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.

Place: United States

Tiffany vase

Translucent glass vase with motif of irregular swags. Favrile Glass. The body is of common amber bottle glass. Form: The body is of the double gourd shape, it has a large opening and no neck. Decorated with stripped leaf designs in blue, gray and red with an iridescent surface.
Description (Brief)
Translucent glass vase with motif of irregular swags. Favrile Glass. The body is of common amber bottle glass. Form: The body is of the double gourd shape, it has a large opening and no neck. Decorated with stripped leaf designs in blue, gray and red with an iridescent surface. Purchased from Charles Tiffany, $25.00.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1893 - 96
maker
Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company, or Tiffany Studios
ID Number
CE.96422
catalog number
96422
accession number
30453
maker number
x 1212 (etched ?)

plate

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

Fans with Carl and Pearl Butler

Carl and Pearl Butler pose for photographs with fans.Currently not on view
Description
Carl and Pearl Butler pose for photographs with fans.
Location
Currently not on view
negative
1973
print
2003
Associated Name
Butler, Pearl
Butler, Carl
maker
Horenstein, Henry
ID Number
2003.0169.090
accession number
2003.0169
catalog number
2003.0169.090

Marinated Tomatoes

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968-1970
author
Waters, Alice
ID Number
2016.0085.14
accession number
2016.0085
catalog number
2016.0085.14

New England Glass Company 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 New England Glass Company in Cambridge, Massachusetts was founded about 1818 by Deming Jarves along with three wealthy businessmen, and probably began producing paperweights by the mid 1850s. In 1888 the business moved to Ohio, under the name Libbey Glass Company.
This New England Glass Company paperweight features a single Poinsettia on a latticinio (latticework) ground. Small bubbles in the glass give the appearance of dew drops on the flower.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1850-1878
maker
New England Glass Company
ID Number
CE.66.32
catalog number
66.32
accession number
268356
collector/donor number
203

Argus Spoon Holder

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c. 1850-1870
c. 1860-70
ID Number
CE.383811
catalog number
383811
accession number
170852

Bob Dylan, The Castle

With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture.
Description
With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture. She recorded this unconventional time of Anti-War demonstrations in California, communes, Love-Ins, peace marches and concerts, as well as her family life as she became a wife and mother. The photographs were collected by William Yeingst and Shannon Perich in a cross-unit collecting collaboration. Together they selected over two hundred photographs relevant to photographic history, cultural history, domestic life and social history.
Law’s portraiture and concert photographs include Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Lovin Spoonful and Peter, Paul and Mary. She also took several of Janis Joplin and her band Big Brother and the Holding Company, including the photograph used to create the poster included in the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum’s exhibition 1001 Days and Nights in American Art. Law and other members of the Hog Farm were involved in the logistics of setting up the well-known musical extravaganza, Woodstock. Her photographs include the teepee poles going into the hold of the plane, a few concert scenes and amenities like the kitchen and medical tent. Other photographs include peace rallies and concerts in Haight-Ashbury, Coretta Scott King speaking at an Anti-War protest and portraits of Allen Ginsburg and Timothy Leary. From her life in New Mexico the photographs include yoga sessions with Yogi Bhajan, bus races, parades and other public events. From life on the New Buffalo Commune, there are many pictures of her family and friends taken during meal preparation and eating, farming, building, playing, giving birth and caring for children.
Ms. Law did not realize how important her photographs were while she was taking them. It was not until after she divorced her husband, left the farm for Santa Fe and began a career as a photographer that she realized the depth of history she recorded. Today, she spends her time writing books, showing her photographs in museums all over the United States and making documentaries. In 1990, her video documentary, “Flashing on the Sixties,” won several awards.
A selection of photographs was featured in the exhibition A Visual Journey: Photographs by Lisa Law, 1964–1971, at the National Museum of American History October 1998-April 1999.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965
maker
Law, Lisa Bachelis
ID Number
1998.0139.022
accession number
1998.0139
catalog number
1998.0139.22

platter

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

Jukebox

Tootsie's Orchid Lounge offered a place where hopeful musicians could put their demo 45s in the jukebox.Currently not on view
Description
Tootsie's Orchid Lounge offered a place where hopeful musicians could put their demo 45s in the jukebox.
Location
Currently not on view
negative
1972
print
2003
maker
Horenstein, Henry
Horenstein, Henry
ID Number
2003.0169.109
catalog number
2003.0169.109
accession number
2003.0169

photograph

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2012.0093.10
accession number
2012.0093
catalog number
2012.0093.10

Engraved woodblock of a "Haida totem post"

This engraved woodblock of a “Haida totem post” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Figure 24 (p.68) in an article by Garrick Mallery (1831-1894) entitled “Pictographs of the North American Indians: a preliminary paper” i
Description
This engraved woodblock of a “Haida totem post” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Figure 24 (p.68) in an article by Garrick Mallery (1831-1894) entitled “Pictographs of the North American Indians: a preliminary paper” in the Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian, 1882-83.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1886
publisher
Bureau of American Ethnology
printer
Government Printing Office
author
Mallery, Garrick
block maker
J. J. & Co.
ID Number
1980.0219.1509
accession number
1980.0219
catalog number
1980.0219.1509

Apricot Souffle

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968-1970
author
Waters, Alice
ID Number
2016.0085.03
accession number
2016.0085
catalog number
2016.0085.03

saucer

This saucer depicting "The Government Building" and "The Fisheries Building" was most likely from a display at the World's Columbian Exposition.Currently not on view
Description
This saucer depicting "The Government Building" and "The Fisheries Building" was most likely from a display at the World's Columbian Exposition.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1897
ID Number
CE.379494
catalog number
379494
accession number
150313

Dolly Parton

Rebecca "Dolly" Parton (b. 1946) was the subject of Henry Horenstein's first published photograph. It appeared in Boston After Dark (now the Boston Phoenix). He had an hour to meet and photograph Parton, a lengthy sitting photographers today rarely have.
Description
Rebecca "Dolly" Parton (b. 1946) was the subject of Henry Horenstein's first published photograph. It appeared in Boston After Dark (now the Boston Phoenix). He had an hour to meet and photograph Parton, a lengthy sitting photographers today rarely have. When Horenstein photographed Parton, she already had twenty albums to her name. But the crossover hit, "Here You Come Again," made her a superstar in 1977.
Location
Currently not on view
negative
1972
print
2003
Associated Name
Parton, Dolly
maker
Horenstein, Henry
ID Number
2003.0169.103
accession number
2003.0169
catalog number
2003.0169.103

cover

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

J Marshall

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1831
depicted (sitter)
Marshall, John
designer
Newsam, Albert
original artist
Inman, Henry
ID Number
2014.0250.45
accession number
2014.0250
catalog number
2014.0250.45

The Girl on the Land Serves the Nation's Need

The Girl on the Land Serves the Nation's Need. American World War I poster by artist Edward Penfield for the Y.W.C.A. Land Service Committee.
Description
The Girl on the Land Serves the Nation's Need. American World War I poster by artist Edward Penfield for the Y.W.C.A. Land Service Committee. Depicted are four women in uniform walking through a field, carrying tools and a basket of produce while leading a team of horses.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1917 - 1921
ID Number
1986.3051.01
catalog number
1986.3051.01
nonaccession number
1986.3051

Colorful, Gas Light Shade

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1915
maker
Macbeth-Evans Glass Company
ID Number
CE.915
catalog number
915
accession number
58571

Portrait of a Soldier

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
last quarter of 1800s
original artist
Fortuny y Carbo, Mariano
graphic artist
Ferris, Stephen James
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.14442
accession number
94830
catalog number
14442

Eagle Figure

Made of carved painted wood. Figure has spread wings. Right foot is holding arrows, left foot holding a red, white and blue shield.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Made of carved painted wood. Figure has spread wings. Right foot is holding arrows, left foot holding a red, white and blue shield.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
CL.65.1084
accession number
261195
catalog number
65.1084
collector/donor number
T-38

Tiffany vase

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1893 - 96
maker
Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company, or Tiffany Studios
ID Number
CE.96425ab
catalog number
96425ab
accession number
30453
maker number
x 1255 (etched)
catalog number
96425

dish

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

Arms of the State of Maine

This plaque was made of cast bronze. It depicts the Arms of the State of Maine with two men flanking a tree and moose. This was made from an original carving by American folk artist John Haley Bellamy.Currently not on view
Description
This plaque was made of cast bronze. It depicts the Arms of the State of Maine with two men flanking a tree and moose. This was made from an original carving by American folk artist John Haley Bellamy.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 19th century
ID Number
CL.68.445
catalog number
68.445
accession number
260206
collector/donor number
B-30

Jean Shepard

Jean Shepard (b.1933) joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1956. Beginning with her first solo top ten single, "A Satisfied Mind" in 1955, Shepard's pure country voice led to hit after hit.Currently not on view
Description
Jean Shepard (b.1933) joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1956. Beginning with her first solo top ten single, "A Satisfied Mind" in 1955, Shepard's pure country voice led to hit after hit.
Location
Currently not on view
print
2003
maker
Horenstein, Henry
ID Number
2003.0169.051
accession number
2003.0169
catalog number
2003.0169.051

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