Exhibition

Luce Foundation Center for American Art

The Luce Foundation Center for American Art is the first visible art storage and study center in Washington that showcases more than 3,000 artworks from the museum's permanent collection: paintings densely hung on screens; sculptures, contemporary crafts, and art objects arranged on shelves; and portrait miniatures, bronze medals, and contemporary jewelry in drawers that slide open with the touch of a button. The space allows the museum to display five times the number of paintings and sculptures on public view.

Highlights include:

  • selected objects from the Rosenak Collection of American Folk Art
  • a selection of Presidential Inaugural medals
  • in-depth collections of paintings by the African American modernist William H. Johnson
  • paintings by 19th-century artists Albert Pinkham Ryder and Henry Ossawa Tanner
  • John Gellatly's European collection of decorative arts

On View At

Interior gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum with columns, paintings on the walls, and a large neon map installation
The nation’s first collection of American art offers an unparalleled record of the American experience, capturing the aspirations, character and imagination of the American people throughout three centuries.
Location
Washington, DC
11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily