Art

The National Museum of American History is not an art museum. But works of art fill its collections and testify to the vital place of art in everyday American life. The ceramics collections hold hundreds of examples of American and European art glass and pottery. Fashion sketches, illustrations, and prints are part of the costume collections. Donations from ethnic and cultural communities include many homemade religious ornaments, paintings, and figures. The Harry T Peters "America on Stone" collection alone comprises some 1,700 color prints of scenes from the 1800s. The National Quilt Collection is art on fabric. And the tools of artists and artisans are part of the Museum's collections, too, in the form of printing plates, woodblock tools, photographic equipment, and potters' stamps, kilns, and wheels.

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1855 - 1885
ID Number
DL.022467.0001C
catalog number
022467.0001C
accession number
22467
Colored print; depiction of Columbus landing on San Salvadore Island. He stands on the beach with a flag of Spain in one hand and a raised sword in the other. Beside him is a large crucifix set into the ground. He is surrounded by a group of kneeling and praying men.
Description (Brief)
Colored print; depiction of Columbus landing on San Salvadore Island. He stands on the beach with a flag of Spain in one hand and a raised sword in the other. Beside him is a large crucifix set into the ground. He is surrounded by a group of kneeling and praying men. Two sailing ships are in the right background and a group of Indians approaches in the left background.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1846
depicted
Columbus, Christopher
maker
Baillie, James S.
ID Number
DL.60.2545
catalog number
60.2545
accession number
228146
Color print of two Indians in a canoe coming at a river bank. The canoe contains deer killed in the hunt. A woman and child greet the canoe while another woman, two children and a dog are in the background.
Description (Brief)
Color print of two Indians in a canoe coming at a river bank. The canoe contains deer killed in the hunt. A woman and child greet the canoe while another woman, two children and a dog are in the background. The setting is an Indian camp with many decorated tepeesk on a river bank.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1885
artist
Darley, Felix Octavius Carr
maker
Beckwith Henry W.
ID Number
DL.60.3503
catalog number
60.3503
Color print of an Indian camp on a river bank depicting tepees under trees. Indians are fishing, smoking a pipe and working on a hide stretched on a frame.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Color print of an Indian camp on a river bank depicting tepees under trees. Indians are fishing, smoking a pipe and working on a hide stretched on a frame.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
Vincent Brooks Day and Son
ID Number
DL.60.3520
catalog number
60.3520
Black and white print, half length portrait of a seated man (Richard Johnson). He holds a sword in his right hand.
Description (Brief)
Black and white print, half length portrait of a seated man (Richard Johnson). He holds a sword in his right hand. The portrait is depicted in an oval frame bearing the inscription "In war, the undaunted soldier- In peace, the enlightened statesman." The frame is topped by an eagle wearing a shield shaped breastplate labeled "Education" and a banner above its head which reads "Equal Rights." Beneath the frame is a vignette of a mail coach pulled by four horses and additional inscriptions.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
depicted
Johnson, Richard Mentor
maker
Williams, Michael
ID Number
DL.60.3198
catalog number
60.3198
This black and white print is of a life membership to a Mr. Philip J.A. Harper issued by the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Description
This black and white print is of a life membership to a Mr. Philip J.A. Harper issued by the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Society, begun in 1820 and headquartered in New York City, was among the earliest organizations that focused on mission within and outside the United States. It initially worked to convert Native Americans and slaves before extending its activities to inhabitants of West Africa and elsewhere overseas.
A vignette depicting missionary activity appears above the text that was inspired by the Society’s proselytizing during the 19th Century. On the right side is a depiction of Native Americans and Africans who were “saved” due to the preaching of a missionary. The left side shows the damnation that comes to those who fail to hear God’s word. Above the scene floats a triumphant angel sent by God who is blowing a trumpet, Bible in hand.
This print was produced by Nathaniel Currier (1813-1888). Currier was the founder of the company that eventually became the Currier & Ives lithography firm. At the age of fifteen Currier apprenticed with the Pendleton lithography firm in New York City. Five years later he moved to Philadelphia to work with the lithographer M.E.D. Brown (1810-1896). After a year Currier moved back to New York, where he intended on going into business with one of the Pendleton brothers. Instead he formed a partnership in 1834 with Adam Stodart who was in the sheet music business. Within a year he opened his own lithography company on Wall Street and then moved to Nassau and Spruce. In 1852 a bookkeeper named James Merritt Ives joined the firm. He married Charles Currier’s sister-in-law and brought to the firm a critical eye and business acumen. In five years he had become a partner. Currier & Ives would become arguably the most successful and prodigious lithography firm of the 19th century. Although especially well known for prints celebrating American landscapes and pastimes like sailing and ice skating, Currier & Ives also produced lithographs that featured current events, social issues and political controversies
Location
Currently on loan
Date made
1848
issuer
Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church
maker
Currier, Nathaniel
ID Number
DL.60.2929
catalog number
60.2929
accession number
228146
This Dutch map, made about 1655, shows eastern North America from what is now Canada to Virginia. Illustrations within the map include bears, beaver, deer, foxes, turkeys, and rabbits, as well as Indian villages on land, and Indians in boats at sea.
Description
This Dutch map, made about 1655, shows eastern North America from what is now Canada to Virginia. Illustrations within the map include bears, beaver, deer, foxes, turkeys, and rabbits, as well as Indian villages on land, and Indians in boats at sea. The lower right corner of the map contains an inset of Nieuw Amsterdam, the third known engraved view of that city which is now New York. The view is framed by a decorative cartouche with fruits and a crest and flanked by Indian figures on either side. This is the second version or state of this map, and number 5 of a series identified by historians as the Jansson-Visscher maps. Fort Kasimier has been added on the Delaware River to recognize the Dutch capture of the fort in 1655.
Many maps of the Americas were produced during the period of exploration and colonial settlement in the 17th century. The period between 1630 and 1700 is known as the golden age of Dutch cartography, as the Netherlands was a center for map publishing as well as for the country's maritime enterprise that depended on maps and charts.
The Museum's map collection includes a number of important examples received as a gift from Mabel Brady Garvan, who, with her husband Francis P. Garvan, built an important collection of American paintings, furniture, and decorative arts that is now at the Yale University Art Gallery.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1666
ca 1655
maker
Visscher, Nicolaes Jansz
ID Number
GA.24319
accession number
251493
catalog number
24319
Lithograph, hand colored. Dramatic Yosemite landscape with small encampment of Native Americans in the foreground. Two tepees and two canoes shown with several figures.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Lithograph, hand colored. Dramatic Yosemite landscape with small encampment of Native Americans in the foreground. Two tepees and two canoes shown with several figures.
Location
Currently not on view
printer
Currier & Ives
original artist
Palmer, Frances F.
maker
Palmer, Frances F.
ID Number
GA.21328
catalog number
21328
Color print of an Indian on a black horse lassoing a white horse in a herd of wild horses.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Color print of an Indian on a black horse lassoing a white horse in a herd of wild horses.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1872
maker
Rice, W. W.
Darley, Felix Octavius Carr
ID Number
DL.60.3524
catalog number
60.3524
Black and white print; four scenes depicting Indians killing the Baker and Jones families in the town of Acton, Minnesota, August 18, 1862.
Description (Brief)
Black and white print; four scenes depicting Indians killing the Baker and Jones families in the town of Acton, Minnesota, August 18, 1862. The scenes are labeled: "No.1, The Approach.";" No.2, Cabin as now Stands.";"No.3, The Massacre.";"No.4, The Trial of Guns."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1863
maker
Charles Shober and Company
Chicago Lithographing Company
ID Number
DL.60.2562
catalog number
60.2562
accession number
228146
A signed pencil drawing of American Indians attacking a wagon train, which Darley made in 1880.On the verso, Felix Darley sketched another version in pencil, not as developed as the signed version on the recto.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
A signed pencil drawing of American Indians attacking a wagon train, which Darley made in 1880.
On the verso, Felix Darley sketched another version in pencil, not as developed as the signed version on the recto.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1880
original artist
Darley, Felix Octavius Carr
ID Number
GA.16636
catalog number
16636
accession number
119780
Albert Bierstadt's (1830–1902) large painting, The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak, completed in 1863, presented the drama of the American West to audiences in the Eastern United States.
Description
Albert Bierstadt's (1830–1902) large painting, The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak, completed in 1863, presented the drama of the American West to audiences in the Eastern United States. The Rocky Mountains was Bierstadt's first big success, and he quickly developed a marketing strategy to promote his work. He contracted with engraver James Smillie (1807–1885) to produce a large black-and-white reproductive print. Then he sent the painting on tour, to be exhibited in art galleries in several eastern cities, accompanied by a subscription book and promotional flyers describing the engraving. It was available in four versions, from a limited number of artists' proofs priced at $50 each to an unlimited edition of plain proofs at $10 each.
Public exhibitions in commercial galleries, together with the growth of the print trade, expanded opportunities for people to see paintings and purchase reproductions. Publishing prints enhanced an artist's reputation and added significantly to his income, but engraving on steel was a slow and painstaking process. It took Smillie more than three years to complete his work, in part because the painting was unavailable for him to copy. First Smillie drew the details of the image with a needle on a large steel plate, measuring 43 by 70.5 centimeters. This background image was etched in acid, and the Museum's copy is an early stage proof made "off the acid" to check Smillie's progress with the design. Several areas of the print remain to be completed. They were finished by hand with the engraver's cutting tool called the burin.
In 1888 Smillie's son George donated this proof, which had been signed and dated by his father in 1865. Bierstadt also donated a signed impression of the final state of the print. Both states were exhibited together to demonstrate the process of engraving.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1865
engraver
Smillie, James
original artist
Bierstadt, Albert
ID Number
GA.00730
catalog number
00730
accession number
20355
Color print of an Indian with drawn bow on horseback about to shoot a buffalo.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Color print of an Indian with drawn bow on horseback about to shoot a buffalo.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.60.3522
catalog number
60.3522
Colored print celebrating the laying of the Transatlantic cable on September 1, 1858.
Description (Brief)
Colored print celebrating the laying of the Transatlantic cable on September 1, 1858. Depicts torchlight procession spanning the continents in the central image, with portrait vingettes of Cyrus Field, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Morse, and Captain Hudson in each of the four corners.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1858
depicted
Franklin, Benjamin
Morse, Samuel Finley Breese
Field, Cyrus W.
maker
Weingartner, Adam
ID Number
DL.60.2490
catalog number
60.2490
accession number
228146
Theodor de Bry (1528–1598) was an engraver, bookseller, and publisher active in Frankfurt, Germany. In 1590 de Bry published Thomas Hariot's account of the English attempt to colonize the New World, the ill-fated Roanoke Colony.
Description
Theodor de Bry (1528–1598) was an engraver, bookseller, and publisher active in Frankfurt, Germany. In 1590 de Bry published Thomas Hariot's account of the English attempt to colonize the New World, the ill-fated Roanoke Colony. De Bry engraved several plates for this work based on watercolors made by John Smith, another member of the 1585 expedition. He went on to publish an ambitious and complicated series of illustrated volumes describing exploration in North and South America, based on a number of European sources. This work, known as the Great Voyages series or de Bry's America, was issued in several editions that continued to be produced by de Bry's widow and his heirs after his death.
The engraved plates in the series represent indigenous people, plants, and animals. They offered Europeans one of the earliest and most accurate visual representations of the inhabitants and environment of the New World. The illustrations circulated widely and were frequently copied and reproduced. For his later editions, For his later editions, De Bry revised his own engravings of John Smith's Virginia subjects that he had published in the 1590 Hariot account, and he used the work of Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, a French artist, for the Florida subjects.
A Chief of Roanoke illustrates part one of the Virginia series. It is plate 6 from the second German edition published in 1600.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1600
maker
Bry, Theodor de
original artist
White, John
ID Number
GA.24475
catalog number
24475
accession number
1977.0425
This print is one of fifteen chromolithographs that were included in the 1889-1890 folio "Sport or Fishing and Shooting" published by Bradlee Whidden of Boston and edited by A.C. Gould.
Description (Brief)
This print is one of fifteen chromolithographs that were included in the 1889-1890 folio "Sport or Fishing and Shooting" published by Bradlee Whidden of Boston and edited by A.C. Gould. These prints are based on watercolors that were commissioned for the publication, and illustrated by prominent American artists. Each folio illustration was accompanied by a single leaf of descriptive text followed by an account of the depicted sporting scene. The publication was advertised as having been reviewed for accuracy by a renowned group of anglers and hunters prior to printing.
This print was originally titled and numbered on the text page as 9. A wild Turkey hunt. R.F. Zogbaum. It depicts a young man lying in the grass aiming his rifle at four turkeys. A young Indian guide is crouched behind him.
The artist was Rufus Fairchild Zogbaum (1849-1925), known for his images of horses, cowboys, and battle scenes.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1890
publisher; copywriter
Bradlee Whidden
lithographer
Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company
artist
Zogbaum, Rufas Fairchild
ID Number
DL.60.2723
catalog number
60.2723
accession number
228146
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1845
depicted
Steele, Osman N.
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.60.2590
catalog number
60.2590
accession number
228146
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1852
publisher
Holbrooke, W. H.
artist
Darley, Felix Octavius Carr
engraver
McRae, M. C.
printer
Ashton, W. H.
ID Number
DL.60.2619
catalog number
60.2619
accession number
228146
Black and white print; political cartoon depicting a map of the United States in 1828. A large turtle and alligator are featured at center with several caricatures riding or standing on each of them, expressing views regarding the John Quincy Adams administration.
Description (Brief)
Black and white print; political cartoon depicting a map of the United States in 1828. A large turtle and alligator are featured at center with several caricatures riding or standing on each of them, expressing views regarding the John Quincy Adams administration. In the background is a mountain range with two groups of Indians commenting on American life.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1829
maker
Imbert, Anthony
ID Number
DL.60.2420
catalog number
60.2420
accession number
228146
Color print of an Indian with drawn bow on horseback pursuing a buffalo.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Color print of an Indian with drawn bow on horseback pursuing a buffalo.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
maker
Rice, Rutter & Co.
publisher
Rice, Rutter & Co.
ID Number
DL.60.3525
catalog number
60.3525
This engraving shows Hernán Cortés (1485–1547), the Spanish captain who headed the conquest of the Aztec Empire. He became a part of popular mythology the moment he arrived in Mexico around 1520.
Description
This engraving shows Hernán Cortés (1485–1547), the Spanish captain who headed the conquest of the Aztec Empire. He became a part of popular mythology the moment he arrived in Mexico around 1520. Cortés had spent time in Cuba killing and enslaving its indigenous inhabitants and administering the new social order of the Spanish colonies of the Caribbean. As his well-read memoirs attest, even his experiences in Cuba did not prepare him for the history-altering intrigues, battles, and cultural encounters between the Spanish and the Mexicans, Mayas, and their many neighbors in between. Motivated by an ancient notion of fame, Hernán Cortés wrote his own version of the conquest of Mexico that put him squarely at the center, favored by the Christian God. But neither his victories nor his pillage of the Mexican capital would have been possible without the aid of soldiers, slaves, and supplies from the enemies of the Aztecs. As a testament to Cortés's enduring fame, his portrait by the Spanish painter Antonio Carnicero was published as an engraving by Manuel Salvador y Carmona in 1791 in the book, Retratos de los españoles ilustres, con un epítome de sus vidas, (Portraits of Illustrious Spaniards, with a Synopsis of Their Lives.)
Description (Spanish)
Este grabado representa a Hernán Cortés (1485-1547), el capitán español que encabezó la conquista del Imperio Azteca. Desde que Cortés arribó a México en 1521 pasó a formar parte de la mitología popular. Había pasado algún tiempo en Cuba involucrado en la matanza y esclavización de los nativos y administrando la nueva estructura social de las colonias españolas del Caribe. Como lo atestiguan sus bien documentadas memorias, ni siquiera sus experiencias en Cuba lo prepararon para las decisivas intrigas, batallas y choques culturales entre españoles y mexicanos, mayas y otros pueblos vecinos. Motivado por el antiguo concepto de fama, Hernán Cortés escribió una versión propia de la conquista de México que lo situó manifiestamente en el centro de la historia, favorecido por el Dios cristiano. Sin embargo, ni sus victorias ni el saqueo de la capital mexicana hubieran sido posibles sin la ayuda de los soldados, esclavos y aprovisionamiento suplidos por los enemigos de los aztecas. Como testamento de la fama perdurable de Cortés, este retrato suyo del pintor español Antonio Carnicero se publicó como un grabado de Manuel Salvador y Carmona en 1791, en el libro Retratos de los Españoles Ilustres, con un Epítome de sus Vidas.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1795
depicted
Cortes, Hernan
original artist
Carnicero, D. A.
graphic artist
Carmona, D. J. A.
ID Number
GA.20683
catalog number
20683
accession number
226630
Thomas Moran etched this view of a mission church in New Mexico in 1881 after a photograph by friend and traveling companion William Henry Jackson (1843–1942). Moran had met Jackson in 1871 on Ferdinand V.
Description
Thomas Moran etched this view of a mission church in New Mexico in 1881 after a photograph by friend and traveling companion William Henry Jackson (1843–1942). Moran had met Jackson in 1871 on Ferdinand V. Hayden’s Yellowstone expedition, the first government-sponsored survey of that area. Jackson and Moran worked side by side recording views. While Moran’s paintings of the West made his reputation, fewer than one-fifth of his etchings depict Western or Mexican scenes. His signature “TYM” at lower left stands for Thomas “Yellowstone” Moran.
The church shown in this print was replaced by a stone building in the early 20th century, and the San Juan Pueblo recently changed its name to Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo. It lies twenty-five miles north of Santa Fe.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1881
Associated Date
1881
graphic artist
Moran, Thomas
photographer
Jackson, William Henry
ID Number
GA.14750
catalog number
14750
accession number
94830
Hand color print, full length portrait of an Indian (Osceola) standing with his arm outstretched holding a rifle. He is standing beside a stone that identifies Osceola and the artist. Catlin and Osceola became friends after Osceola was imprisoned.
Description
Hand color print, full length portrait of an Indian (Osceola) standing with his arm outstretched holding a rifle. He is standing beside a stone that identifies Osceola and the artist. Catlin and Osceola became friends after Osceola was imprisoned. Osceola, also known as Billy Powell, Asi-yahola in Creek, Rising Sun, Black Dring, and Tiger of the Everglades, was leader of the Seminole Indians. Born in 1804, his mother was Muscogee or Creek on her maternal side and European ancestry from her father. In 1835 he led resistance of the forced removal in what was called the Second Seminole War. He died in 1838 reportedly from malaria in Fort Moultrie federal prison in South Carolina after being tricked into surrendering under a truce flag. By the end of the 1830's, virtually all Seminoles were forced to leave their ancestral home in Florida for the west. Thousands died on the "Trail of Tears."
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1838
depicted
Osceola
maker
Catlin, George
ID Number
DL.63.0186
catalog number
63.0186
accession number
242030
Drypoint with aquatint by Gene Kloss (1903-1996). Born Alice Geneva Glasier, Kloss changed her first name to a masculine variation of her middle name after her marriage to the writer Phillips Kloss.
Description
Drypoint with aquatint by Gene Kloss (1903-1996). Born Alice Geneva Glasier, Kloss changed her first name to a masculine variation of her middle name after her marriage to the writer Phillips Kloss. She hoped the change would benefit her artistic career by eliminating prejudiced views of her work as a woman.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c. 1930s
Associated Date
1957/8
graphic artist
Kloss, Gene
ID Number
GA.17578
catalog number
17578
accession number
159237

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