SAAM Stories

Erica Hirshler, senior curator of American paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, kicked off the Clarice Smith Distinguished Lecture Series in American Art with a spirited look at John Singer Sargent. His painting, The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit—a seven by seven foot masterpiece that has earned pride of place in the MFA as well as in Hirshler's heart—was the jumping off point for a look at Sargent's portraits that ranged from the seemingly innocent (as in the case of the Boit's) to the scandalous Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau).

One hundred sixty people came to American Art on September 18th to participate in the launch event for our new alternate reality game, Pheon. First, each participant answered three questions to determine whether they would be playing as Knaves or Staves. How would you respond?

"I hate to see the show go. It seems like yesterday that it opened. But when you think about it, the Fence was only up for two weeks!," George Gurney, deputy chief curator at American Art, told me last week when we were speaking about the closing of the exhibition, Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Remembering the Running Fence.

Joe Pozzi was only a boy when Christo and Jeanne-Claude approached his father for permission to erect The Running Fence on land that ran through their Sonoma County, California, property. We asked Joe if he would kindly share some of his memories of Christo and Jeanne-Claude and the Running Fence with us. The exhibition Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Remembering the Running Fence closes on September 26.

This post is part of an ongoing series on Eye Level: The Best of Ask Joan of Art. Question: How does one clean an oil painting from the 1930s covered with dust and nicotine stains?

This past week, the museum's Deputy Director invited me to accompany her to see two newly acquired Joseph Cornell boxes. A real treat. She knew I had written my master's thesis on Cornell and was a long time devotee of the artist.

I've been a fan of Antiques Roadshow since I was young, and it even inspired me to write my tenth grade term paper on English furniture. So I was ecstatic when I heard they were coming to film in the museum's Luce Foundation Center and Lunder Conservation Center.

I admit, it was the title, Wishing for Winter, that first drew me to this work, as I walked around American Art on one of Washington D.C.'s toastiest days. August may have ended, but the summer is not going anyplace just yet. I let the crowds explore the Norman Rockwell exhibit on the ground floor, while I made my way up to three, to check out modern and contemporary works. It was pretty busy up there, too.

Photographer Craig Thoburn, a big fan of Norman Rockwell, set up his own backdrop to make this wild Rockwell Saturday Evening Post homage to the artist. His brother was more than eager to pose. Here's what Thoburn said about Rockwell and our exhibition Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.

Do you prefer cupcakes or salted peanuts? Would you rather untie a knot or a bow? Think carefully, because the answers may determine your place in our new "big" game, Pheon.

Folks from the popular PBS show, Antiques Roadshow, came to film at SAAM yesterday before Saturday’s main event at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

Hayley Plack interned in American Art's External Affairs department during the summer. Before she left, she wrote this post about discovering her uncle's artwork in our collection.

Just outside the exhibition Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Remembering the Running Fence is a small earlier piece by Christo.

This post is part of an ongoing series on Eye Level: The Best of Ask Joan of Art. Begun in 1993, Ask Joan of Art is the longest-running arts-based electronic reference service in the country. Question: When did artists begin to sign their works? I would assume there was no need to sign commissions intended for private use. Is there a certain genre of paintings that tends to include signatures?

Silent Orchestra will be performing a live score for the classic silent film Salomé on Saturday, August 7, at 3:00 p.m. Free tickets will be distributed in the G Street Lobby thirty minutes before the program begins.Allison Jessing, public programs coordinator for American Art and the National Portrait Gallery, spoke with orchestra members Carlos Garza and Rich O'Meara about their work.

Before construction began in 1848 on the world's tallest stone structure, the Washington Monument, commemorating our first president, Horatio Greenough had already created the first Washington monument on the National Mall honoring him.

We’re very excited about the shiny new Art-O-Mat that arrived in the Luce Foundation Center this week. Now you can start your very own collection of American Art right here in the museum—becoming a collector has never been so convenient!

We get lots of questions about the craft objects in American Art's Luce Foundation Center. Visitors are often curious about the pieces on display and how they were created. So we seized the opportunity to invite local artists to the center to talk about their work.