Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Abbott Handerson Thayer, Angel, 1887, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum
Several hundred of the museum’s greatest treasures by artists such as John Singer Sargent, Winslow Homer and Childe Hassam are on view in the Grand Salon at its Renwick Gallery while renovations continue at the museum’s historic main building.
Description
This striking new selection of more than 185 works are hung salon-style, one-atop-another and side-by-side to re-create the elegant setting of a 19th-century collector's picture gallery. Drawn primarily from the museum's large collection of 19th-century painting, the works were selected from four strengths in the museum's permanent collection: Colonial and Federal artworks, American impressionism, Gilded Age treasures and art of the Western frontier including the Taos School. This installation includes a suite of three stunning views of Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon by Thomas Moran, two on long-term loan from the U. S. Department of the Interior, which inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone as the nation's first national park.