Art

Panorama of the Army of the Cumberland

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.

Resource Type: Photographs

Portrait of Staff Sergeant Phyllis Magee-Lindsey, U.S. Army

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 2010
photographer
Pflaeging, Sascha
ID Number
2012.0167.21
accession number
2012.0167
catalog number
2012.0167.21

Accordian Player, Louisiana

The first accordion was built in Germany in 1822. It took close to one hundred years before it was introduced into country music.Currently not on view
Description
The first accordion was built in Germany in 1822. It took close to one hundred years before it was introduced into country music.
Location
Currently not on view
negative
1977
print
2003
maker
Horenstein, Henry
ID Number
2003.0169.027
accession number
2003.0169
catalog number
2003.0169.027

Kelp #3

Edward Weston was influential in the modern photography movement beginning in the 1930s. He is well known for photographing the natural surroundings of his home on the California coast.
Description
Edward Weston was influential in the modern photography movement beginning in the 1930s. He is well known for photographing the natural surroundings of his home on the California coast. Weston created striking works of art, some abstract, some more traditional images.
A leader in American photography of the 20th century, Weston's prints were first exhibited at the Smithsonian in 1947. Afterwards, he remained interested in the national photography collection. At times, Weston recommended photographers to curators for collecting opportunities, and eventually donated a selection of his work and several cameras to the History of Photography Collection.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1936
photographer
Weston, Edward
ID Number
PG.004980
accession number
210054
catalog number
4980

Portrait of Colonel Jenny Holbert, U.S. Marine Corps, Retired

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 2010
photographer
Pflaeging, Sascha
ID Number
2012.0167.14
accession number
2012.0167
catalog number
2012.0167.14

Bill Monroe

The country music sound created by Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys starting in 1938, would become a new style of country music named "bluegrass."Currently not on view
Description
The country music sound created by Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys starting in 1938, would become a new style of country music named "bluegrass."
Location
Currently not on view
negative
1973
print
2003
Associated Name
Monroe, Bill
maker
Horenstein, Henry
ID Number
2003.0169.104
catalog number
2003.0169.104
accession number
2003.0169

Couple Cooking on a Grill near their Camping Tent

Some fans traveled great distances to participate in music festivals, and would camp nearby. This couple brought a grill to make a meal or two.Currently not on view
Description
Some fans traveled great distances to participate in music festivals, and would camp nearby. This couple brought a grill to make a meal or two.
Location
Currently not on view
negative
1972
print
2003
maker
Horenstein, Henry
ID Number
2003.0169.097
accession number
2003.0169
catalog number
2003.0169.097

Tex Ritter and Fans

A Tex Ritter fan holds a 45 RPM record as Ritter signs a photograph.Currently not on view
Description
A Tex Ritter fan holds a 45 RPM record as Ritter signs a photograph.
Location
Currently not on view
print
2003
maker
Horenstein, Henry
ID Number
2003.0169.064
accession number
2003.0169
catalog number
2003.0169.064

Portrait of Captain Clarisse Scott, U.S. Army

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 2010
photographer
Pflaeging, Sascha
ID Number
2012.0167.32
accession number
2012.0167
catalog number
2012.0167.32

Portrait of Sergeant Jocelyn Proano, U.S. Marine Corps

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 2010
photographer
Pflaeging, Sascha
ID Number
2012.0167.28
accession number
2012.0167
catalog number
2012.0167.28

Portrait of Staff Sergeant Shawntel Lotson, U.S. Army

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 2010
photographer
Pflaeging, Sascha
ID Number
2012.0167.19
accession number
2012.0167
catalog number
2012.0167.19

Lilly Brothers

The Lilly Brothers began as an old-time duet on radio stations in West Virginia, but eventually moved into bluegrass with the addition of a banjo.
Description
The Lilly Brothers began as an old-time duet on radio stations in West Virginia, but eventually moved into bluegrass with the addition of a banjo. They are credited with bringing the bluegrass sound to New England and the Boston area, with lengthy stints at the Hillbilly Ranch from 1952 into the 1970s.
Location
Currently not on view
print
2003
maker
Horenstein, Henry
ID Number
2003.0169.062
accession number
2003.0169
catalog number
2003.0169.062

Censor

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1983
maker
Colo, Papo
ID Number
2013.0327.0314
accession number
2013.0327
catalog number
2013.0327.0314

Ernest Tubb surrounded by fans

For much of his career, Ernest Tubb, the "Texas Troubadour" was considered the ultimate honky tonk vocalist and stylist. Inspired by Jimmie Rodgers in the 1920s, Tubb sustained a musical career that at times also branched into film and television.
Description
For much of his career, Ernest Tubb, the "Texas Troubadour" was considered the ultimate honky tonk vocalist and stylist. Inspired by Jimmie Rodgers in the 1920s, Tubb sustained a musical career that at times also branched into film and television. No artist toured as much, or for as long as Ernest Tubb, who worked 150 to 200 shows each year between the early 1960s and 1982. No artist was kinder to his fans, and no fans were more loyal to their star. Ernest Tubb had one national fan club with a single president for its entire existence between 1944 and its deactivation in the early 1990s.
Location
Currently not on view
negative
1973
print
2003
maker
Horenstein, Henry
ID Number
2003.0169.085
accession number
2003.0169
catalog number
2003.0169.085

Grandpa Jones and Ramona Jones

Louis Marshall "Grandpa" Jones (1913-1998) enjoyed a long, distinctive career in country music. At age 22, he began to play the Grandpa character, with his high-topped boots, bushy mustache, and suspenders. Ramona Riggins (b.
Description
Louis Marshall "Grandpa" Jones (1913-1998) enjoyed a long, distinctive career in country music. At age 22, he began to play the Grandpa character, with his high-topped boots, bushy mustache, and suspenders. Ramona Riggins (b. 1924), whom he later married, accompanied him on fiddle and mandolin. Appearing regularly on the Grand Ole Opry and the television show Hee Haw, Grandpa Jones became a well-known character with his banjo-playing, old-time stories, songs, and jokes.
Location
Currently not on view
print
2003
maker
Horenstein, Henry
ID Number
2003.0169.047
accession number
2003.0169
catalog number
2003.0169.047

Hank Snow

With one of the most distinctive voices and styles in country music, Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow (1914-1999) enjoyed one of the most successful and long-running careers in the field. Born in Canada, he began recording in 1936.
Description
With one of the most distinctive voices and styles in country music, Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow (1914-1999) enjoyed one of the most successful and long-running careers in the field. Born in Canada, he began recording in 1936. By the time Henry Horenstein photographed Hank Snow, the singer had recorded 840 songs.
Location
Currently not on view
print
2003
maker
Horenstein, Henry
ID Number
2003.0169.054
accession number
2003.0169
catalog number
2003.0169.054

Portrait of Sergeant First Class Keisha Williams, U.S. Army

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 2010
photographer
Pflaeging, Sascha
ID Number
2012.0167.39
accession number
2012.0167
catalog number
2012.0167.39

Portrait of Staff Sergeant Debra Fulk, U.S. Army

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 2010
photographer
Pflaeging, Sascha
ID Number
2012.0167.12
accession number
2012.0167
catalog number
2012.0167.12

Little Jimmy Dickens

Known for his strong voice and small physical stature, Jimmy Dickens (b.1920) gained national fame in 1949 and 1950 with a string of novelty and "heart" songs, including "Take an Old Cold Tater (and Wait)" and "I'm Little but I'm Loud."Currently not on view
Description
Known for his strong voice and small physical stature, Jimmy Dickens (b.1920) gained national fame in 1949 and 1950 with a string of novelty and "heart" songs, including "Take an Old Cold Tater (and Wait)" and "I'm Little but I'm Loud."
Location
Currently not on view
negative
1974
print
2003
maker
Horenstein, Henry
ID Number
2003.0169.071
accession number
2003.0169
catalog number
2003.0169.071

House Band

The house band at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge played for tips and the hope that they might be heard by Tootsie's record producing patrons.Currently not on view
Description
The house band at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge played for tips and the hope that they might be heard by Tootsie's record producing patrons.
Location
Currently not on view
negative
1974
print
2003
maker
Horenstein, Henry
ID Number
2003.0169.108
catalog number
2003.0169.108
accession number
2003.0169

Portrait of First Sergeant Jennifer Love, U.S. Army

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 2010
photographer
Pflaeging, Sascha
ID Number
2012.0167.20
accession number
2012.0167
catalog number
2012.0167.20

Pendulum (Small Arc)

Berenice Abbott's photograph, Pendulum (Small Arc), is a stop-motion photograph.
Description (Brief)
Berenice Abbott's photograph, Pendulum (Small Arc), is a stop-motion photograph. Although the photographer is more well-known for her 1930s abstracted views of New York City's architecture, she wanted to improve the quality of photography for scientists.
Abbott devised apparatus and techniques to capture various phenomena. Beginning in 1958, she created photographs for the Physical Science Study Committee, a program to reform high school physics teaching. This picture illustrating the swing of a pendulum appeared in 1969 in The Attractive Universe: Gravity and the Shape of Space.
Description
During the 1920s, Berenice Abbott was one of the premier portrait photographers of Paris, her only competitor was the equally well-known Dada Surrealist Man Ray who had served as her mentor and employer before she launched her own career. An American expatriate, Abbott enjoyed the company of some of the great twentieth century writers and artists, photographing individuals such as Jean Cocteau, Peggy Guggenheim and James Joyce. One of the critical elements of Abbott’s portraiture was a desire to neither enhance nor interfere with the sitter. She instead wished to allow the personality of her subject to dictate the form of the photograph, and would often sit with her clients for several hours before she even began to photograph them. This straight-forward approach to photography characterized Abbott’s work for the duration of her career.
Thematically and technically, Abbott’s work can be most closely linked to documentary photographer Eugène Atget (COLL.PHOTOS.000016), who photographed Paris during the early 1900s. Abbott bought a number of his prints the first time she saw them, and even asked him to set some aside that she planned to purchase when she had enough money. After his death in 1927, Abbott took it upon herself to publicize Atget’s work to garner the recognition it deserved. It was partly for this reason she returned to the United States in 1928, hoping to find an American publisher to produce an English-language survey of Atget’s work. Amazed upon her arrival to see the changes New York had undergone during her stay in Paris, and eager to photograph the emerging new metropolis, Abbott decided to pack up her lucrative Parisian portrait business and move back to New York.
The status and prestige she enjoyed in Paris, however, did not carry over to New York. Abbott did not fit in easily with her contemporaries. She was both a woman in a male-dominated field and a documentary photographer in the midst of an American photographic world firmly rooted in Pictorialism. Abbott recalls disliking the work of both photographer Alfred Stieglitz and his then protégé Paul Strand when she first visited their exhibitions in New York. Stieglitz, along with contemporaries such as Ansel Adams and Edward Steichen, tended to romanticize the American landscape and effectively dismissed Abbott’s straight photography as she saw it. Not only was Atget’s work rejected by the Pictorialists, but a series of critical comments she made towards Stieglitz and Pictorialism cost Abbott her professional career as a photographer. Afterwards, she was unable to secure space at galleries, have her work shown at museums or continue the working relationships she had forged with a number of magazine publications.
In 1935, the Federal Art Project outfitted Abbott with equipment and a staff to complete her project to photograph New York City. The benefit of a personal staff and the freedom to determine her own subject matter was unique among federally funded artists working at that time. The resulting series of photographs, which she titled Changing New York, represent some of Abbott’s best-known work. Her photographs of New York remain one of the most important twentieth century pictorial records of New York City. Abbott went on to produce a series of photographs for varied topics, including scientific textbooks and American suburbs. When the equipment was insufficient to meet her photographic needs, as in the case of her series of science photographs, she invented the tools she needed to achieve the desired effect. In the course of doing so, Abbott patented a number of useful photographic aids throughout her career including an 8x10 patent camera (patent #2869556) and a photographer’s jacket. Abbott also spent twenty years teaching photography classes at the New School for Social Research alongside such greats as composer Aaron Copland and writer W.E.B. DuBois.
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Abbott’s career was the printing of Eugène Atget’s photographs, one of the few instances in which one well-known photographer printed a large number of negatives made by another well-known photographer. The struggle to get Atget’s photographs the recognition they deserved was similar to Abbott’s efforts to chart her own path by bringing documentary photography to the fore in a Pictorialist dominated America. Though she experienced varying levels of rejection and trials in both efforts, her perseverance placed her in the position she now holds as one of the great photographers of the twentieth century.
The Bernice Abbott collection consists of sixteen silver prints. The photographs represent a range of work Abbott produced during her lifetime, including her early portraiture work in Paris, her Changing New York series, Physics and Route 1, U.S.A. series.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1950s
photographer
Abbott, Berenice
ID Number
PG.69.216.15
catalog number
69.216.15
accession number
288852

The Old Mill

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca. 1890s
maker
Stieglitz, Alfred
ID Number
PG.68.68
catalog number
68.68

Picasso

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1955
depicted (sitter)
Picasso, Pablo Ruiz
maker
Lartigue, Jacques Henri
ID Number
1986.1028.02
accession number
1986.1028
catalog number
1986.1028.02

Joseph Leidy

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Gutekunst, Frederic
ID Number
GA.02205
catalog number
02205
accession number
21482

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