The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) is a museum in Washington, D.C. which has one of the world's largest and most inclusive collections of art, from the colonial period to the present, made in the United States. SAAM has more than 7,000 artists are represented in the collection, which contains the largest collection of New Deal art; the finest collection of contemporary craft, American impressionist paintings, and masterpieces from the Gilded Age; photography, modern folk art, work by African American and Latino artists, images of western expansion, and realist art from the first half of the twentieth century.
SAAM provides electronic resources to schools and the public through its national education program, such as Artful Connections, real-time video conference tours.
SAAM maintains seven online research databases with more than 500,000 records, including the Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture that document more than 400,000 artworks in public and private collections worldwide.
SAAM, since 1951, maintains a highly regarded traveling exhibition program, which, as of 2013, more than 2.5 million visitors saw the exhibitions.
About
editThe American Art's main building, a National Historic Landmark, is located in Washington, DC's downtown cultural district, has been renovated with expanded permanent-collection galleries and the public spaces. [1] The Luce Foundation Center for American Art is a visible art storage and study center, which allows visitors to browse more than 3,300 works of the collection.[1] The Lunder Conservation Center is "the first art conservation facility to allow the public permanent behind-the-scenes views of the preservation work of museums".[1]
Traveling Exhibitions
editAmerican Art maintains a traveling exhibition program since 1951.[2] During the 2000s renovation, a "series of exhibitions of more than 1,000 major artworks from American Art's permanent collection that traveled to 105 venues across the United States", which "was seen by more than 2.5 million visitors".[2] Since 2006, thirteen exhibitions have toured to more than 30 cities.[2]
Education programs
editAmerican Art provides electronic resources to schools and the public as part of education programs such as Artful Connections. Artful Connections gives real-time video conference tours of American Art.[3] Also, the Clarice Smith National Teacher Institutes offers several professional development programs for educators learn to integrate art across the curriculum using online applications.[3] American Art has seven online research databases, which has more than 500,000 records of artworks in public and private collections worldwide, including the Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture.[4] Numorous researchers and millions of virtual visitors per year use these databases.[4] Also, American art and Heritage Preservation work together in a joint project, Save Outdoor Sculpture, "dedicated to the documentation and preservation of outdoor sculpture". [4] Also, American Art produces a peer-reviewed periodical, American Art (started in 1987), for new scholarship.[4] Since 1993, American Art has been had an online presence.[4] It has one of the earliest museum websites then, in 1995, it launched its own website.[4] EyeLevel, the first blog at the Smithsonian Institute, was started in 2005 and, as of 2013, the blog "has approximately 12,000 readers each month."[4]
Architectural significance
editAmerican Art's main building is a National Historic Landmark and is considered an example of Greek Revival architecture in the United States.[5] It was designed by noted architect James Renwick, Jr..[5] Robert Mills and Thomas U. Walter were some of the architects who designed the original Second Empire-style.[5] During the 1990s, the Smithsonian Institute worked on restoring the building.[6] The 2000-2006 renovation included restoring the porticos modeled after the Parthenon in Athens, a curving double staircase, colonnades, vaulted galleries, large windows, and skylights as long as a city block.[6] According to the Smithsonian Institute, "Extraordinary effort was made to use new preservation technologies to restore the historic fabric of the building and re-use historic materials."[6] During the renovation, the Lunder Conservation Center, the Luce Foundation Center for American Art, Nan Tucker McEvoy Auditorium, and the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard were added to the building.[6]
References
edit- ^ a b c "About the American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery". Smithsonian Inistute. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
- ^ a b c "National Outreach". Smithsonian Institute. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
- ^ a b "Education Outreach". Smithsonian Inistuste. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g "National Outreach". Retrieved 15 March 2013.
- ^ a b c "District of Columbia - Inventory of Historic Sites" (PDF). District of Columbia: Office of Planning. Government of the District of Columbia. September 1, 2004. Retrieved September 22, 2009.
- ^ a b c d "About the American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery". Smithsonian Inistuite. Retrieved 15 March 2013.