Archives of American Art

During World War II, Executive Order 9066 authorized the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans (above: In Los Angeles in April 1942, dozens of families wait for a train to Manzanar War Relocation Center in Owens Valley, California).

Japanese American Artists Recall the Trauma of Wartime Incarceration

Smithsonian podcasts explore the legacy of Executive Order 9066 and the camera that almost didn’t make it to the Juno spacecraft launch

Philip Pearlstein (above in his studio, June 1971) was "unwaveringly interested in the landscape of the body,” says Stephanie Stebich, the director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. 

Philip Pearlstein Painted the Naked Truth

Smithsonian curators remember the celebrated artist, who died last month at 98, and who viewed humanity with biting realism

Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, 1942

Reexamining Edward Hopper—and the Woman Behind His Career

“Hopper: An American Love Story” highlights the artist’s relationship with his wife, Josephine Nivison

This month, Portraits, a podcast from the National Portrait Gallery, revisits "Finding Cleopatra," a Sidedoor episode with host Lizzie Peabody exploring the life of the artist Edmonia Lewis (above: a photographic portrait by Henry Rocher, c. 1890).

Cleopatra’s Iconoclastic Sculptor Was Her Own Kind of Queen

Smithsonian podcasts delve into the life of Edmonia Lewis, how astronauts sleep, the evolution of the human brain; and drop in on painter Kay WalkingStick

In “Postage Pairings,” from the National Portrait Gallery, host Kim Sajet speaks with the Smithsonian's Daniel Piazza, curator of philately, about postage stamps (left: 29c single, july 30, 1993) reproduced from portraits (right: Benjamin Franklin by Joseph Siffred Duplessis, c. 1785).

The Revolutionary Role Mail Played in America’s Fight for Independence

Hear about the colonial period postal service in the latest "Portraits" podcast

Wayne Thiebaud, Pies, Pies, Pies, 1961. Oil on canvas.

Getting a Taste of Wayne Thiebaud

An exhibit in California examines the full, delicious spread of the American artist's work

Aside from photography, James Van Der Zee was also a gifted musician who played both the piano and violin.

The Met Acquires Archive of Work by Harlem Renaissance Photographer James Van Der Zee

Working with the Studio Museum of Harlem, the museum is preserving the photographer’s images of 20th-century Black life

Frida Kahlo's Diego y yo (1949) sold at auction for $34.9 million on Tuesday night. 

Intimate Frida Kahlo Self-Portrait Sells for $34.9 Million, Smashing Auction Records

The stunning work became the most expensive Latin American artwork ever sold, breaking a benchmark set by the Mexican painter's husband, Diego Rivera

Conservators discovered this painting, Untitled (Virginia Summer), beneath another work by Gorky, The Limit (1947). The artist's relatives had previously noticed sections of The Limit peeling up at the corners, revealing bright blue paint below.

Cool Finds

This Arshile Gorky Painting Spent 70 Years Hidden in Plain Sight

Experts discovered a sea-blue canvas by the Armenian American artist concealed beneath another one of his works on paper

“Titian made art into his late 80s and I’m now past that. I always wanted to paint like an old master, or rather an old mistress,” says the photorealist painter and sculptor Audrey Flack. “A radical contemporary old mistress.”

Stand Aside, Old Masters: This Feminist Artist Is Cultivating Her Old Mistress Legacy

Now 90 years old, the renowned photorealist Audrey Flack shows no sign of slowing down

Nancy Holt on a New York City rooftop in October 1977

Archives of Groundbreaking Land Artist Nancy Holt Head to the Smithsonian

The papers illuminate the life of a woman whose career was often overshadowed by that of her husband, Robert Smithson

Ruth Asawa, Untitled (S.557, Wall-Mounted Tied Wire, Closed Center Twelve-Petaled Form Based on Nature), bronze wire, 38 x 38 x 12 in.

Smithsonian Voices

Documenting the Turning Point in the Fascinating Career of Sculptor Ruth Asawa

Smithsonian's Liza Kirwin explores an early and important exhibition held at LA's Ankrum Gallery in 1962

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Smithsonian Voices

Hear the Voices of America's Artistic Community Recounting Despair, Resilience, Loss and Creation

During the summer of 2020, the Archives of American Art conducted 85 interviews with artists, teachers, curators and administrators

Jessica Esch, Totally, November 2020, 6 1/4" x 12 1/2"

Smithsonian Voices

Illustrator Jessica Esch Fell Down a 'Rabbit Hole' and Hasn't Emerged Yet

During the pandemic, the Archives of American Art provided refuge and a place for artistic inspiration

Fiber artist Barbara Lee Smith in her studio.

Smithsonian Voices

A Friendship Forged in the Archives

Maine writer and illustrator Jessica Esch happened upon the Archives of American Art by chance; but destiny followed

A participant from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum's "Eva Zeisel: Designing in the Air" workshop explores connections between a Zeisel ceramic prototype and her carpet sample design.

Smithsonian Voices

Understanding the Power of Primary Sources

Artifacts and archives are silent until they come out from the attic, the shoebox, or a museum’s archive to find life again through shared discovery

Alexander Calder checks some of his mobiles during a 1962 exhibition of his work at Tate London.

Education During Coronavirus

Explore the Newly Digitized Archive of Alexander Calder, Famed 'Sculptor of Air'

A new online trove from the Calder Foundation offers fans endless avenues to learn about the artist's life and work

Like the original show staged at what's now the Smithsonian American Art Museum, "Objects: USA 2020," hosted by R & Company, an art gallery in New York City, aims to bring American craft to a new generation.

Artisan America

The Groundbreaking 1969 Craft Exhibit 'Objects: USA' Gets a Reboot

More than 50 years later, the new show combines the works of 100 established and emerging artists

Still from the 1974 film Julie by Robert and Ingrid Wiegand

Women Who Shaped History

Women Artists Reflect on How They Helped Shape SoHo

A Smithsonian online event kicks off a new monthly series exploring the pioneering art films and videos made by women

Lorna Truck and Tim Benson. Photograph documenting burning of Robert Pincus-Witten's book Postminimalism (1977) at the request of artist Buster Cleveland as part of the 1979 Des Moines Festival of the Avant-Garde, circa 1979.

Smithsonian Voices

Meet the Pioneering Virtual Artist Fred Truck

By using electronic tools to facilitate communications between artists and computer-based artworks, Truck established himself as a pivotal figure

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