Art Review: Smithsonian American Art Museum Is Splendid, with a Few Quibbles

I visited the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) and the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) at the end of my research trip to Washington. Both are in what was once the United States Patent Office, a splendid Greek Revival pile occupying an entire city block between 7th and 9th Streets and F and G Streets in the city’s Chinatown. SAAM specializes in American art in all media, while the NPG is our equivalent, though a work in progress, of London’s National Portrait Gallery. For different reasons, I enjoyed my visit to both. Today I’ll focus on SAAM.

I had multiple missions in mind. I saw Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass, SAAM’s delectable new exhibition about the revival of Venice’s tourism, glass, lace, and mosaic industries in the 1870s and 1880s. I’ll write about this show in two or three weeks. How could anyone not love an exhibition that begins with Salviati & Co. glass made on Murano?

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

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

I visited the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) and the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) at the end of my research trip to Washington. Both are in what was once the United States Patent Office, a splendid Greek Revival pile occupying an entire city block between 7th and 9th Streets and F and G Streets in the city’s Chinatown. SAAM specializes in American art in all media, while the NPG is our equivalent, though a work in progress, of London’s National Portrait Gallery. For different reasons, I enjoyed my visit to both. Today I’ll focus on SAAM.

I had multiple missions in mind. I saw Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass, SAAM’s delectable new exhibition about the revival of Venice’s tourism, glass, lace, and mosaic industries in the 1870s and 1880s. I’ll write about this show in two or three weeks. How could anyone not love an exhibition that begins with Salviati & Co. glass made on Murano?