarah Gowen, American Art’s Paintings Conservation Intern, gives us a behind the scenes look at how we solved a painting mystery. In 2006, the Smithsonian American Art Museum acquired The Wiley Family, a group portrait painted by William Williams in 1771. The painting is said to have been handed down through the Wiley family byRead… Read more »
Homage to Still Life by Carlos Almaraz Ah, a walk through the museum on a chilly autumn afternoon. Lots of folks walking the corridors and looking at art. It’s a good day. In American Art’s Lincoln Gallery on the third floor of the museum, I spent some time getting acquainted with Homage to Still LifeRead… Read more »
The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s latest exhibition is Alexis Rockman: A Fable for Tomorrow. the staff of Eye Level, American Art’s blog, sat down with the show’s curator, Joanna Marsh, to talk about the artist and his artworks. Alexis Rockman; The Pelican; 2006 Oil on wood Courtesy Elizabeth Schwartz, New York; © Alexis Rockman; PhotoRead… Read more »
Last month the American Art Museum received a commendation for Art Signs OnLine from the international JODI Awards which recognize innovative uses of digital media to make museums, galleries, libraries, archives, and heritage venues more accessible to disabled people. Susan Nichols, Chief of Education at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, tells us about the genesisRead… Read more »