Smithsonian American Art Museum
 Entrance to the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery Reynolds Center |
|
| Data | |
|---|---|
| place | Washington, DC |
| Art | |
| opening | 1968 |
| Number of visitors (annually) | 918,000 (2007) |
| management |
Elizabeth Broun
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| Website | |
| ISIL | US DSIGA |
The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) is a museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC with an extensive collection American art.
The museum has a wide range of American art that covers all regions and art movements in the United States. Among the notable artists represented in the collection are Nam June Paik , Jenny Holzer , David Hockney , Georgia O'Keeffe , John Singer Sargent , Albert Pinkham Ryder , Albert Bierstadt , Edmonia Lewis , Thomas Moran , James Gill , Edward Hopper and Winslow Homer .
The museum first opened to the public in its current location in 1968 after the Smithsonian renovated the Old Patent Office Building to display its fine arts collection. Previously, the collection, which dates back to 1829, was shown in the Smithsonian Institution Building on the National Mall . The Smithsonian American Art Museum has had many names over the years: Smithsonian Art Collection, National Gallery of Art, National Collection of Fine Arts, and National Museum of American Art. The museum was given its current name in October 2000.
In July 2006, the Smithsonian completed another renovation of the building. During the renovation, many of the exceptional architectural features were restored, such as the arcades, a double curved staircase, the colonnades, the arched galleries, large windows and skylights. On November 18, 2007, the new central courtyard opened with a curved glass canopy designed by Foster + Partners .
The museum shares its building with the National Portrait Gallery , another Smithsonian museum. Although the two museums haven't changed their names, they are collectively known as the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture .
The museum is also home to the Luce Foundation Center for American Art and the Lunder Conservation Center . The Luce Foundation Center is the first open art storage and study center in Washington, DC. It displays more than 3,300 objects in 64 safety glass boxes. This represented a quadrupling of the previously visible works of art. The Luce Foundation Center shows paintings hung up close together in sections; Sculpture, handicrafts and folk art objects arranged on shelves and miniatures and medals that lie in open drawers. Large-scale sculptures are on the ground floor. Interactive kiosk systems provide visitors with information about each exhibit, including a review of each work of art, artist biographies, interviews, video clips and photos.
The Lunder Conservation Center is the first art conservation facility in which visitors can take a permanent look "behind the scenes". Through floor-to-ceiling windows, visitors can watch employees review, prepare and store works of art. There are five state of the art laboratories and studios that are equipped to protect paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, sculptures, folk art objects, contemporary handicrafts, handicrafts and picture frames. Employees at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery work at the Lunder Center.
Renwick Gallery
Also under the auspices of the Smithsonian American Art Museum is the Renwick Gallery, a small, historical art exhibit on Pennsylvania Avenue across from the White House . The Corcoran Gallery of Art was originally located in the building. In addition to displaying a large collection of contemporary American handicrafts, several hundred paintings from the museum are on display here.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Smithsonian American Art Museum
- ↑ https://americanart.si.edu/about/history
- ↑ "Smithsonian American Art Museum Fact Sheet" ( memento of the original from October 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , May 2008
- ↑ "Smithsonian American Art Museum Staff Bios" ( Memento of the original from July 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Coordinates: 38 ° 53 '52.3 " N , 77 ° 1' 21.7" W.