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

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.

Grafton Tyler Brown, View of the Lower Falls, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
In order to capture the beauty of America’s national parks, Brown faced the prejudices of the lawless West.