Company Profile
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Company Overview
The Smithsonian American Art Museum, the nation's first collection of American art, is an unparalleled record of the American experience. The collection captures the aspirations, character, and imagination of the American people throughout three centuries. The museum is the home to one of the largest and most inclusive collections of American art in the world. Its artworks reveal key aspects of America's rich artistic and cultural history from the colonial period to today.
Company History
The collection began modestly in 1829 when a Washingtonian named John Varden set out to form a museum in the nation's capital for his collection of European art. At first, the art was placed in a room he added to his own house near the U.S. Capitol.
In 1841, Varden's collection was displayed in the newly constructed Patent Office Building—coincidentally, the museum's home today. Along with Varden's works came Varden himself as "curator" of the newly created "National Institute" for government-owned artistic and historic items. Paintings and sculptures shared space in a large exhibit hall with the Declaration of Independence and Benjamin Franklin's printing press.
The establishment of the Smithsonian in 1846 eclipsed the prestige of the institute, which later disbanded. By 1858, a majority of the items on view at the Patent Office Building were moved a few blocks to the newly completed Smithsonian Castle. The remainder of the collection followed in 1862. But a destructive fire there in 1865 increased the Smithsonian's reluctance to build cultural collections. For the rest of the century, most of the artwork was placed on loan to the Library of Congress and to the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
A turning point in the history of the collection came in 1906. That year the probated will of Harriet Lane Johnston, an art collector and niece of President James Buchanan, forced an important decision in a federal court: the recognition that the Smithsonian's collection formed a "National Gallery of Art."
Coined during a national art-collecting boom, the official name soon attracted major gifts. Highly prized were diverse artworks owned by John Gellatly and American impressionist paintings and Barbizon landscapes collected by William T. Evans.
Plans to build a permanent home for the museum on the National Mall came and went, among them a prize-winning modernist structure that shocked federal officials and was never built. The competition had been organized after Andrew Mellon gave his European-focused art collection to the nation in 1937 with the stipulation that his new museum be called the "National Gallery of Art" in emulation of the National Gallery of Art in London.
To comply with Mellon's wishes for a National Gallery of Art to house his European collection, the Smithsonian museum known as the National Gallery of Art for thirty-one years was renamed the National Collection of Fine Arts in 1937. It assumed new responsibilities in promoting the work of living artists and building a national audience.
The interest in historic preservation after World War II ultimately was responsible for giving the first Smithsonian art museum a new home—and preserving an architectural treasure. In 1957, a bill was introduced in Congress to demolish the elegant Patent Office Building to make way for a parking lot. Deteriorated but still one of the purest examples of Greek Revival architecture in the nation, the structure was saved when Congress transferred the building to the Smithsonian. In 1968, after an extensive interior renovation, the museum opened to the public. To learn more about the history of the building, visit the online exhibition for Temple of Invention: History of a National Landmark.
In 1972, the Renwick Gallery opened to the public as a branch museum featuring American crafts.
In 1980, the museum's name was changed to the National Museum of American Art as part of a Smithsonian initiative to standardize the names of its many museums and to reflect the museum's primary focus on American Art. Since then, the museum's exclusive mission has been the acquistion, promotion and interpretation of the work of artists in the United States. Twenty years later, the museum proposed that it be called the Smithsonian American Art Museum as an easy-to-remember name and a straightforward presentation of its mission. Congress approved this change in October 2000.
Notable Accomplishments / Recognition
The Lunder Conservation Center, which opened in July 2000, is the first art conservation facility that allows the public permanent behind-the-scenes views of preservation work.
The Luce Foundation Center, which opened in July 2000, is the first visible art storage and study center in Washington, D.C. and the fourth center to bear the Luce Family name.
The Renwick Gallery opened January 28, 1972 as the home of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s contemporary craft and decorative art program. For more than 40 years, the building has served as the nation’s premier site honoring the country’s best artists in their fields.
On November 13 the Renwick reopened to the public after a major two-year interior and exterior renovation—the first comprehensive renovation of the building in 45 years.
Benefits
The Smithsonian offers a comprehensive benefits package that
includes, in part, vacation and sick leave, holidays, health/life
insurance, accident insurance, and excellent retirement program
options.
Please see Benefits at www.sihr.si.edu for a complete
description.
Other Information:
Flexible Spending Accounts - http://www.fsafeds.com/fsafeds/index.asp
Health Insurance - http://www.opm.gov/insure/health/index.asp
Leave - http://www.opm.gov/oca/leave/index.asp
Life Insurance - http://www.opm.gov/insure/life/index.asp
Long Term Care Insurance - http://www.ltcfeds.com
Retirement Program - http://www.opm.gov/retire/index.asp