Luce Foundation Center

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Open daily, 11:30 a.m.–7 p.m.

The nation’s first collection of American art, an unparalleled record of the American experience.

Plan your visit

Renwick Gallery Stairwwell

Renwick Gallery

Open daily, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.

Located just feet from the White House, a branch of the museum that is home the nation's collection of contemporary craft and decorative art.

Plan your visit

How Do I Research My Art?

Want to learn more about the painting you found while clearing out the attic? For answers, be prepared for a little detective work.

How to Care for Your Collections

Regardless of the monetary value of your artwork, if it is personally meaningful, you should consider having the object conserved.

Recording a Changing Nation

This resource uses images from photographic surveys in 55 communities in 30 states across the United States as source documents to spark sustained inquiry.

Critical Thinking in Action

These 60-to-95-minute units pair thinking patterns with works of art to instill a thinking disposition transferable across classroom curriculum and into the wider world.

Event Venues and Space Rental

Museum Store Online

Detail of brown ceramic jar with writing and the signature "Dave" inscribed around the top.

David “Dave” Drake: Potter and Poet

Craftsman David “Dave” Drake, enslaved for most of his life, produced uncommonly large ceramic jars in 19th-century South Carolina adorned by his poetic verses

Artist Tanya Aguiñiga wearing a suit made of glass elements while standing next to the U.S./Mexico border wall

Exploring Border Stories with Artist Tanya Aguiñiga

Curator Mary Savig details an artist’s journey to create the powerful performance work Metabolizing the Border that explores the physical and psychological experiences migrants face while crossing the borderlands.

Director’s Circle

A national membership group of museum friends who share a love of American art and craft and our commitment to celebrating the extraordinary creativity of our nation’s artists.

A membership group for young professionals who are interested in immersing themselves in the American art experience.

Echo I

Media - 1999.73 - SAAM-1999.73_1 - 52018

Copied Whitfield Lovell, Echo I, 1996, mixed media on wood, 80 ³⁄₈ x 51 ¹⁄₄ in. (204.3 x 130.3 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of an anonymous donor, 1999.73, © 1996 Whitfield Lovell

Artwork Details

Title: Echo I
Artist: Whitfield Lovell
Date: 1996
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 80 ³⁄₈ x 51 ¹⁄₄ in. (204.3 x 130.3 cm.)
Copyright: © 1996 Whitfield Lovell
Credit Line: Gift of an anonymous donor
Mediums: cotton
mixed media
nails
charcoal
oil
Mediums Description: mixed media on wood
Classifications: Painting
Highlights: African American Art
Keywords: Figure female — full length
Object Number: 1999.73
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1999.73

Exhibitions

Media - 1995.22.1 - SAAM-1995.22.1_1 - 65784

African American Art in the 20^th Century

January 18, 2019–January 18, 2019

Smithsonian American Art Museum

The Smithsonian American Art Museum is home to one of the most significant collections of African American art in the world. Highlights from this collection are traveling to several cities across the United States in the exhibition African American Art in the 20th Century.