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Past Exhibitions
Revisit almost twenty years of the Archives’ past exhibitions covering various topics, projects, and events in art history.
- In 1954 when art historian E. P. Richardson and collector Lawrence A. Fleischman founded the Archives, they could not have forseen the enormous changes in store for the American art world, nor the impact of their efforts on the discipline of art hist
- Fifty years ago, in Detroit, the Archives of American Art was founded by E. P. Richardson, then director of the Detroit Institute of Arts, and Lawrence A. Fleischman, a young collector and patron of the arts. Richardson, author of a pioneering work o
- This exhibition presents a selection of letters, writings, photographs, interviews and other primary sources documenting American artists working in clay.The Archives of American Art?s focus on clay is part of the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Pro
- This small collection of George Catlin papers came to the Smithsonian Institution in 1879 with Catlin’s “Indian Gallery,” his famous paintings from life of Native Americans completed between 1830 and 1836. Joseph Harrison, a wealthy American industri
- For almost 50 years, the André Emmerich Gallery was one of New York's most influential contemporary galleries. It was the focal point for Color-Field painting and a leading venue for color abstraction and monumental sculpture.Born in Germany in 1924
- The Marcel Breuer Papers were generously donated to the Archives of American Art between 1985 and 1999 by his widow, Constance Breuer. Spanning the years 1920 to 1986, the papers include correspondence, interviews, writings, project files, photograph
- The definition of American folk art is notoriously difficult to pin down. In the twentieth century “folk art” has embraced everything from Pennsylvania German frakturs to eccentric architectural environments.Holger Cahill in his landmark 1932 exhibit
- The Archives of American Art celebrates the art and the career of Wayne Thiebaud as we delight in in his engaging and thoughtful work. Thiebaud's strongly illuminated forms possess a dignity that transcends their familiar origins. His memorable paint
- The Archives of American Art created this exhibition in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month 2001 in order to pay tribute to Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (b. 1907 d. 1954) and her enduring influence on American art.The photographs and letters seen he-
Frida Kahlo: Notas Sobre una Vida / Notes on a Life
- This online exhibition, drawn entirely from collections in the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art, celebrates Nanette L. Laitman's gift to the Archives for the creation of the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft in America, an unpr
- When E. P. Richardson and Lawrence Fleischman first conceived the idea of a central repository for the primary records of art in America, they could not have foreseen the impact of their vision on American art history. This exhibition of treasures, f
The papers of Cuban Americans at the Archives of American Art include the primary source material of painters, sculptors, photographers, collectors, dealers, critics, historians, and curators as well as records of several galleries and a museum. This-Selecciones Cubanas: Selections from the Papers of Cuban American Artists at the Archives of American Art
- Fairfield Porter (b. 1907 d. 1975), still best remembered as a painter, is now also seen as one of the most articulate art critics of his generation. A poet, philosopher, and political intellectual, Porter’s writings and correspondence provide a deta
- As part of the Smithsonian Institution's 1999 Hispanic Heritage Month activities, the Archives of American Art announced the acquisition of the papers of curator and art historian Giulio V. Blanc (b.1955 d. 1995), and the print publication of the sec
- Found among the Archives' collections are many artists' depictions of the American Indian. While the work of artists like George Catlin, W. Langdon Kihn, and Dorothy Newkirk Stewart all look different, they, and the work of other artists represented
- Authors of such books as the Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century American Folk Art and Artists (published by Abbeville in 1990), The People Speak: Navajo Folk Art (published by Northland Publishing in 1994), and Contemporary
- In 1997, the Archives of American Art received a donation of 20 linear feet of research material on the Chicano art movement in the United States and Latin America, compiled by Dr. Tomás Ybarra-Frausto. Ybarra-Frausto was a professor at Stanford Univ
- Exhibition of portrait photographs from the Archives of American Art at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.
Exhibition Chronology
Read the full chronology of exhibitions organized by the Archives of American Art.
The Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery
The Archives of American Art’s exhibition space is located two blocks away from our D.C. Research Center in the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture (8th and F Streets NW).
Please visit www.si.edu/visit for more information and to review safety requirements before your visit.
Learn more about visiting the gallery.
Hours: Open daily 11:30 a.m.–7:00 p.m.
Admission: Free