{"id":1518,"date":"2022-05-10T11:05:12","date_gmt":"2022-05-10T03:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/?p=1518"},"modified":"2022-05-10T11:05:12","modified_gmt":"2022-05-10T03:05:12","slug":"smithsonian-american-art-museum-acquires-more-than-200-artworks-for-its-craft-collection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/artist\/smithsonian-american-art-museum-acquires-more-than-200-artworks-for-its-craft-collection\/","title":{"rendered":"Smithsonian American Art Museum Acquires More than 200 Artworks for its Craft Collection"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the country\u2019s preeminent institution dedicated to the cultivation and study of American art, the\u00a0Smithsonian\u00a0American Art Museum (SAAM)<\/a> carries the unique curatorial responsibility of capturing the expansive and multifaceted nature of the nation\u2019s culture in its displays. During a complex and often fraught period in United States history marked by social and political upheaval accompanied by changing perspectives, a mindful approach to growing a museum\u2019s collection is one of the most visible ways it can tell important stories.<\/p>\n

This is the impetus behind a recent acquisition campaign coinciding with the 50th anniversary in 2022 of SAAM\u2019s\u00a0Renwick Gallery<\/a>, the nation\u2019s leading center for American craft. Formally launched in 2020, the acquisition program has brought more than 200 objects into SAAM\u2019s permanent collection, markedly increasing the number of Black, Latinx, Asian American, LGBTQ+, Indigenous, and women artists represented in the museum\u2019s holdings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to expanding the museum\u2019s collection, our priority is to break barriers further,\u201d says Nora Atkinson, the Fleur and Charles Bresler Curator-in-Charge for the Renwick Gallery, who chaired the campaign. \u201cAt 50 years, we have an opportunity to look back at our history, see where we have succeeded and fallen short, and recalibrate as we embark on the next 50 years. By including people of all genders, sexualities, ethnicities, and abilities in our collection and examining all forms of craft practice with genuine curiosity, we are building a national collection that showcases a multiplicity of perspectives and expceriences.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Renwick Gallery\u2019s acquisition campaign<\/a>\u00a0is part of a larger SAAM initiative that has to date brought in many significant works by a broadly representative and diverse group of American artists in all media, from painting and sculpture to time-based media, photographs, self-taught art, and contemporary craft. Such notable works include\u00a0Orilla Verde at the Rio Grande<\/em>\u00a0(2012), one of three paintings by Cherokee artist\u00a0Kay WalkingStick<\/strong>;\u00a0Ana Mendieta<\/strong>\u2019s iconic 1973 short film\u00a0Sweating Blood<\/em>; and the multimedia installation\u00a0Lincoln, Lonnie, and Me\u2014A Story in 5 Parts<\/em>\u00a0(2012), the first work by 2013 MacArthur Foundation Fellow\u00a0Carrie Mae Weems<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to enter SAAM\u2019s holdings.<\/p>\n

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\"Smithsonian<\/div>\n<\/div>
Carrie Mae Weems,\u00a0Lincoln, Lonnie, and Me\u2014A Story in 5 Parts<\/i>, 2012, video installation (color, sound) and mixed media, 18:29 min. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase. Photo courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery, NY<\/span>SAAM COLLECTION<\/p>\n

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The recent acquisitions similarly bridge the chronological span of its extant collection. A milestone bequest by collector Larry J. West in 2021 introduced a trove of early photographs dating from the 1840s to 1920s, including work by pioneering African American daguerreotypists\u00a0James P. Ball<\/strong>,\u00a0Glenalvin Goodridge<\/strong><\/a>, and\u00a0Augustus Washington<\/strong>. Anchored on the opposite end by contemporary entries such as\u00a0Arthur Jafa<\/strong>\u2019s 2016 short film\u00a0Love Is the Message, The Message Is Death<\/em>, the museum\u2019s collection presents depictions of Black Americans by Black artists nearly two centuries apart.<\/p>\n

A new wave of landmark works by\u00a0David Harper Clemons<\/strong>,\u00a0Karen LaMonte<\/strong>,\u00a0Sharon Kerry-Harlan<\/strong>, and others will be unveiled in \u201cThis Present Moment: Crafting a Better World.\u201d The exhibition, which will open on May 13 and run through April 2, 2023, at SAAM\u2019s Renwick Gallery, demonstrates the sheer breadth of new craft work in the museum\u2019s permanent collection, with approximately 135 of the 170 artworks on display never having been seen before at this site.<\/p>\n

There is an undeniable political through-line that binds the works in the exhibition, which takes its title from\u00a0This Present Moment<\/em>\u00a0(2019\u201320), a sculpture by Texas-based artist\u00a0Alicia Eggert<\/strong><\/a>. The striking billboard quotes a line from a book by futurist Stewart Brand (\u201cThis present moment \/ Used to be \/ The unimaginable future\u201d), displaying the text in pink neon\u2014a nod to the #MeToo movement.<\/p>\n

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\"Smithsonian<\/div>\n<\/div>
J. P. Ball,\u00a0Untitled (young boy)<\/i>, undated, sixth-plate daguerreotype. Smithsonian American ArtMuseum, the L. J. West Collection of Early African American Photography, Museum purchase made possible through the Franz H. and Luisita L.DenghausenEndowment<\/span>SAAM COLLECTION<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Indeed, the present moment is the focus here, and many of these touchstone works date from the past decade. The exhibition also notably debuts a new piece by quiltmaker\u00a0Bisa Butler<\/strong>, who weaves vibrant threads into captivating life-size portraits of Black Americans. Butler\u2019s\u00a0Harlem Hellfighters<\/em>\u00a0(2021\u201322) brings to life a segregated unit of the American Expeditionary Force in World War I. The soldiers are rendered in a patchwork of cotton, silk, wool, and velvet against a quilted backdrop. In typical Butler fashion, their eyes are trained on the viewer; the intensity of their gaze, coupled with the electrifying colors and sumptuous materiality of their vestments, imbues Butler\u2019s subjects with a lifelike immediacy.<\/p>\n

The exhibition also points to the iterative nature of craft art in works that refract traditional elements through the prism of modernity. Bold extrapolation upon form is the calling card for Philadelphia-born ceramist\u00a0Roberto Lugo<\/strong><\/a>, who embellishes luxury porcelain objects with a graffiti artist\u2019s sensibility to comment on social issues. His 2021 work\u00a0Juicy<\/em>\u00a0elaborately adorns a stoneware vase with the likenesses of hip-hop icons and bright colors suggestive of his family\u2019s Puerto Rican origins.<\/p>\n

Other pieces signify an extension of that tradition. Glass artist\u00a0Preston Singletary<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0creates elegant sculptures that draw upon the iconography of his Tlingit heritage.\u00a0Safe Journey<\/em>\u00a0(2021) is excerpted from his series of \u201cSpirit Boxes,\u201d based on traditional storage boxes used by Indigenous communities in the Pacific Northwest.<\/p>\n

One of SAAM\u2019s most momentous new additions is also one of its most timely.\u00a0Sonya Clark<\/strong>\u2019s\u00a0Monumental<\/em>\u00a0(2019) was inspired by a discovery she made in the Smithsonian Institution\u2019s collections in 2011, when the noted fiber artist was conducting research as a Smithsonian Artist Residence Fellow. The object was a white dishtowel, which was waved to announced the Confederate Army\u2019s surrender in 1865 at the Appomattox Court House.<\/p>\n

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\"Smithsonian<\/div>\n<\/div>
Sonya Clark,\u00a0Monumental<\/i>, 2019, woven linen with madder dye, 180 x 360 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase. Photo courtesy of the artist.<\/span>SAAM COLLECTION<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Clark\u2019s own piece, woven from linen using traditional methods, recreates its unassuming source material on a massive scale. The title both alludes to the work\u2019s utter scope and draws a connection to ever-unfolding conversations on racial justice and the significance of historical symbols amid a nationwide reckoning over Confederate statues.<\/p>\n

Monumental<\/em>\u00a0is arguably the linchpin work of \u201cThis Present Moment,\u201d not least because its message succinctly distills the thesis of the Smithsonian American Art Museum\u2019s recent acquisition efforts. Situated mere blocks from the National Mall and the White House, the SAAM galleries share psychic real estate with some of America\u2019s most ideologically significant sites. This proximity raises a question: While it\u2019s true that monuments are principally signifiers of history, are they not also ongoing testaments to shared values?<\/p>\n

Unlike fixed monuments, however, an art museum has the opportunity to evolve its values based on the curation of its contents. The expansion of SAAM\u2019s collection to include such bold and varied pieces as these underscores the museum\u2019s commitment to both championing significant works by American artists and offering nuanced insight into the plurality of the American experience.<\/p>\n

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Source\uff1ahttps:\/\/www.artnews.com\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the country\u2019s preeminent institution dedicated to the cultivation and study of American art, the\u00a0Smithsonian\u00a0American Art Museum (SAAM) carries the unique curatorial responsibility of capturing the expansive and multifaceted nature of the nation\u2019s culture in its displays. During a complex and often fraught period in United States history marked by social and political upheaval accompanied […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,13,7,4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1518","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artist","8":"category-auction","9":"category-events","10":"category-gallery","11":"category-latest-news"},"yoast_head":"\nSmithsonian American Art Museum Acquires More than 200 Artworks for its Craft Collection - Investable Art Auctioneer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As the country\u2019s preeminent institution dedicated to the cultivation and study of American art, the\u00a0Smithsonian\u00a0American Art Museum (SAAM) carries the unique curatorial responsibility of capturing the expansive and multifaceted nature of the nation\u2019s culture in its displays.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/artist\/smithsonian-american-art-museum-acquires-more-than-200-artworks-for-its-craft-collection\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Smithsonian American Art Museum Acquires More than 200 Artworks for its Craft Collection - 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