We hope your weeked rocks.
A rock concert inspired artist Debra Baxter to create her “Devil Horns Crystal Brass Knuckles” series. This one, a lefty, is on view at our @americanartmuseum’s #RenwickGallery, which is home to the museum’s collection of contemporary craft and decorative art.
Debra Baxter, “Devil Horns Crystal Brass Knuckles (Lefty),“ 2015, quartz crystal and sterling silver. Smithsonian American Art Museum, gift of the artist in honor of Joanna and David Baxter © 2015, Debra Baxter
Carrot top of the morning to you.
In the Victorian era, whimsical seed cards like this one were all the rage, inspiring people to buy seeds and collect the cards that came with them.
Along with being collectors’ items, seed and nursery cards document the history of U.S. agricultural business and advertising. They tell a story about how American gardening has been shaped by history, social attitudes, the environment and innovation.
What story do you think this gentleman would tell?
Dig into history in our new exhibition “Cultivating America’s Gardens” from @smithsonianlibraries and @smithsoniangardens, open through August 2018 at our National Museum of American History.
When is a photograph more than a picture?
These stunning images are a preview of the first special exhibition at our @nmaahc, which explores the stories behind more than 150 photographs and related objects from their collection.
The images, by established and emerging photographers from the 19th century to the present, show a range of American experiences. They challenge you to look beyond the surface to consider their significance in history, their cultural meaning, and your own perspective.
Today is the 100th anniversary of the U.S. entering World War I. This tea set was designed and sold to support charitable relief organizations during the war.
Designed by Lillian Gary Taylor, the Liberty Queen’s Ware set features a center shield with the American stars and stripes, surrounded by the flags of the 11 Allied countries.
Women of all social classes were involved in World War I in a variety of roles—military and civilian, paid and volunteer. Women like Lillian Gary Taylor often used their wealth and connections to raise money for the war effort. She sold more than 9,000 pieces, a few of which are now in our National Museum of American History.
We’re marking the World War I centennial at our museums and online. You can explore our collections, find events and exhibitions, and read stories of the war at home and abroad on our newly redesigned website.
Cherry blossoms have always made beautiful backdrops for photos. 🌸 More than a century ago, three young women dressed in kimonos pose with parasols under a blooming cherry tree.
This photo (from sometime between 1860 and 1900) is in our @freersackler’s collection. It was included in an album produced by the studio of Tamamura Kozaburo (1880s–1900s), a successful commercial photography studio in Japan.
Can’t get your cherry blossom fix in D.C. this year? See plenty of peak bloom across our collections online.
Throwback Thursday to a few weeks ago when “Wind Sculpture VII” was dazzling outside our National Museum of African Art.
Like a ship’s sail, the fiberglass sculpture by Yinka Shonibare MBE appears to blow in the wind. It evokes the sails of ships that crossed the Atlantic and other oceans, connecting nations through the exchange of ideas, products and people—complex histories of not only the slave trade and colonization but also the dynamic contributions of Africans and African heritage worldwide.
At 20 feet tall and nearly 900 pounds, “Wind Sculpture VII” is part of a series of seven individually designed sculptures, and the first artwork permanently installed in front of the museum.
Ethel Reed was one of the most talented and prolific artists of the 1890s. Then she disappeared from the historical record.
Learn about her life and work from our National Museum of American History.
“Our earth is only one polka dot among a million stars in the cosmos. Polka dots are a way to infinity.“ - Yayoi Kusama
We’re joining our @hirshhorn in covering the internet in polka dots today, in honor of Yayoi Kusama’s 88th birthday! ⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️
Explore a 360-degree view of her “Infinity Mirrored Room—The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away” on Facebook, or take a virtual tour of the exhibition in a Twitter Moment.
More about #InfiniteKusama at kusama.si.edu.
Yayoi Kusama, “Dots Obsession – Love Transformed Into Dots,” courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore; Victoria Miro, London; David Zwirner, New York. © Yayoi Kusama
A story “Mad Men” overlooked: Caroline R. Jones, who spearheaded advertising that changed how Americans thought about some of the world’s most popular brands.
Jones built a trailblazing career as an advertising executive, starting as a copywriter in the early 1960s and eventually founding multiple firms. Her clients included American Express, the National Urban League and Kentucky Fried Chicken (her agency developed the slogan “We Do Chicken Right!”).
Throughout her career, Jones struggled against the assumption that her ads should only address African American consumers. Many times her targeted ad campaigns were so successful that companies used them for national work—but, in one case, replaced African American figures with white models.
Jones died in 2001, but her story lives on through items of hers at our National Museum of American History. More about her life on their blog.
Getting that #FridayFeeling from this Alma Thomas painting, “Snoopy–Early Sun Display on Earth” (1970), in our @americanartmuseum.
Thomas was the first student to graduate from Howard University with a degree in art, and taught art to junior high school students in Washington, D.C., for more than 30 years. After she retired, she developed her signature abstract and colorful paintings inspired by nature.
In 1972, at age 75, Thomas was the first African American woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum in New York.
For Women’s History Month, we’re joining our friends at National Museum of Women in the Arts and asking you to name #5womenartists.🎨
International Women’s Day poster from 1975, printed by the Women’s Graphics Collective, in our @cooperhewitt.
Four Chicago-based women designers founded the group in 1970, bringing together women designers and activists to produce art that advanced the goals of the women’s movement. More about the poster and their organization.
For Women’s History Month, we’re joining our @nmaahc in sharing #HiddenHerstory, stories of women who have often been overlooked throughout history.
In this photo from the museum collection, Daisy Bates meets with seven members of the Little Rock Nine in her home. Bates played a significant role in the integration of the Little Rock Central High School in 1957, despite the death threats she received—one through the window of her home.
Bates, who was elected president of the Arkansas NAACP in 1952, was inspired by the Brown v. Board case to focus on education.
Each of these orchids is a work of art.
There are more than 100 stunning blooms featured at the 2017 Orchid Exhibition by Smithsonian Gardens and the United States Botanic Garden. This is the first time the annual show is at our @hirshhorn museum, where orchids act as colorful, time-based installations that constantly change over the course of the exhibition.
You can see “orchids: A MOMENT” through May 14.
“I, too, am America” – poet Langston Hughes, born on this day in 1902. Portrait by Winold Reiss from our National Portrait Gallery.
Hear Hughes read “I, Too” and other works from Smithsonian Folkways.
The stereoscope was the VR headset of the 19th century.
British scientist Charles Wheatstone developed the first stereoscope in 1838, using side-by-side images and prismatic lenses. By showing the subject from two slightly different angles, the viewer’s brain is tricked into perceiving depth and being immersed in the scene.
This stereoscope was manufactured around 1900 by Brevetés Paris and is in our @cooperhewitt, which has a variety of stereoscope slides in its collection, including depictions of historical moments and camels at the zoo in London.
