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.

Russian porcelain vase

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c. 1860s
ID Number
CE.P-535
catalog number
P-535
accession number
225282

Worcester porcelain oval dish

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1792-1804
ID Number
CE.P-820D
catalog number
P-820D
accession number
225282

Nandina domestica

Japanese wood block print. No. 28 in a series of progressive proofs of a stylized group of leaves and berries from the shrub Nandina domestica. Designed by Tsubaki Chinzan, engraved by Kotaro Kido, and printed by Iwakichi Yamamoto.Currently not on view
Description
Japanese wood block print. No. 28 in a series of progressive proofs of a stylized group of leaves and berries from the shrub Nandina domestica. Designed by Tsubaki Chinzan, engraved by Kotaro Kido, and printed by Iwakichi Yamamoto.
Location
Currently not on view
engraver
Kido, Kotaro
ID Number
GA.03217.28
catalog number
03217.28
accession number
22582

Meissen porcelain sugar bowl

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1724
maker
Meissen Manufactory
ID Number
CE.P-741
catalog number
P-741
accession number
225282

Worcester porcelain oval dessert dish (part of a service)

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c.1800
ID Number
CE.P-819B
catalog number
P-819B
accession number
225282

dish

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
about 1879
ID Number
CE.75.125J
catalog number
75.125J
accession number
317832

Clichy Paperweight

In the 1700s, paperweights made from textured stone or bronze were part of the writer’s tool kit, which also included a quill pen and stand, inkpot, and blotter.
Description (Brief)
In the 1700s, paperweights made from textured stone or bronze were part of the writer’s tool kit, which also included a quill pen and stand, inkpot, and blotter. By the mid-1800s, decorative paperweights produced by glassmakers in Europe and the United States became highly desired collectibles.
Decorative glass paperweights reflected the 19th-century taste for intricate, over-the-top designs. Until the spread of textiles colorized with synthetic dyes, ceramics and glass were among the few objects that added brilliant color to a 19th-century Victorian interior. The popularity of these paperweights in the 1800s testifies to the sustained cultural interest in hand craftsmanship during an age of rapid industrialization.
The French firm, Verrerie de Clichy, began operation after merging with another local glassworks in 1837. The height of paperweight production at the firm was 1846 to 1857.
This Clichy paperweight features concentric rings of millefiori and a “C” signature cane. Millefiore paperweights, first manufactured in Venice, consist of sections from rods of colored glass encased in a clear, colorless sphere. By the mid-nineteenth century, glass factories elsewhere in Europe were emulating the millefiore style.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1845-1850
maker
Clichy
ID Number
CE.66.74
catalog number
66.74
collector/donor number
174
accession number
268356

Left by the Hun - A 152 Millimeter Mortar

Charcoal sketch on white paper of two American soldiers standing next to a 152 millimeter German field Howitzer. The gun appears to have been left by retreating Germans. The soldiers are in uniform and the soldier at front is standing with his hands on his hips.
Description
Charcoal sketch on white paper of two American soldiers standing next to a 152 millimeter German field Howitzer. The gun appears to have been left by retreating Germans. The soldiers are in uniform and the soldier at front is standing with his hands on his hips. There is a group of horses and an American soldier behind them to the left, and a large nondescript Howitzer behind them on the right. There are open, rolling fields in the far distance.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1918
associated date
1917 - 1918
associated person
War Department
Townsend, Harry
artist
Townsend, Harry
ID Number
AF.26111
catalog number
26111
accession number
64592

Painting - Star Construction

Crockett Johnson's interest in regular polygons included the pentagram, or five-pointed star. The relation between the pentagon and the star is simple. If each side of a regular pentagon is extended, a regular five-pointed star results.
Description
Crockett Johnson's interest in regular polygons included the pentagram, or five-pointed star. The relation between the pentagon and the star is simple. If each side of a regular pentagon is extended, a regular five-pointed star results. Similarly, connecting each diagonal of a regular pentagon creates a regular five-pointed star. The star will have a pentagon in it, so the method is self-perpetuating.
A method for a pentagram's construction in described in Book IV, Proposition II of Euclid's Elements, but the construction illustrated in this painting is the artist's own creation. It builds on the relationship between the sides of a regular five-pointed star and the golden ratio. As Crockett Johnson may have recalled from his earlier paintings, the five rectangles that surround the central pentagon of the star are golden, that is to say the ratio of the length of the two equal sides of the triangle to the side of the enclosed pentagon is (1 + √5) / 2. Hence one can construct the star by finding a line segment divided in this ratio. No figure by Crockett Johnson showing his construction has been found.
The pentagram, executed appropriately enough in hues of gold, contrasts vividly with the purple background in Star Construction.
The painting is #103 in the series. It is in oil or acrylic on pressed wood and has a gold-colored metal frame. The painting is unsigned and undated. Compare #46 (1979.1093.33) and #64 (1979.1093.39).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1970-1975
painter
Johnson, Crockett
ID Number
1979.1093.70
catalog number
1979.1093.70
accession number
1979.1093

Meissen tea bowl (part of a service)

TITLE: Meissen: Part of a tea service (Hausmalerin)MAKER: Meissen ManufactoryPHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: ceramic, porcelain, hard paste (overall material)MEASUREMENTS: Tea bowls: H. 1¾" 4.5 cmChocolate cup: 3⅛" 8 cmSaucer: D. 5⅛" 13.1 cmTeapot: H.
Description
TITLE: Meissen: Part of a tea service (Hausmalerin)
MAKER: Meissen Manufactory
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: ceramic, porcelain, hard paste (overall material)
MEASUREMENTS: Tea bowls: H. 1¾" 4.5 cm
Chocolate cup: 3⅛" 8 cm
Saucer: D. 5⅛" 13.1 cm
Teapot: H. 5" 12.8 cm
OBJECT NAME: Part of a tea service
PLACE MADE: Meissen, Saxony, Germany
DATE MADE: 1730
SUBJECT: The Hans Syz Collection
Art
Domestic Furnishing
Industry and Manufacturing
CREDIT LINE: Hans C. Syz Collection
ID NUMBER: 1987.0896. 34 A,B; 36 a,b; 37 a,b
COLLECTOR/ DONOR: 227 A,B; 228 a,b; 229 a,b
ACCESSION NUMBER:
(DATA SOURCE: National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center)
MARKS: Crossed swords in underglaze blue, except chocolate cup, which is unmarked.
PURCHASED FROM: Minerva Antiques, New York, 1943.
The tea bowls are from parts of a tea service in the Smithsonian’s Hans Syz Collection of Meissen Porcelain. Dr. Syz (1894-1991) began his collection in the early years of World War II, when he purchased eighteenth-century Meissen table wares from the Art Exchange run by the New York dealer Adolf Beckhardt (1889-1962). Dr. Syz, a Swiss immigrant to the United States, collected Meissen porcelain while engaged in a professional career in psychiatry and the research of human behavior. He believed that cultural artifacts have an important role to play in enhancing our awareness and understanding of human creativity and its communication among peoples. His collection grew to represent this conviction.
The invention of Meissen porcelain, declared over three hundred years ago early in 1709, was a collective achievement that represents an early modern precursor to industrial chemistry and materials science. The porcelains we see in our museum collections, made in the small town of Meissen in Germany, were the result of an intense period of empirical research. Generally associated with artistic achievement of a high order, Meissen porcelain was also a technological achievement in the development of inorganic, non-metallic materials.
The parts from the tea service were made in the Meissen manufactory but painted outside by an independent artist. Hausmalerei is a German word that means in literal translation ‘home painting’, and it refers to the practice of painting enamels and gold onto the surface of blank ceramics and glass in workshops outside the manufactory of origin. Beginning in the seventeenth century the work of the Hausmaler varied in quality from the outstanding workshops of Nuremberg, Augsburg, and Breslau (now Wroclaw in Poland), to the less skilled efforts of amateur artists. Early Meissen porcelain was sought after for this purpose, and wealthy patrons of local enameling and gilding workshops purchased undecorated porcelain, often of out-moded or inferior quality, which was then enameled with subjects of their choice. Hausmalerei was at first acceptable to the early porcelain manufactories like Meissen and Vienna, and Meissen sent blank porcelain to Augsburg workshops for decoration, but as the market became more competitive they tried to eradicate the practice. It was a temptation for Meissen porcelain painters to take on extra work as Hausmaler to augment their low pay, and the manufactory cautioned or even imprisoned them if Hausmalerei activity was suspected or discovered.
The tea service was painted in Augsburg in the 1720s.Two hundred years earlier Augsburg was the center of international merchant banking, and it is no coincidence that it was also a center for goldsmithing work of exceptional quality. Although no longer a powerful city in the eighteenth century, Augsburg was still renowned for its high quality artisan trades in precious metals, book production, and textiles. Hausmalerei was one among many subsidiary trades that met demands from other workshops, individual clients, and new manufactories like that of Meissen.
This Meissen tea service was probably painted by Anna Elizabeth Wald (b. 1696), and perhaps by her sister Sabina Hosennestel (1706-1782) as well. The two women were the daughters of the gold worker and Hausmaler Johann Aufenwerth (d.1728) but it is difficult to distinguish their styles one from the other. Another sister, Johanna Warmberger (1693-1772), also worked in the family business. The sisters specialized in decorative gilding and enamel painting of chinoiseries like the images seen here of two gentlemen smoking and taking tea in a garden.
Sabina Hosennestel married the tradesman and coffee-house owner, Isaac Hosennestel in 1731. It is thought that some of the porcelain vessels painted by the Aufenwerth sisters were intended for use in the coffee-house alongside Chinese and Japanese imported porcelain, especially the tea bowls. There were five other coffee-houses in Augsburg in the first half of the eighteenth century.
Other pieces from this service are in the Forsythe Wickes Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (inv. Numbers 65.2076-65.2080).
Ducret, S., 1971, Meissner Porzellan bemalt in Augsburg, 1718 bis um 1750, Band 1 Goldmalereien und bunte Chinoiserien.
On Hausmaler see Ulrich Pietsch, 2011, Early Meissen Porcelain: The Wark Collection from The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, pp. 43-46.
Hans Syz, J. Jefferson Miller II, Rainer Rückert, 1979, Catalogue of the Hans Syz Collection: Meissen Porcelain and Hausmalerei, pp. 506-507.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1720-1725
1720-1725
maker
Meissen Manufactory
ID Number
1987.0896.35
catalog number
1987.0896.35
accession number
1987.0896
collector/donor number
227B

Dun-Sur-Meuse

Charcoal and ink wash sketch on paper. Troops and army trucks pass over a small bridge. A sign posted on the bridge reads "Langsam Fahren" or "Drive Slowly". A large building sits atop a hill in the background of the scene.
Description
Charcoal and ink wash sketch on paper. Troops and army trucks pass over a small bridge. A sign posted on the bridge reads "Langsam Fahren" or "Drive Slowly". A large building sits atop a hill in the background of the scene. Buildings line the road on the right side of the sketch.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1918
associated date
1917-1918
associated person
War Department
maker
Peixotto, Ernest Clifford
ID Number
AF.25823
catalog number
25823
accession number
64592

EmmyLou Harris

Working on assignment, Henry Horenstein photographed EmmyLou Harris (b. 1947) at her home. In the 1970s, Harris represented the generation of musicians who were influenced by traditional country, rock, and folk music.
Description
Working on assignment, Henry Horenstein photographed EmmyLou Harris (b. 1947) at her home. In the 1970s, Harris represented the generation of musicians who were influenced by traditional country, rock, and folk music. Over the years, Harris has had a profound impact on contemporary popular and country music.
Location
Currently not on view
negative
1980
print
2003
maker
Horenstein, Henry
ID Number
2003.0169.034
accession number
2003.0169
catalog number
2003.0169.034

In the Bishop's Palace, Verdun

A pencil and watercolor sketch on paper. The sketch is of a room in the bishop's palace at Verdun, France during World War I. The focal point is a broken window in the center of the sketch. The rest of the room is also in disrepair.
Description
A pencil and watercolor sketch on paper. The sketch is of a room in the bishop's palace at Verdun, France during World War I. The focal point is a broken window in the center of the sketch. The rest of the room is also in disrepair. Through the window is a view of the village of Verdun.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1918
associated date
1917-1918
associated person
War Department
artist
Smith, J. Andre
ID Number
AF.25999
catalog number
25999
accession number
64592

The Bridge at Château Thierry

Pencil and ink wash sketch on paper. In the foreground, a damaged bridge extends halfway across a river. Soldiers in the river are repairing the bridge. In the background, buildings line the far bank of the river.Currently not on view
Description
Pencil and ink wash sketch on paper. In the foreground, a damaged bridge extends halfway across a river. Soldiers in the river are repairing the bridge. In the background, buildings line the far bank of the river.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1918-07
associated date
1917-1918
associated person
War Department
artist
Peixotto, Ernest Clifford
ID Number
AF.25876
catalog number
25876
accession number
64592

Two Six-Ton Tanks Climbing a Hill

Watercolor and pastel on white paper of two six-ton Renault FT-17 tanks (also called "light tanks") climbing a hill. The Renault FT-17 is a two-man tank with the driver seated in front and the gunner standing behind him in the turret.
Description
Watercolor and pastel on white paper of two six-ton Renault FT-17 tanks (also called "light tanks") climbing a hill. The Renault FT-17 is a two-man tank with the driver seated in front and the gunner standing behind him in the turret. The turret is fully rotating and is mounted with a machine gun. The tank's motor compartment is in back. The tank has two tracked drive wheels which allow it to maneuver over rough terrain and a rear tail to help maintain balance when crossing trenches. The Renault is a French tank and is generally considered to be the world's first modern tank.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1918
associated date
1917 - 1918
associated person
War Department
Townsend, Harry
artist
Townsend, Harry
ID Number
AF.26110
catalog number
26110
accession number
64592

dish

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
CE.75.130BC
catalog number
75.130BC
accession number
317832

Scrimshaw Sperm Whale’s Tooth

This carved sperm whale tooth is only engraved on one side, but it has an unusual subject. Instead of the more common full-rigged sailing ship, this tooth depicts a steamboat in profile moving from left to right.
Description
This carved sperm whale tooth is only engraved on one side, but it has an unusual subject. Instead of the more common full-rigged sailing ship, this tooth depicts a steamboat in profile moving from left to right. Below the vessel is engraved the legend “STEAMER RIGHT ARM”, which identifies the vessel as the wrecking tugboat RIGHT ARM. Measuring 135 ft. in length by 26.5 ft. beam (width), the ship was purpose built in New England in the early 1890s as a wrecker, or salvage vessel. These uncommon vessels helped to refloat grounded or stranded ships, or recovered useful parts from a ship that was wrecked. The forward deckhouse contained a powerful steam windlass and several tons of 2-in. chain, and the pumps were so strong that the ship could pump coal--as well as water--from damaged ships. The RIGHT ARM had the capability to support divers as well, with dive gear, air compressors and special equipment.
The RIGHT ARM is best known as the salvage ship for the infamous wreck of the American warship USS MAINE in Havana harbor, Cuba, an early event in the Spanish-American War. The RIGHT ARM recovered some of the MAINE’s artillery; the ship’s safe containing ca. $25,000; valuable chalices from the chaplain’s stateroom, and sailors’ bodies from the colossal explosion on 15 February 1898 that sank the warship.
Although this tooth was not carved by a whaler during the classical Age of Sail, it still represents the latter-day art of scrimshaw through its style, material and treatment.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
DL.65.1135
catalog number
65.1135
accession number
256396

Gas Light Shade

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
maker
Macbeth-Evans Glass Company
ID Number
CE.903
catalog number
903
accession number
58571

Scrimshaw Walrus Tusk, 1854

This long, sharp walrus tusk tip has two whales engraved on its sides. On one side is a sperm whale, with its mouth wide open displaying its characteristic teeth in the lower jaw.
Description
This long, sharp walrus tusk tip has two whales engraved on its sides. On one side is a sperm whale, with its mouth wide open displaying its characteristic teeth in the lower jaw. Beneath it is the inscription: “LONG IS.” The other side has a large baleen or right whale, with the inscription “THo 1854 WILLETS” carved below. Baleen whales lack teeth and filter their food through hundreds of long, thin, flexible baleen plates. Thomas Willets was probably a crewman on an 1854 sealing or whaling voyage out of Long Island, a region in New York known for its whaling industry. In the 19th century, the Willets family was widespread and well known in the New York area.
Scrimshaw began in the late 18th or early 19th century as the art of carving whale bone and ivory aboard whale ships. The crew on whalers had plenty of leisure time between sighting and chasing whales, and the hard parts of whales were readily available on voyages that could last up to four years.
In its simplest form, a tooth was removed from the lower jaw of a sperm whale and the surface was prepared by scraping and sanding until it was smooth. The easiest way to begin an etching was to smooth a print over the tooth, prick the outline of the image with a needle and then “connect-the-dots” once the paper was removed. This allowed even unskilled craftsmen to create fine carvings. Some sailors were skilled enough to etch their drawings freehand. After the lines were finished, they were filled in with lamp black or sometimes colored pigments.
Scrimshaw could be decorative, like simple sperm whale teeth, or they could be useful, as in ivory napkin rings, corset busks (stiffeners), swifts for winding yarn or pie crimpers. The sailor’s hand-carved scrimshaw was then given to loved ones back on shore as souvenirs of the hard and lonely life aboard long and dangerous voyages.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1854
ID Number
1978.0052.11
accession number
1978.0052
catalog number
1978.52.11

Returning Refugees Hatton Chattel

Charcoal, ink wash, and gouache drawing on beige textured paper. The work depicts refugees returning to a shell torn village in Hatton Chattel, France. Older men, women, children, sheep and a mule laden with clothing gather in front of a severely damaged building.
Description
Charcoal, ink wash, and gouache drawing on beige textured paper. The work depicts refugees returning to a shell torn village in Hatton Chattel, France. Older men, women, children, sheep and a mule laden with clothing gather in front of a severely damaged building. An American soldier is standing in the center of the drawing. In the foreground on the left, a man in dark clothes stands looking at the crowd.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1918
associated person
War Department
artist
Aylward, William James
ID Number
AF.25664
catalog number
25664
accession number
64592

Carl and Pearl Butler

Pearl Butler accepts a song request from a young fan. Pearl (1927-1998) and Carl Butler (1927-1992) were part of the honky-tonk and bluegrass music movements before World War II.
Description
Pearl Butler accepts a song request from a young fan. Pearl (1927-1998) and Carl Butler (1927-1992) were part of the honky-tonk and bluegrass music movements before World War II. After their 1962 hit, "Don't Let Me Cross Over," the Butlers became one of the most popular male-female vocal teams in country music.
Location
Currently not on view
negative
1973
print
2003
maker
Horenstein, Henry
ID Number
2003.0169.076
accession number
2003.0169
catalog number
2003.0169.076

Poppyseed Stuffing

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968-1970
author
Waters, Alice
ID Number
2016.0085.20
accession number
2016.0085
catalog number
2016.0085.20

E. A. Kreger

Oil on illustration board. Portrait of one star General E. A. Kreger. Kreger wears two officer and two Judge Advocate General's Department pins on his collar. He also wears glasses and a Sam Browne belt. Kreger's hair is grey.Currently not on view
Description
Oil on illustration board. Portrait of one star General E. A. Kreger. Kreger wears two officer and two Judge Advocate General's Department pins on his collar. He also wears glasses and a Sam Browne belt. Kreger's hair is grey.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1918
associated date
1917 - 1918
associated person
Chase, Joseph Cummings
Chase, Joseph Cummings
artist
Chase, Joseph Cummings
ID Number
AF.58107M
catalog number
58107M
accession number
203612

Indigo stick, ai-bo

Stick of indigo, known in Japanese as ai-bo, pigment used for printing Japanese woodblocks.Currently not on view
Description
Stick of indigo, known in Japanese as ai-bo, pigment used for printing Japanese woodblocks.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
GA.03446
catalog number
03446
accession number
23218

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