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.

Topic: Communications

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Emmy Lou

This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Emmy Lou newspaper strip shows Emmy Lou thinking that her mother is setting her up on a date with a neighbor’s son, when it turns out that the boy is much younger and a cub scout.Martha B.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Emmy Lou newspaper strip shows Emmy Lou thinking that her mother is setting her up on a date with a neighbor’s son, when it turns out that the boy is much younger and a cub scout.
Martha B. "Marty" Links's (1917-2008) early career included work in 1940 at the San Francisco Chronicle, where she contributed to a recurring feature called Women’s World. Links started the comic strip Bobby Sox in 1944, and later changed the title to Emmy Lou. She used a man’s name to sell her drawings to newspapers and advertising agencies. After Links ended the strip, she designed greeting cards for Hallmark until her retirement in 1999.
Emmy Lou (1944-1979), originally Bobby Sox, told the story of a young girl’s dealings with adolescence. "Bobby soxers," a name given to teenage girls of the 1940s, usually denoted fans of swing music and followers of certain fashion trends, most notably the poodle skirt and rolled ankle socks. Links eventually decided that her concept of teenage girls was no longer relevant, especially because her own daughters, the inspirations for the Emmy Lou character, were becoming adults. She discontinued the strip in 1979.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-08-14
graphic artist
Links, Marty
publisher
United Feature Syndicate, Inc.
ID Number
GA.22473
catalog number
22473
accession number
277502

brush

Flat brush with wooden handle used for wetting paper in Japanese printmaking. Bristles held in place with two lines of stitching. See illustrations GA.03209.03-.04.Currently not on view
Description
Flat brush with wooden handle used for wetting paper in Japanese printmaking. Bristles held in place with two lines of stitching. See illustrations GA.03209.03-.04.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
GA.03211.08
accession number
22582
catalog number
03211.08

Nandina domestica

Japanese wood block print. No. 10 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. 10 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.03217.10
catalog number
03217.10
accession number
22582

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Aggie

This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Aggie comic strip shows the character Wayout coming over to Aggie’s house to find her staring at a coconut.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Aggie comic strip shows the character Wayout coming over to Aggie’s house to find her staring at a coconut. After Wayout determines that the coconut might be a “hairy cantaloupe,” Aggie says she wants to get the milk out of the coconut, and Wayout’s follow-up quip results in his being thrown out of the house.
Roy L. Fox (1924- ) debuted his first work in The Philadelphia Bulletin in 1939. He began drawing Aggie Mack (later Aggie) after the death, in 1962, of creator Hal Rasmussen.
Aggie Mack, and later Aggie, (1946-1972) was a comic strip about a girl in her early teens. Aggie was raised by her father’s second wife, who favored her own daughter, Mona. Aggie's homelife interactions became less central to the strip over the years, and Aggie began to be shown in contemporary teenager, community-based situations. The strip was also popular overseas, particularly in France, where it appeared under the name Fillettes.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-07-17
graphic artist
Fox, Roy
publisher
Tribune Printing Company
ID Number
GA.22504
catalog number
22504
accession number
277502

Mendiant

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c. 1860
original artist
Fortuny y Carbo, Mariano
publisher
Goupil & Cie.
graphic artist
Delatre
ID Number
GA.16767
catalog number
16767
accession number
119780

Sketch of a Dead Mouse

A signed and dated ink drawing made on January 8, 1876, which took 40 minutes to complete. There is a sketch of a horse's legs on the verso with notes on the anatomy.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
A signed and dated ink drawing made on January 8, 1876, which took 40 minutes to complete. There is a sketch of a horse's legs on the verso with notes on the anatomy.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1876-01-08
original artist
Ferris, Stephen James
ID Number
GA.16697
catalog number
16697
accession number
119780

Sunny Side

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1969
1962
original artist
Palmer, Frances F.
publisher
Travelers Companies, Inc.
ID Number
2012.3050.05.16
nonaccession number
2012.3050
catalog number
2012.3050.05.16

sheet(paper)

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
U.S. Government Printing Office
ID Number
GA.20482
accession number
203077

Andre del Sarto

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
19th century
depicted (sitter)
del Sarto, Andrea
engraver
Monzies, Louis
printer
Salmon, A.
ID Number
2014.0250.49
accession number
2014.0250
catalog number
2014.0250.49

A Rustic Genji (Inaka Genji)

Wood block, Japanese, used to produce right-hand print of GA 03213 series forming a triptych with GA 03215 (center) and GA 03216 (left). Landscape with three kimono-clad figures under arching branch of tree.
Description
Wood block, Japanese, used to produce right-hand print of GA 03213 series forming a triptych with GA 03215 (center) and GA 03216 (left). Landscape with three kimono-clad figures under arching branch of tree. 23 separate impressions were required to complete the image from 13 printing surfaces on seven blocks. This block (recto) printed impressions GA 03213.06, .11, .12, and .21 (yellow, blue, red) and (verso) used for GA 03213.20 ( red outline).
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Morikawa, Kokichiro
ID Number
GA.03212.06
catalog number
03212.06
accession number
22582

photograph

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1890s
ID Number
2012.0093.03
accession number
2012.0093
catalog number
2012.0093.03

A Rustic Genji (Inaka Genji)

Wood block, Japanese. Key block for right-hand print GA 03213 series forming a triptych with GA 03215 (center) and GA 03216 (left). Landscape with three kimono-clad figures under arching branch of tree. Four lines of Japanese calligraphy on verso.
Description
Wood block, Japanese. Key block for right-hand print GA 03213 series forming a triptych with GA 03215 (center) and GA 03216 (left). Landscape with three kimono-clad figures under arching branch of tree. Four lines of Japanese calligraphy on verso.
ID Number
GA.03212.01
catalog number
03212.01
accession number
22582

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Grin and Bear It

This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Grin and Bear It comic panel shows folk-rock singers Toots and Trog listening to the producer's reaction to a film pitch, which he claims diverges from the unoriginal boy-meets-girl story.George Maurice "Lichty" Lichtenstein (1905-1983) s
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Grin and Bear It comic panel shows folk-rock singers Toots and Trog listening to the producer's reaction to a film pitch, which he claims diverges from the unoriginal boy-meets-girl story.
George Maurice "Lichty" Lichtenstein (1905-1983) sold his first cartoon to Judge magazine. In 1929 he started drawing cartoons for the Chicago Daily Times. He launched the daily and Sunday panel cartoon Grin and Bear It in 1932.
The Sunday comic design for Grin and Bear It (1932- ) was presented using unrelated panels. The strip had few regular characters or continuous stories. Grin and Bear It covers a variety of topics, including political and international adversaries of the day. Creator George Lichty drew the panel until his retirement in 1974.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-06-30
publisher
Publishers Newspapers Syndicate, Inc.
graphic artist
Lichty, George
ID Number
GA.22382
catalog number
22382
accession number
277502

The Red Shawl

"The Red Shawl" is a soft ground color etching and aquatint by May Gearhart (1872–1951). Although she created landscape prints like her sister Frances, May Gearhart also made prints of figure subjects.
Description
"The Red Shawl" is a soft ground color etching and aquatint by May Gearhart (1872–1951). Although she created landscape prints like her sister Frances, May Gearhart also made prints of figure subjects. "The Red Shawl" is an image inspired by one of her trips to Mexico.
In the print, a woman shown in profile holds a small bouquet of flowers while walking along a cobblestone sidewalk next to a white building. Her layered clothing, Gearhart's skillful use of color, and the deep shadows give the impression of a cold, but sunny morning. The woman is wearing a full, plaid, violet skirt and a red shawl. Her slightly bowed head is covered by a yellow kerchief and her face is shadowed.
Gearhart achieved a watercolor effect by thinning oil-based inks. This tiny print is very loosely rendered, a characteristic of the soft ground technique. Although the process of printmaking usually involves creating a set of identical images, Gearhart often printed in small editions, using different shades of ink for each print to produce unique impressions.
The Gearhart sisters both taught school, and they worked closely with two brothers, Benjamin and Howell Brown, to establish and support printmaking organizations in California. The Gearharts and the Browns exhibited their prints at the Smithsonian in the 1920s, and they all made generous donations of their work.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
[1920]
graphic artist
Gearhart, May
ID Number
GA.13357
catalog number
13357
accession number
70154

Indigo blue: Ai-gami

Small glass bottle of pigment used for printing Japanese woodblocks. Paper label in English with color name as transliterated from Japanese: Indigo blue: Ai-gami; separate label with catalogue number. No cork; glass broken at top.
Description
Small glass bottle of pigment used for printing Japanese woodblocks. Paper label in English with color name as transliterated from Japanese: Indigo blue: Ai-gami; separate label with catalogue number. No cork; glass broken at top. Bottle contains paper saturated with color which suggests this may be dayflower, Tsu-yu-kusa, rather than indigo which did not come in paper form.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
GA.03444
catalog number
03444
accession number
23218

Cavalier with Lute

The signed 1893 pen and ink drawing of a seated cavalier in large hat with plume and high boots, suggests seventeenth-century France, especially the era of the swashbuckling heroes known as three musketeers, created by Alexander Dumas, père.
Description (Brief)
The signed 1893 pen and ink drawing of a seated cavalier in large hat with plume and high boots, suggests seventeenth-century France, especially the era of the swashbuckling heroes known as three musketeers, created by Alexander Dumas, père. The cavalier is accompanying himself on a lute in what might be a tavern scene. A wine glass and carafe are lightly sketched at center left in pencil. Ferris also made a print of this subject.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1893
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16620
catalog number
16620
accession number
119780

Booklet

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
GA.16388.01

American Text Books of Art Education: Perspective Drawing No. 3

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1873
author
Smith, Walter
ID Number
2014.0029.02
accession number
2014.0029
catalog number
2014.0029.02

print

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1944
maker
Kline, Franz
ID Number
2013.0057.01
accession number
2013.0057
catalog number
2013.0057.01

Zayda Playing an Instrument

Gerome Ferris titled the initialed pencil drawing of a seated young woman playing an instrument, Zayda/Three Princesses." Zayda is a character from "Legend of the Three Beautiful Princesses" in Washington Irving’s book, Tales of the Alhambra, first published in 1832.Currently not
Description (Brief)
Gerome Ferris titled the initialed pencil drawing of a seated young woman playing an instrument, Zayda/Three Princesses." Zayda is a character from "Legend of the Three Beautiful Princesses" in Washington Irving’s book, Tales of the Alhambra, first published in 1832.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1851
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16629
catalog number
16629
accession number
119780

Portrait of Von Steuben

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1857
depicted (sitter)
Steuben, Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin
engraver
Huber, Kaspar Ulrich
ID Number
2014.0250.43
accession number
2014.0250
catalog number
2014.0250.43

Printer's knife

Small slant-point graver-type knife set in black wooden handle used in Japanese woodblock cutting. Embosssed with maker's chop. See illustrations GA*03209.03-.04. See Item No.
Description
Small slant-point graver-type knife set in black wooden handle used in Japanese woodblock cutting. Embosssed with maker's chop. See illustrations GA*03209.03-.04. See Item No. 3 in watercolor showing the woodblock cutter's tools which is represented by GA.03210.03, the handle only. As of 2017, we believe that GA.03211.12 is a replacement knife acquired for exhibition purposes when the original knife lost its blade.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
GA.03211.12
accession number
22582
catalog number
03211.12

Pussy-Cat, Pussy-Cat, Where Have You Been ...

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
GA.13910.01
catalog number
13910.01

Engraved woodblock of a "Bird's-eye view of the Grand Canyon"

This engraved woodblock of “Bird’s-eye view of the Grand Canyon" was prepared by Henry Hobart Nichols (1838-1887) and the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the print was published in 1875 as as Figure 72 (p.187) in Report of the Exploration of the Colorado River of
Description
This engraved woodblock of “Bird’s-eye view of the Grand Canyon" was prepared by Henry Hobart Nichols (1838-1887) and the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the print was published in 1875 as as Figure 72 (p.187) 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).
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.
ID Number
1980.0219.0467
accession number
1980.0219
catalog number
1980.0219.0467

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