SAAM Stories
08/13/2009
Staged Stories: Renwick Craft Invitational 2009 runs until January 3, 2010. Nicholas Bell, curator at the Renwick Gallery, introduces us to the art and artists now on exhibition.
SAAM Staff
Blog Editor
08/10/2009
During the dog days of August, you're in the middle of DC and want to check your email. Best thing you could do would be to head straight to American Art where you've got two options for free WiFi.
Howard Kaplan
Writer
07/31/2009
Jean Shin’s exhibition Common Threads just closed at American Art. Once a show is over, American Art’s Registrar’s Office is tasked with de-installing it.
SAAM Staff
Blog Editor
07/27/2009
This is the fourth in a series of personal observations about how people experience and explore museums.
Howard Kaplan
Writer
07/23/2009
Art historian and Travel Channel host Lee Sandstead welcomes each visitor at the door of the McEvoy Auditorium wearing what he called hippie pants ("genuine polyester, not the fake stuff we have today") with the effervescent greeting, "I'll be your speaker tonight." Fasten your polyester pants; it's going to be an interesting evening.
Howard Kaplan
Writer
07/20/2009
The son of a Russian immigrant, abstract painter Morris Louis grew up in Baltimore. As an adult, Louis lived in Silver Spring, Maryland, and in Washington, D.C., where, in a small bungalow on Legation Street, NW, he turned his dining room into a studio. Some of his pictures were larger than the room itself, and he had to work on folded canvas.
Howard Kaplan
Writer
07/06/2009
If you're walking through a city, say New York or Washington D.C., you may want to have Jean Shin by your side. You may know your way around familiar streets, but through Shin's eyes you'll be able to look at the overlooked and see how the ordinary can rise to the level of art.
Howard Kaplan
Writer
07/02/2009
Robert Motherwell, known as an intellectual painter, has sometimes been called the spokesperson for the abstract expressionist movement. He painted in a style that often involved spontaneously generated images on large fields of canvas.
Howard Kaplan
Writer
06/18/2009
In Lily Furedi's homage to the New York subway, part of the current exhibition 1934: A New Deal for Artists, I'm captivated mostly by the woman applying lipstick on the far left—so much that I want to create a narrative for her.
Howard Kaplan
Writer
06/10/2009
The May 25th edition of the New Yorker features a poem by Philip Levine, an American poet who can count among his numerous awards the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1928, and he often portrays that city in his poetry: the grit as well as the grace. He digs deep into the lives of ordinary people, if there is such a thing.
Howard Kaplan
Writer
06/04/2009
Abraham Walkowitz's iconic sketches of dancer Isadora Duncan capture her spirit, passion, and zest. They also reveal her sturdy physique, which is the opposite of the balletic ideal.
Howard Kaplan
Writer
06/02/2009
After hanging for more than five years in the Renwick's Grand Salon, the 300 or so George Catlins (as well as the Thomas Morans) have come down to make room for a new installation from the museum's permanent collection.
Howard Kaplan
Writer