American Art Here

Jean Shin

July 6, 2009

Jean Shin's Everyday Monuments If you're walking through a city, say New York or Washington D.C., you may want to have Jean Shin by your side. You may know your way around familiar streets, but through Shin's eyes you'll be...

Robert Motherwell’s Monster for Charles Ives

July 2, 2009

Robert Motherwell's Monster (for Charles Ives) Robert Motherwell, known as an intellectual painter, has sometimes been called the spokesperson for the abstract expressionist movement. He painted in a style that often involved spontaneously generated images on large fields of canvas....

In this Case: More 1934 in the Luce Foundation Center

June 25, 2009

Waterfront—Brooklyn by Harry Shokler It was August last year when visitors on my tour started to pause a bit longer in front of cases 34b to 38a. All of a sudden the public’s interest was piqued by these paintings of...

In This Case: Death of Rubén Salazar

June 23, 2009

Frank Romero's Death of Rubén Salazar As the saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Similarly, in the Luce Foundation Center, our staff members have an array of "favorites." Bridget loves folk art, Ed enjoys our new...

Looking at 1934: Lily Furedi's Subway

June 18, 2009

Lily Furedi's Subway, part of the exhibition 1934: A New Deal for Artists The other day while taking the Metro (that's D.C.-speak for subway) to the Smithsonian, I spotted something on the floor below the seat across from me. When...

Isadora Duncan

June 4, 2009

Isadora Duncan by Abraham Walkowitz Abraham Walkowitz's iconic sketches of dancer Isadora Duncan capture her spirit, passion, and zest. They also reveal her sturdy physique, which is the opposite of the balletic ideal. While ballet dancers strive for perfection in...

Goodbye and Hello to George Catlin

June 2, 2009

George Catlin paintings hang in the Renwick's Grand Salon After hanging for more than five years in the Renwick's Grand Salon, the 300 or so George Catlins (as well as the Thomas Morans) have come down to make room for...

Night at the American Art Museum

May 22, 2009

American Art's Meet Me at Midnight With the release of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, moviegoers will get a look at some of the most popular objects in the Smithsonian's collections—such as Amelia Earhart's airplane, Dorothy's ruby...

Shin Exhibition Backstory: Trophy Lives

May 14, 2009

Nancy's Donated Trophy The other night, my friend Nancy was heading over to American Art to see the Jean Shin exhibition that had just opened. Last year she had answered Shin's call for trophies from local residents. (I heard Shin...

The Art and Craft of Greene & Greene

May 7, 2009

The Art and Craft of Greene & Greene, on view at the Renwick Gallery now through June 7, 2009 In the early years of the twentieth century, brothers Charles and Henry Greene created some of the most original and important...