Art Review: Renwick Gallery Anniversary Craft Exhibition

I adore the Renwick Gallery, the Smithsonian’s art museum dedicated to American craft. If you’re visiting Washington and have time for only one museum visit, it’s got to be the Renwick.

The building is next to Blair House and steps from the White House. It was originally built for the Corcoran Gallery in the late 1850s and is the oldest purpose-built museum building in America. It’s an impressive Renaissance Revival pile. When the Corcoran needed a bigger home, it moved down the road. The federal government bought it, using it for the U.S. Court of Claims. In the early 1950s — making claims being an American pastime — the court itself needed bigger digs. The building lay fallow, its demolition planned, until Mrs. Kennedy led the charge both to renovate it and to establish a craft museum there.

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

I adore the Renwick Gallery, the Smithsonian’s art museum dedicated to American craft. If you’re visiting Washington and have time for only one museum visit, it’s got to be the Renwick.

The building is next to Blair House and steps from the White House. It was originally built for the Corcoran Gallery in the late 1850s and is the oldest purpose-built museum building in America. It’s an impressive Renaissance Revival pile. When the Corcoran needed a bigger home, it moved down the road. The federal government bought it, using it for the U.S. Court of Claims. In the early 1950s — making claims being an American pastime — the court itself needed bigger digs. The building lay fallow, its demolition planned, until Mrs. Kennedy led the charge both to renovate it and to establish a craft museum there.