Virtually explore the Smithsonian American Art Museum with Smarthistory as your guide
Some background
videos + essays
Link to the Smithsonian American Art Museum's website
Carmen Lomas Garza, Tamalada
Lomas Garza’s Tamalada—a tamale-making gathering—offers a window onto this delicious, culturally significant food in the Tejano community.
Harry Gamboa Jr., À la Mode, from the Asco era
Striking dramatic poses, the artists of Asco project cinematic fantasy and evoke mystery in À La Mode.
Malaquías Montoya, Vote Register
Montoya’s silkscreen is obvious in its address to viewers: register and vote.
Olga de Amaral, El gran muro
In El gran muro, densely-piled woven strips of red, yellow, gray, and blue are meant to evoke cascading leaves.
SAAM: Nam June Paik, Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, 1995
Take a trip across the U.S.A. with Nam June Paik's "Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, 1995."
Superman, World War II, and Japanese-American experience
Superman makes an appearance in what looks (at first sight) like a Japanese print.
Millard Sheets, Tenement Flats
Cats, gossip, and laundry — a view of Los Angeles during the Great Depression.
What’s in a map? Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s State Names
Thinking about our history in a different way helps us rethink our present.
Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way
Daniel Boone, Moses, and the western frontier: creating an American mythology
Nam June Paik, Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii
The “father of video art” argued that electronic communication, not transportation, unites the modern world.
Henry Ossawa Tanner, Angels Appearing before the Shepherds
Refusing to be known only for African-American genre pictures, Tanner was devoted to lush religious scenes.
