Picture This

Picture This: Bottle Caps at SAAM

December 26, 2007

A collection of post-holiday bottle caps? Not on your life! From our Flickr photo pool comes this photograph by Justin Hoffmann: a closeup of Bottlecap Giraffe, part of SAAM's folk art collection. The piece can be found "in captivity" in...

Happy Halloween!

October 31, 2007

John Quidor, The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane, 1858, oil, 26 7/8 x 33 7/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible in part by the Catherine Walden Myer Endowment, the Julia D. Strong Endowment, and the Director's...

Picture This: Trees!!

September 20, 2007

Black Olive Tree Being Lowered Into the Courtyard (View larger image) Timing is everything. On my way to photograph the installation of Andrea Zittel's work for our upcoming exhibition Celebrating the Lucelia Artist Award, 2001—2006, I stopped off to see...

Picture This: Courtyard Construction Update

July 2, 2007

Construction of the central courtyard. Click on image for larger view. Workers are now installing radiant heating/cooling tubes and the infrastructure for the water features—yes, I said water features—in the courtyard floor. A shallow scrim of water will flow across...

Picture This: A Hole in One

February 28, 2007

On my way through the museum this morning I found this construction scene of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard. Norman Foster's canopy is almost complete except for one hole that will remain open until the completion of the floor...

Picture This: David Beck

January 12, 2007

David Beck's MVSEVM Joseph Cornell paved the way for artists like David Beck. Beck was commissioned to create MVSEVM to commemorate the reopening of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in July of this year, and Cornell's influence is apparent: when...

Picture This: Goop Joe's Poultry Pages

November 28, 2006

During the press preview for our Joseph Cornell exhibition I kept seeing people smiling and laughing while looking at the objects in one particular case. It contains pages from Goop Joe's Poultry Pages, a delightful mashup that Cornell made for...

Picture This: Joseph Cornell Docent Training

November 17, 2006

Exhibition curator Lynda Hartigan leads a training session for docents in the galleries of our Joseph Cornell exhibition (opening today). Cornell is known for his glass-paned boxes filled with intricate three-dimensional collages. This picture made me realize that we've created...

Picture This: Joesph Cornell Installation

November 15, 2006

Joseph Cornell: Navigating the Imagination opens in two days (on Friday November 17, 2006), and we're busy busy busy. This shot shows Mitzi Harp, head of computer support, working on audio-visual and kiosk systems for the exhibition. Joseph Cornell, Smithsonian...

Happy Halloween!

October 31, 2006

Kenneth McGowan, Kermit, 1979, cibachrome print, 14 x 14 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the National Endowment for the Arts, 1983.63.920 Halloween, Kenneth McGowan, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Boom Watch

October 25, 2006

Enjoy a bird’s-eye view of the undulating glass canopy designed by renowned architect Norman Foster of Foster and Partners. It will cover the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard, one of the largest event spaces in Washington, which is at the...

Picture This: Statue Conservation

September 11, 2006

SAAM conservator Hugh Shockey has been hard at work conserving John Rogers' Taking the Oath and Drawing Rations. The piece, dating from the 1860s, had been touched up many years ago in an undated conservation. The unknown conservator didn't take...

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...

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...

Picture This: The Luce Foundation Center

June 27, 2006

Visitors to our Luce Foundation Center for American Art will see visible storage cases holding some 3300 works, including this case of Southwestern art featuring Kenneth M. Adams' Juan Duran. We open in 4 days. Related Link: QTVR of the...

Picture This: Installing Vaquero

June 18, 2006

On Thursday SAAM preparators reinstalled Luis Jiménez’s Vaquero at the north entrance of the building. We open in 13 days. Photo by Jeff Gates. Related Post: In Memoriam: Luis Jiménez (1940—2006) Luis Jiménez, American Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Picture This: Where's My Statue?

June 14, 2006

With the number of people working to put everything in its place by opening day, "extreme coordination" is the key. Preparators left this identifying note on a pedestal to make sure it was reunited with its rightful owner. We open...

Picture This: Electronic Superhighway

June 10, 2006

Somebody was working on Nam June Paik's Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii yesterday. Those are sections of the lower Mississippi river attached to the gray plywood crate on the floor. There's a little video that gives a sense of...

Picture This: Little Tykes Rolled In

June 2, 2006

The last time I looked around the first floor this room was empty and dark. Now the lights are up and these little tykes have rolled in. (They will be part of American ABC.) We open in 29 days. American...