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Generously supported by The Marilyn Lichtman Distinguished Speakers Series Wednesday, November 17th | 12:30pm General Admission: $25 Members: $20 As part of our commitment to making sure that this program remains open and accessible to every member of our community, we are happy to offer a limited number of Pay-What-You-Can tickets. These tickets are first […]
John Yau is an art critic, poet, fiction writer, and freelance curator. His talk will feature two artists, Frederic Church and Thomas Nozkowski, who both spent significant time in the Catskills, drawing inspiration from locales for their respective artworks. Yau's discussion focuses on each artist’s vision of nature and how their respective conceptions of seeing, […]
Curious about American art? Join us for a 30-minute virtual conversation about selected works from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s collection. This program is presented in American Sign Language (ASL) with voice interpretation for hearing participants. A Zoom link will be provided via email upon registration via Eventbrite.
Join SAAM’s research fellows for this lunchtime series of gallery talks as they share new discoveries about artworks on view. Learn the stories behind these objects and how each one tells us about America’s ever-changing culture. Fellow Elizabeth Driscoll Smith discusses Emery Blagdon's The Healing Machine (ca. 1955–86). Attendees can meet in the G Street […]
Scholar Julia Bryan-Wilson considers how women of color artists like Pacita Abad and Rosie Lee Tompkins have used embellishment as a strategy to blur the lines between function and decor. Her talk examines how these artists' practice of intricately adorning domestic objects can expand our understanding of women's work. Bryan-Wilson's 2017 book Fray: Art and […]
Join SAAM's research fellows for this lunchtime series of gallery talks as they share new discoveries about artworks on view. Learn the stories behind these objects and how each one tells us about America's ever-changing culture. Fellow Amy E. Crum discusses Margarita Cabrera's White Coffee Maker (2011).
Join SAAM’s research fellows for this lunchtime series of gallery talks as they share new discoveries about artworks on view. Learn the stories behind these objects and how each one tells us about America’s ever-changing culture. Manon Gaudet, Terra Foundation Predoctoral Fellow in American Art, discusses George Catlin’s Wi-jún-jon, Pigeon's Egg Head (The Light) Going To and Returning From […]
Wednesday, May 17-Friday, May 19, 2023 1 – 5pm EDT (daily) Join the 2022–2023 class of Smithsonian American Art Museum research fellows as they present new scholarship on a range of topics and time periods, media and messages. Speakers will share research discoveries and offer fresh perspectives on works of American art. Wednesday, May 17, […]
Join SAAM’s research fellows for this lunchtime series of gallery talks as they share new discoveries about artworks on view. Learn the stories behind these objects and how each one tells us about America’s ever-changing culture. Amy Kahng, Patricia and Philip Frost Predoctoral Fellow, discusses Yasuo Kuniyoshi’s Strong Woman and Child (1925).
Join "Sharing Honors and Burdens: Renwick Invitational 2023" artists Erica Lord (Athabaskan/ Iñupiat) and Maggie Thompson (Fond du Lac Ojibwe) in conversation with guest curator, Lara Evans (Cherokee Nation). Thompson, a fiber artist and designer who derives inspiration from her Ojibwe heritage, explores family history and broader themes relating to her Native American experience in […]
Interdisciplinary artist Cauleen Smith kicks off the annual Clarice Smith Distinguished Lecture Series. Smith explores African American identity through her work, particularly in films such as Sojourner, featured in SAAM’s current exhibition Musical Thinking: New Video Art and Sonic Strategies. She describes her work as a reflection on “the everyday possibilities of the imagination,” drawing […]
Don’t miss this amazing opportunity to hear from legendary artist Carrie Mae Weems, joined in conversation by Saisha Grayson, SAAM’s curator of time-based media, to discuss her new exhibition "Carrie Mae Weems: Looking Forward, Looking Back". Described as an icon, national treasure, and genius, Weems is a moral compass in the field, entwining art and […]
Join an in-depth presentation on issues of authorship and (mistaken) identity raised by Yves Saint Laurent’s 1965 series of so-called Mondrian dresses. Nancy J. Troy, Kress-Beinecke Professor at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, will examine the galvanizing force of fashion in making Mondrian’s style widely available and instantly recognizable in visual […]
Join SAAM’s Paintings Conservators for a conservation-focused tour through the exhibition “Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas”. Participants will be able to explore the works while getting insight into the working methods and painting materials of this beloved Washington Color Field artist. Learn how Thomas achieved her visual effects in her large-scale works, and how […]
The Washington Winter Show was founded in 1955 for the purpose of raising funds for local charities serving the needs of at-risk children and families by sponsoring an annual show devoted to antiques and fine arts.
The exceptionally well-preserved Moche mummy known as the Señora de Cao was buried at the El Brujo ceremonial complex in northern coastal Peru around 500 CE. Her unusually rich and diverse funerary assemblage includes elaborate textiles, gold headdresses, and jewelry. Bioanthropological analysis identifies her unequivocally as female. But the objects in her funerary bundle include […]
New score performed live by Matthew Nolan and Erik Friedlander The Blood of a Poet (Le Sang d'un Poète), the first part of Jean Cocteau’s Orphic Trilogy, is considered one of the finest surrealist films ever made. Cocteau wrote that his film marks “a descent into oneself . . . a kind of half-sleep through […]
Journey from sorrow to triumph in mere moments with Brahms’ vivid Tragic Overture as CCS opens its penultimate concert of the season. The concert’s emotional adventure continues as Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade sweeps us away with drama and lush romance, showcasing the influences of 19th-century composers whose work he’d studied. And finally, we join Mendelssohn on his […]
Join SAAM’s research fellows for this lunchtime series of gallery talks as they share new discoveries about artworks on view. Learn the stories behind these objects and how each one tells us about an ever-changing culture in the United States. Natalie E. Wright, George Gurney Predoctoral Fellow, discusses Andrew Clemens’ Untitled (The Mary Heye Bottle).
Join SAAM’s research fellows for this lunchtime series of gallery talks as they share new discoveries about artworks on view. Learn the stories behind these objects and how each one tells us about an ever-changing culture in the United States. Kéla Jackson, Terra Foundation Predoctoral Fellow in American Art, discusses L'Merchie Frazier’s “From a Birmingham […]
Join Mary Savig, the Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft, for a lecture about the exhibition “Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women”, now on view at SAAM’s Renwick Gallery. The […]
