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About the Renwick Gallery
Introduction
Location and Hours
Contact the Renwick Gallery
Exhibitions
Tours
Architectural History
Grand Salon
Renwick Gallery Store
See Our Craft Videos
Introduction
The Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery collects, exhibits, studies, and preserves American crafts and decorative arts from the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries. Housed in a historic architectural landmark across the street from the White House, the Renwick features one-of-a-kind pieces created from clay, fiber, glass, metal, and wood.
Selections from the Renwick's permanent collection of American crafts and decorative arts are displayed on a rotating basis in the second-floor galleries. Popular works include Larry Fuente's Game Fish, Wendell Castle's Ghost Clock, and Albert Paley's Portal Gates.
Temporary exhibitions of American crafts and decorative arts are shown on the Renwick's first floor. There special exhibitions highlighting contemporary artists as well as traditions in American crafts open in the spring and fall.
Location and Hours
The Renwick Gallery is located on Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th Street N.W., steps away from the White House in the heart of historic federal Washington.
The Renwick is accessible by Metrorail at Farragut North (Red line) and Farragut West (Blue and Orange lines). Limited on-street and public garage parking is available in the neighborhood.
The museum is open seven days a week (except December 25) from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Admission is free.
Contact the Renwick Gallery
For inquiries about the Renwick Gallery, including donations, write to saaminfo@si.edu or call (202) 633-2850.
The Renwick has separate delivery and postal addresses.
Courier address
Renwick Gallery
1661 Pennsylvania Avenue NW (at 17th Street)
Washington DC 20006
Mailing address
Renwick Gallery
Smithsonian American Art Museum
MRC 510, PO Box 37012
Washington DC 20013-7012
Exhibitions
Please go to our online exhibition schedule to see a full listing of current and upcoming exhibitions at the Renwick Gallery.
Tours
The Renwick Gallery offers visitors an exciting new way to learn about craft and decorative art objects in the permanent collection. Walk-in tours are offered daily Monday through Friday at noon and Saturday and Sunday at 1:00 p.m. To learn more about Renwick Gallery tours or to schedule a group tour, please call (202) 633-8550.
Teachers, introduce visual resources to your class study of American history, language arts, geography, science, or math. Docents will tailor Renwick tours to meet standards of learning and classroom goals. To schedule a student group, please call (202) 633-8550.
Grand Salon
The Renwick's historic Grand Salon was refurbished in 2000. Custom-made draperies, a state-of-the-art lighting system, and gilded frieze elements help re-create the elegant setting of a nineteenth-century collector's picture gallery.
Pictured: Harvey K. Littleton, Opalescent Red Crown, 1983, blown, cut, and polished barium potash glass with multiple cased overlays of Kugler colors, 27 3/4 x 29 1/2 x 24 3/4 in., Museum purchase made possible in part by Mr. and Mrs. R. Philip Hanes Jr., Victor Gross, Joseph Davenport Jr., John Hauberg, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Judelson, Mr. Samuel Johnson, and Edward Elson