Stories for July 2006
The Science
July 31, 2006
Ann Creager uses microtweezers to restore Gene Davis's Two Part Blue. Photo by Michael Mansfield. Gene Davis's Two Part Blue was given to American Art in the ‘90s as part of the late artist’s estate. The painting came with a...
Responsive Architecture
July 28, 2006
Architects' depiction of the proposed Parrish Art Museum. © 2006 Herzog & de Meuron From the NYT write-up of the new design for the Parrish Art Museum in Long Island: Typically, architects design museums with the art collection in mind;...
Museum Lighting: How We Do It
July 24, 2006
Color Field Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum. Scott Rosenfeld: "I think the entrance view works well. All three artworks, Anne Truitt's 17th Summer (left), Paul Reed's #1D (center) and Gene Davis's Wall Stripes No.3 (right) read as dynamic fields of...
Picture This: Conserving a Lady
July 21, 2006
Over the past week I've paused several times in front of this project in progress at the Lunder Conservation Center. What was that yellow splotch on the woman's face? I spoke to conservator Ann Creager, who explained that she was...
Picture This: A Courtyard Duo
July 18, 2006
With our opening festivities complete we're turning our attentions upward —to the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard being designed by renowned British architect Norman Foster and scheduled for completion by the fall of next year. The top image is a...
Picture This: Mega Kick
July 17, 2006
SAAM visitors getting a kick out of Nam June Paik's masterpiece Megatron Matrix. Photograph by Joanna Champagne. Nam June Paik, Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture, Smithsonian American Art Museum
Picture This: Pictures of the Day
July 14, 2006
Seems the Eye Level team wasn't the only one documenting our reopening. Take a look at this Flickr photostream. Although not all the images are correctly identified as to title or museum, they are fun to browse and will give...
Tell Us About Your Visit
July 10, 2006
Visitors to the Reynolds Center Thousands of you have streamed through our doors since we opened on July 1st, and Eye Level wants to hear from you. We told you our impressions —what are yours? Please leave a comment. Donald...
Trout Fishing in America
July 5, 2006
Albert Bierstadt's Among the Sierra Nevada, California Peer closely at Albert Bierstadt's Among the Sierra Nevada, California—you need to be standing up close and personal, because you won't find it even in a large image—and you will see, in the...
Countdown to the Opening
July 3, 2006
Museum staff encountered this countdown clock when entering and leaving work every day. Rachel Allen, our Deputy Director, reminded us today of another milestone: "999 days ago, the museum started counting the days until reopening. (The original opening date was...
Picture This: A Docent Tour
July 2, 2006
A docent tour on the first floor of the Donald W. Reynolds Center. We've been noticing that the building can absorb a lot of people without feeling claustrophobic. I think it's because there are no dead ends: when it starts...
Not Your Usual Museum Experience
July 2, 2006
Mr. Imagination at a demonstration on opening day. Photo by Michael Mansfield. From Eye Level's command center here in the recesses of the Luce Foundation Center yesterday, we were amazed at the surge of energy and people in our halls....
Picture This: 18,744 Art Fans
July 2, 2006
There were 18,744 visitors to the Donald W. Reynolds Center yesterday on its opening day. Photo by Joanna Champagne. Update: We just got word that the number of visitors on opening day set a record for opening day attendance at...
Picture This: Marilyn and Marilyn
July 1, 2006
Visitors to The National Portrait Gallery can see Andy Warhol's famous portrait of Marilyn Monroe. On opening day we had a wandering Monroe impersonator grace the portrait. Andy Warhol, Charlie Chaplin, George Washington and Uncle Sam could be seen walking...
This is Only a Test
July 1, 2006
David Hockney, Snails Space with Vari-Lites, "Painting as Performance", 1995-1996, oil on two canvases, acrylic on canvas, covered masonite, wood dowels, 84 1/4 x 264 x 135 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Nan Tucker McEvoy, 2003.31A-X Offset from...
Our First Podcast
July 1, 2006
Edward Hopper, Cape Cod Morning, 1950, oil, 34 1/8 x 40 1/4 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.92 Here, in the middle of opening day hubbub, we proudly present the first installment of our...
Opening Day
July 1, 2006
The crowds await the opening of SAAM and NPG. Photo by Jeff Gates. A crowd of hundreds waited outside, everyone hoping to be the first to enter. Waving fans and folded papers, people were surely eager to escape the heat...
Ready for Opening Day
July 1, 2006
Venerable American Art Icons Await the Opening of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Photos by Jeff Gates. Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture, Smithsonian American Art Museum

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