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New: Aaron Douglas: African American Modernist
May 9, 2008 - August 3, 2008
On view are more than 80 rarely seen works by Aaron Douglas (1899-1979) -- one of the foremost visual artists from the Harlem Renaissance -- including paintings, prints, drawings, and illustrations, in addition to works by several of his contemporaries. Douglas combined angular cubist rhythms and a seductive Art Deco dynamism with traditional African and African American imagery to develop a radically new visual vocabulary; his art made a lasting impression on American modernism.
New: The Honor of Your Company Is Requested: President Lincoln's Inaugural Ball
March 8, 2008 - January 18, 2010 (new opening date)
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 Theater.
New: Color as Field: American Painting, 1950-1975
February 29, 2008 - May 26, 2008
This first full-scale examination of the Color Field Movement -- which emerged in the U.S. in the 1950s -- features approximately 40 paintings by such major figures as Gene Davis, Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, Larry Poons, and Frank Stella. A Color Field painting is characterized by pouring, staining, spraying, or painting thinned paint onto raw canvas to create vast chromatic expanses. The movement constitutes one of the crowning achievements of postwar American abstract art.
New: Obata's Yosemite
February 22, 2008 - June 1, 2008
On view are 27 prints and watercolors and a series of approximately 21 progressive proofs of Yosemite National Park by Chiura Obata (1885-1975). During a visit to Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada in 1927, Obata made approximately 100 drawings in pencil, watercolor, and sumi ink. While in Tokyo between 1928 and 1932, he transformed these California landscape watercolors and sketches into a limited-edition portfolio titled "World Landscape Series." This exhibition is the first time the the artist's prints are publicly exhibited on the East Coast.
New: Grand Opening of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard
November 18, 2007 - New Permanent
The enclosed Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard -- a year-round gathering space with a new glass canopy designed by renowned British architect Norman Foster of Foster + Partners in London and interior landscape design by Kathryn Gustafson -- was unveiled Nov. 18, 2007. Its completion marks the final phase of a major renovation of this National Historic Landmark. The courtyard provides a dynamic year-round public gathering space that can accommodate a variety of functions for the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, which both share in this historic building.
New: Renovating a Landmark: From Patent Office to Reynolds Center.
November 17, 2007 - New Permanent
This small exhibition commemorates the opening of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard, the final phase of a major renovation of the National Historic Landmark building that houses the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. It highlights aspects of the renovation with photographs, architectural artifacts from the building, and objects discovered during the excavation of the courtyard. Also included are historic images of the building, a 7-foot segment of one of the 19th-century cast iron fountains from the courtyard, and an architect's model of the building.

Related publication: Temple of Invention: History of a National Landmark by Charles Robertson, who is also the guest curator of the exhibition: $19.95 (paper)

New: Celebrating the Lucelia Artist Award, 2001-2006
September 21, 2007 - June 22, 2008
This exhibition features works by each of the previous winners of the Lucelia Artist Award: Matthew Coolidge, director of the Center for Land Use Interpretation (2006), Andrea Zittel (2005), Kara Walker (2004), Rirkrit Tiravanija (2003), Liz Larner (2002), and Jorge Pardo (2001).

Note: The Lucelia Artist Award, a juried award established in 2001, annually recognizes an exceptional American artist under the age of 50 whose work is considered emblematic of this period in contemporary art.

New: Sculptures by Paul Manship
July 15, 2007 - 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.

American Art through 1940
July 1, 2006 - 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
July 1, 2006 - 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
July 1, 2006 - 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.
David Beck's MVSEVM
July 1, 2006 - 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
July 1, 2006 - Permanent
The Luce Foundation Center for American Art is the first visible art storage and study center in Washington that showcases some 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
July 1, 2006 - 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
July 1, 2006 - 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)
July 1, 2006 - 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.

Last update: May 7, 2008, 10:58

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