The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s collection, which includes artworks in all media—from paintings, sculpture, prints, and drawings to time-based media, photographs, self-taught art, and contemporary craft—reveals key aspects of the rich artistic and cultural history of the United States from the eighteenth century to today. The museum's curators in recent years have focused on bringing into the nation's collection artworks made by a broadly representative and diverse group of American artists including Black, Latinx, Asian American, LGBTQ+, Indigenous and women artists.
Selected recent acquisitions are highlighted below. Learn more in our SAAM Stories series about artworks new to the collection.
2023
2022
Artist
Date2018-2020
Performance. Unique objects worn by artist/performer (glass, neoprene, rusted metal fragments of U.S./Mexico border fence, leather, cotton twine, flashlight) and photodocumentation of the performance (digital files)
Artist
Date2012
installation with single-channel digital film, color, sound; 45:00 minutes
Artist
Date2022
Siding from the artist’s home, various metal construction elements,
dried palm tree branch, dried palm tree trunks, dried tree trunks, various textiles, painted coconut, FEMA
tarp, plastic bubble wrap, painted wood, plastic hoses, painted hose spigot,
2021
2020
2019
Artist
Date1995
soap stone, ebony, rosewood, polychrome, leather, silver, brass, and bone
Artist
Date2011
single-channel digital video, color, sound; 07:14 minutes
Artist
Date2011
single-channel digital video, color, sound; 09:00 minutes
2018
2017
2016
Artist
Date2015
white LEDs, mirror-finished stainless steel, custom software, and electrical hardware
Artist
Date2015
knotted and braided fiber with programmable lighting and wind movement above printed textile flooring
Artist
Dateca. 1940-1942
opaque watercolor and pencil on printed advertising paperboard