Opening of the National Collection of Fine Arts, 1968. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Accession 97-036: National Collection of Fine Arts, Office of Public Affairs, Publicity Records, 1968. Smithsonian Institution Archives.
American As Art, 1976. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Collages by Irwin Kremen, 1979. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Arne Jacobsen, Danish Architect and Designer, 1976. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
New Stained Glass, 1978-1979. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
A Children's Art Festival, 1982. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Gabor Peterdi: 45 Years of Printmaking, 1979. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Webfoots and Bunchgrassers: Folk Art of the Oregon Country, 1980-1981. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
American Kaleidoscope: A Day for Everyone to Explore and Make Art, 1976. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
High School Graphics VII, 1981. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
High School Graphics VI, 1979. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Attilio Salemme: Inhabitant of a Dream, 1978. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Seymour Lipton: Aspects of Sculpture, 1979. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Murals in the Round: Painted Tipis of the Kiowa and Kiowa-Apache Indians, 1977-1978. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Egypt Today: Embroidered Pictures from Akhmim, 1981. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Twills with Titles: H. Theodore Hallman, Weaver Kenneth A, Mills, Poet, 1980. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
New Glass, 1980. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
20 Painting Poems by Sheila Isham, 1981. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Child’s Play, 1979. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Ilya Bolotowsky, 1974-1975. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Two American Painters: Fritz Scholder and T.C. Cannon, 1972. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Perceptions and Evocations: The Art of Elihu Vedder, 1978-1979. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Contemporary Art from Alaska, 1978. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Contemporary Nigerian Art: Craftsmen from Oshogbo, 1974. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
The Object as Poet, 1976-1977. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
Raices y Visiones (Roots and Visions), 1977. Courtesy of Mitch Toda. Record Unit 452: National Museum of American Art, Office of Exhibition and Design, Exhibition Records, 1975-1981, Smithsonian Institution Archives.
As some of you may know the Smithsonian American Art Museum was originally known as the National Gallery of Art. It bore this name from 1907 till 1937. At that time the museum had to change its name to the National Collection of Fine Arts when its former name (National Gallery of Art) was assigned to the collection donated by Andrew W. Mellon to the United States. In 1980 it changed names again to the National Museum of American Art and then finally in 2000 to the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
It was not until 1968 that the museum found a permanent home at the old Patent Office Building. Before then the collections were exhibited in the Art Room at the Smithsonian Institution Building, as well as in the Arts and Industries Building and at the National Museum of Natural History. In the slideshow, you will find the poster for the opening of the museum at the old Patent Office Building in 1968 and a selection of various exhibition and program posters, both from the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery.
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