Sara Snyder
Head of External Affairs & Digital Strategies
December 8, 2017
The Pantone Color Institute recently announced their 2018 Color of the Year, a “dramatically provocative and thoughtful purple shade,” PANTONE 18-3838 Ultra Violet. SAAM staff promptly cranked up “Purple Rain” radio and searched the museum’s collection for purple tones, discovering a variety of artworks, some of which we didn’t remember having seen before. Here are a few favorites:
Robert Bidner, Low Resolution, 1970, acrylic on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1970.78
Werner Drewes, Contrasting Harmony, color woodcut, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1970.112
John R. Grabach, Morning, ca. 1917, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 1979.119.2
Nicholas Krushenick, Purple Passion, 1961, color lithograph, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Tamarind Lithography Workshop, Inc., 1973.91.5
Lise B. McCann Hoffman, Pansies, 2002, lead crystal with sandblasting and diamond engraving, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist in memory of her father, LTC Wilber D. Brickwell, U.S. Army, 2002.76
Ray Johnson, Pen Pals, 1969, paper collage, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the James F. Dicke Family, 2013.72.6
