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.

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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.

Maquette for Excalibur

Media - 1977.47.193 - SAAM-1977.47.193_1 - 75340

Media - 1977.47.193 - SAAM-1977.47.193_2 - 75341

Copied Beverly Pepper, Maquette for Excalibur, 1975, welded steel, 8 ¹⁄₄ x 16 x 11 in. (21.0 x 40.6 x 28.0 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the General Services Administration, Art-in-Architecture Program, 1977.47.193, © 1975, Beverly Pepper

Artwork Details

Title: Maquette for Excalibur
Artist: Beverly Pepper
Date: 1975
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 8 ¹⁄₄ x 16 x 11 in. (21.0 x 40.6 x 28.0 cm)
Copyright: © 1975, Beverly Pepper
Credit Line: Transfer from the General Services Administration, Art-in-Architecture Program
Mediums: steel
Mediums Description: welded steel
Classifications: Sculpture
Maquette
Keywords: Study — sculpture model
Abstract
Object Number: 1977.47.193
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1977.47.193

Exhibitions

Media - 1979.159.44 - SAAM-1979.159.44_1 - 56988

Sculpture Down to Scale: Models for Public Art at Federal Buildings, 1974 – 1985

May 31, 2019–November 22, 2020

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Artists used preliminary models—or maquettes—to communicate their ideas. Varied in scale, format, and level of finish, the nine models in this exhibition offer windows into the creative process, with work by Jackie Ferrara, Sol LeWitt, Claes Oldenburg, and Beverly Pepper, among others.