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

A black case that is open to reveal smaller compartments and utensils mounted in the lid. Boxes wrapped in brown paper are stacked on the side.

Contemporary Craft in Focus: The Weight of Deferred Gratification

Metalsmith David Harper Clemons creates art that gives new meanings to everyday objects

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.

Untitled from the series Wild West

Media - 2018.3.178 - SAAM-2018.3.178_1 - 134537

Copied David Levinthal, Untitled from the series Wild West, 1988, instant color print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of an anonymous donor, 2018.3.178, © 1988, David Levinthal

Artwork Details

Title: Untitled from the series Wild West
Artist: David Levinthal
Date: 1988
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 20 × 24 in. (50.8 × 61.0 cm)
Copyright: © 1988, David Levinthal
Credit Line: Gift of an anonymous donor
Mediums Description: instant color print
Classifications: Photography
Keywords: Landscape — United States — western states
Architecture — detail — fence
Object Number: 2018.3.178
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2018.3.178

Exhibitions

Media - 2017.32.10 - SAAM-2017.32.10_1 - 133751

American Myth & Memory: David Levinthal Photographs

June 7, 2019–October 14, 2019

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Populated with toy cowboys and cavalry, Barbie dolls and baseball players, David Levinthal’s photographs reference iconic images and events that shaped postwar American society. Despite their playful veneer, Levinthal’s images provide a lens through which to examine the myths and stereotypes lurking within our most beloved pastimes and enduring heroes. In doing so, Levinthal encourages us to consider the stories we tell about ourselves—what it means to be strong, beautiful, masculine, feminine, and ultimately, American.