SAAM Stories

When Eric Fischl inaugurated the Clarice Smith Distinguised Lectures in American Art series recently, he covered a lot of material. Though best-known as a painter, he's worked in a variety of media in his more than forty year career. Ten Breaths: Tumbling Woman II a second sculpture he made in response to the events of 9/11 is currently on view on the third floor of the American Art Museum, and Fischl's remarks are certainly worth noting.

"Untitled: The Art of James Castle" opens today at American Art and features fifty-four works by the artist that were recently acquired by the museum.

Having titled his recent memoir Bad Boy: My Life on and off the Canvas, Eric Fischl kicked off this season's annual Clarice Smith Distinguished Lectures in American Art series with a survey of his work, spanning more than forty years.

On September 24, the Smithsonian American Art Museum will co-host a national conference that examines the importance of preserving WPA-era murals using the work of celebrated American muralist Tom Lea as a case study.

Our art conservators discovered a drawing on the back of a William H. Johnson artwork during the conservation process.

Erin Benz interned at American Art's Luce Foundation Center this summer. While here, she took the time to write about one of her favorite artists in our collection, Lilly Martin Spencer.

You've heard of landscapes and cityscapes, but how about soundscapes? DC-based artist Emily Francisco creates these immersive audio environments and she'll talk about her recent work when she kicks off the Luce Foundation Center's fall Artist Talks series this Sunday, September 14 at 1:30 p.m.

Fermented Soil by Hans Hofmann contains such fresh joy and vigor it is hard to believe it was painted by a man in his mid-eighties. It swings like a jazz sextet.

The polished machinery featured in Marvin Beerbohm's "Automotive Industry" mural will be shimmering a little brighter now that the mural has been treated by the American Art Museum's conservation department. The mural, which was previously located in Detroit's Public Library, was recently installed in the museum's first floor.

Handi-hour is finally back on Thursday, September 4. This time we are partnering with the Fantom Comics in Dupont Circle for a Handi-hour with comic book flare! Program coordinator Katie Crooks demonstrates her super power craft making in this round of Handi-hour how to videos; check them out below for a preview of some of the crafts we'll be making at the event.

American Art's exhibition Ralph Fasanella: Lest We Forget will open at the American Folk Art Museum in his home city of New York on September 2, 2014, celebrating both the 100th anniversary of the artist's birth as well as the soul of Labor Day as an American holiday of commemoration and honor. Folk and self-taught art curator, Leslie Umberger, writes about the artist and his connection to the ideas intrinsic to Labor Day.

Pamela Johnson, a Graduate Fellow at American Art's Lunder Conservation Center looks very closely, using X-radiography and infrared at the work of Pio Casimiro Bacene.

This Saturday, August 23rd, from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., the Luce Foundation Center's Design Series will host a talk by Tanis Gray, local knitwear designer and publisher of numerous knitting books. Public programs coordinator, Katie Crooks, had a chance to talk with Tanis about her work.

American Art curatorial assistant, Nina Williams writes about the use of plastics in Pop Art printmaking. Our exhibition Pop Art Prints is on display until August 31, 2014.

On August 16th at 2 p.m., the Smithsonian American Art Museum's and National Portrait Gallery's next Cine-Concert series features Andrew Greene, Director of the Peacherine Ragtime Society Orchestra, performing his original score for the Buster Keaton classic College (1927, 66 minutes).

Meg Saligman is an award winning artist at the forefront of the contemporary mural movement in Philadelphia. She is recognized worldwide for her work with light, paint, glass, buildings, and people.

The dog days of summer and the beach beckons but can't get out of town? Well, American Art can help with that.

On the occasion of the exhibition, Ralph Fasanella: Lest We Forget, marking the artist's one-hundredth birth anniversary, Ralph's son Marc shares his thoughts on his father's iconic painting, Family Supper. Ralph Fasanella: Lest We Forget closes this Sunday, August 3, at American Art.