Art - Overview
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.
"Art - Overview" showing 112 items.
Page 4 of 12
Engraved woodblock of "Pa'ri-ats"
- Description
- This engraved woodblock of an American Indian identified as “Pa’ri-ats” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published in 1875 as Figure 7 (p.17) in Report of the Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and Its Tributaries. Explored in 1869, 1870, 1871, and 1872, under the direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution by John Wesley Powell (1834-1902). The illustration was engraved by Henry Hobart Nichols (1838-1887).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1875
- publisher
- Bureau of American Ethnology
- printer
- Government Printing Office
- graphic artist
- Nichols, H. H.
- author
- Powell, John Wesley
- ID Number
- 1980.0219.1126
- catalog number
- 1980.0219.1126
- accession number
- 1980.0219
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Engraved woodblock of a "Navajo blanket"
- Description
- This engraved woodblock of a "Navajo blanket" was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Figure 53 (p.387) in an article by Dr. Washington Matthews (1843-1905) entitled “Navajo Weavers” in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian, 1881-82.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1884
- printer
- Government Printing Office
- publisher
- Bureau of American Ethnology
- block maker
- W. T. & B.
- author
- Matthews, Washington
- ID Number
- 1980.0219.1180
- catalog number
- 1980.0219.1180
- accession number
- 1980.0219
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Engraved woodblock of three individuals, two on horses and one standing
- Description
- This engraved woodblock of three American Indians, two on horseback and one standing, was engraved by F. S. King and printed by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C. for the Bureau of American Ethnology in about 1880.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1880
- publisher
- Bureau of American Ethnology
- printer
- Government Printing Office
- block maker
- V. W. & Co.
- graphic artist
- King, Francis Scott
- ID Number
- 1980.0219.1242
- catalog number
- 1980.0219.1242
- accession number
- 1980.0219
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Engraved woodblock of a "Scalloped shell disk"
- Description
- This engraved woodblock of a “Scalloped shell disk” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Plate LIV (p.274) in an article by William Henry Holmes (18461933) entitled “Art in Shell of the Ancient Americans” in the Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian, 1880-81. The disk was found in Nashville, Tennessee by Major John Wesley Powell. In a footnote to his article, Holmes identifies “Kate C. Osgood” as an accompanying artist on this expedition.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1883
- author
- Holmes, William Henry
- printer
- Government Printing Office
- publisher
- Bureau of American Ethnology
- ID Number
- 1980.0219.1274
- catalog number
- 1980.0219.1274
- accession number
- 1980.0219
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Engraved woodblock of a "Vase of unusual shape"
- Description
- This engraved woodblock of a “Vase of unusual shape” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Figure 211 (p.144) in an article by William Henry Holmes (1846-1933) entitled “Ancient Art of the Province of Chiriqui, Colombia” in the Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian,1884-85.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1888
- publisher
- Bureau of American Ethnology
- printer
- Government Printing Office
- author
- Holmes, William Henry
- block maker
- J. J. & Co.
- ID Number
- 1980.0219.1289
- catalog number
- 1980.0219.1289
- accession number
- 1980.0219
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Engraved woodblock of the "View of Marble Canyon (from the Vermillion Cliffs)"
- Description
- This engraved woodblock of a “View of Marble Canyon (from the Vermillion Cliffs)” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Figure 63 (p.180) in Report of the Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and Its Tributaries. Explored in 1869, 1870, 1871, and 1872, under the direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution by John Wesley Powell (1834-1902). The image depicts the “Colorado River [and] the Eastern Kaibab Displacements, appearing as folds [and] faults.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1875
- publisher
- Bureau of American Ethnology
- printer
- Government Printing Office
- author
- Powell, John Wesley
- graphic artist
- Nichols, H. H.
- block maker
- V. W. & Co.
- ID Number
- 1980.0219.1355
- catalog number
- 1980.0219.1355
- accession number
- 1980.0219
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Engraved woodblock of the "Parsee Towers of Silence (interior)"
- Description
- This engraved woodblock of the “Parsee Towers of Silence (interior).” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Figure 3 on page 104 in an article by H.C. Yarrow (1871-1876) entitled “Mortuary Customs of North American Indians” in the First Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian, 1879-80. Henry Hobart Nichols (1838-1887) engraved the image.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1881
- publisher
- Bureau of American Ethnology
- printer
- Government Printing Office
- graphic artist
- Nichols, H. H.
- author
- Yarrow, Harry Crecy
- ID Number
- 1980.0219.1356
- catalog number
- 1980.0219.1356
- accession number
- 1980.0219
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Engraved woodblock of "Weaving diamond-shaped diagonals"
- Description
- This engraved woodblock of “Weaving diamond-shaped diagonals” was prepared, after a photograph, by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Plate XXXV (p.380) in an article by Dr. Washington Matthews (1843-1905) entitled “Navajo Weavers” in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian, 1881-82.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1884
- publisher
- Bureau of American Ethnology
- printer
- Government Printing Office
- author
- Matthews, Washington
- block maker
- W. T. & B.
- ID Number
- 1980.0219.1359
- catalog number
- 1980.0219.1359
- accession number
- 1980.0219
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Engraved woodblock of "Bringing down the batten"
- Description
- This engraved woodblock of “Bringing down the batten” was prepared, after a photograph, by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Plate XXXVIII (p.390) in an article by Dr. Washington Matthews (1843-1905) entitled “Navajo Weavers” in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian, 1881-82.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1884
- publisher
- Bureau of American Ethnology
- printer
- Government Printing Office
- author
- Matthews, Washington
- Powell, John Wesley
- block maker
- A. P. J. & Co.
- ID Number
- 1980.0219.1365
- catalog number
- 1980.0219.1365
- accession number
- 1980.0219
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Engraved woodblock of a "Navajo woman weaving a belt"
- Description
- This engraved woodblock of “Navaho woman weaving a belt” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Plate XXXVI (p.384) in an article by Dr. Washington Matthews (1843-1905) entitled “Navajo Weavers” in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian, 1881-82.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1884
- publisher
- Bureau of American Ethnology
- printer
- Government Printing Office
- author
- Matthews, Washington
- block maker
- A. P. J. & Co.
- ID Number
- 1980.0219.1366
- catalog number
- 1980.0219.1366
- accession number
- 1980.0219
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center