As a public health precaution due to COVID-19, all Smithsonian museums are closed temporarily. All public programs are online only, on-site public tours and events are currently suspended. We are not announcing a reopening date at this time and will provide updates on our websites and social media.
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Bill Traylor (ca. 1853–1949) is regarded today as one of the most important American artists of the twentieth century.
Trevor Paglen blurs the lines between art, science, and investigative journalism to construct unfamiliar and at times unsettling ways to see and interpret the world around us.
In late 1969, Diane Arbus (1923–1971) began to work on a portfolio. She titled it A box of ten photographs.
Mexican American artist Rufino Tamayo (1899-1991) is best known for his boldly-colored, semi-abstract paintings.
Sculptor Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) made works that “speak of both the modern and the ancient in the same breath.” An essay by Dakin Hart traces themes in Noguchi’s sixty-year career—an expansive vision that ranged from landscape art to garden and playground designs, from sculptures featuring plan
Painter, photographer, and printmaker Yasuo Kuniyoshi immigrated to the United States from Japan in 1906 and began a journey through New York City, Europe, and Japan that forged his unique painting style.
The year was 1830, and the American West was entering a phase of rapid transformation. Passage of the Indian Removal Act commenced the twelve-year migration of American Indians from lands east of the Mississippi River.
Visions and Revisions celebrates the work of four contemporary craft artists—Steven Young Lee, Kristen Morgin, Jennifer Trask, and Norwood Viviano. Artworks from each artist defy expectations as they meditate on decline and decay, resilience and rebirth.
For more than sixty years, June Schwarcz (1918–2015) advanced the art of enameling—fusing glass to metal through a high-temperature firing process—while creating works that combine rich textures and luminous color.
Lure of the West: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum commemorates Treasures to Go, a series of eight exhibitions from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, touring the nation through 2002.