American Art and Portrait Gallery Library News and Events
Current Exhibitions, Events and Announcements at the AA/PG Library:
Grandma Moses
Materials from the AA/PG Library Art & Artist Files
In conjunction with Smithsonian American Art Museum exhibition Grandma Moses: A Good Day’s Work
Curated by AA/PG Library intern Linnea Byrne-Kvalsvik, on view Fall-Winter 2025-26
Born Anna Mary Robertson in 1860, Grandma Moses spent her life on farms and only began to paint seriously in her seventies, when arthritis prevented her from keeping up with farm labor. She quickly gained celebrity status after galleries began displaying her paintings. The sense of novelty surrounding Grandma Moses was based not only on the fact that she was self-taught, but that she began painting so late in life. From the beginning of her artistic career, Grandma Moses and her work were defined by her age. In 1960 LIFE magazine published a cover story celebrating her 100th birthday. Galleries and museums also held exhibitions celebrating this milestone, and New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller declared her 100th and 101st birthdays “Grandma Moses Day.”
Grandma Moses’s work was first “discovered” in 1938 by collector Louis J. Caldor during a visit to upstate New York. The Galerie St. Etienne in New York City later became the first gallery to display Moses’s work, holding an exhibition called “What a Farm Wife Painted: Works by Mrs. Anna Mary Moses” in 1940. The gallery’s founder, Otto Kallir, managed Grandma Moses’s artistic career for the rest of her life.
Kallir, a Jewish refugee from Austria, had a particular interest in the work of American self-taught artists. As mentioned in the SAAM exhibition catalogue “Grandma Moses: A Good Day’s Work”, folk art was seen as a genuinely American art form, and Kallir believed Grandma Moses’s work was “quintessentially American”. Grandma Moses came into the spotlight during a time of increased interest in self-taught artists, whom the art world often labeled “modern primitives”. Moses recognized the pejorative nature of the term, and mentioned in a letter to Louis Caldor that neighbors were questioning her ability to read and write.
Grandma Moses became a significant figure in popular culture during her career. Her work was reproduced on Hallmark greeting cards, plates, and drapery fabrics. Grandma Moses’s popularity grew following the end of World War II. Her paintings appealed to postwar nostalgia, and American audiences were drawn to her idyllic scenes of the country’s pre-industrial, rural past. Despite her popularity, Grandma Moses was still an outsider in the art world. Her commercial success led critics to classify her work as “low” art or kitsch, and contemporary artists such as Norman Rockwell were similarly derided for being too commercialized.
In 1960 Moses was commissioned to create illustrations for Clement C. Moore’s poem “The Night Before Christmas”. In 1969, eight years after her death, Grandma Moses’s work was featured on a stamp in the American Folklore series alongside mythologized figures including Johnny Appleseed, Davy Crockett, and Daniel Boone. The stamp features a detail from Moses’s 1951 painting “July Fourth”, which was given to the White House in 1952. Moses’s work represented idealized visions of America’s past, and by the end of her career Grandma Moses was firmly cemented in American cultural imagination.
Previous AA/PG Exhibitions Events and Announcements:
150 Years of American Art: Selected Items from the Art Students League of New York Artist File Donation
Introduction
For 150 years the Art Students League of New York (ASL) has cultivated, produced, and supported generations of American artists. Beyond education, the ASL provided a space for artists to build a solid network of peers who formed lifelong relationships centered around the common interest to create and enjoy art. These relationships are evident in the ASL Artist Files. The materials in the Artist Files consists mainly of the files of Ralph Mayer, a painter, conservator, and author of The Artist’s Handbook of Materials and Techniques and Lawrence Campbell, artist, critic, and editor of the ASL’s newsletter. The files contain a wealth of ephemera about lesser-known artists and art institutions, as well as rare primary source materials that provided new context to well-known artists.
Letters to Larry Campbell
Many alumni sent materials to Larry Campbell to update him and the League on their careers. The ASL Artist File donation includes some letters to Larry that provide insight into the lives of the artists as well as their relationship with Larry and the ASL. Ray Johnson, famous for his mail art, sent Larry several letters or “collages” in decorated envelopes that included his opinions on current art topics and events. One letter even includes a ripped piece of paper pulled from a book. Frank Hanley, known for drawing cartoons for periodicals including Judge and The New Yorker, dropped his letter off at Larry’s office while he was retrieving a copy of his member card. Frank’s letter was casual, showing a level of familiarity, and described Frank’s day so far. Frank included a xerox of a biography about himself as well as a small comic he illustrated for the Anti-Defamation League called Adam’s Child. Philip Guston sent Larry a letter in appreciation of a discussion they had at the “Gugg” and included a recent exhibition catalog. The letter reveals that Larry’s words had a positive effect on Guston during a time when the artist was burdened by harsh critiques of his art style. These letters provide a candid view into these relationships between teacher, student, artist, and staff as well as a peak into the climate of the art world at the time.
Institutional Events, Catalogs, and Newsletters
The ASL file collection included promotional and informational materials about the League. These items help researchers learn more about the history of the school administration and their interaction with students and the public. The League provided a vast array of art classes, often taught by expert artists. The class schedules, often noting who was teaching the classes as a point of interest, were sometimes listed in small pamphlets produced yearly or seasonally for current or potential students to refer to. Administration items like a school constitution were printed and distributed as well, perhaps in an effort to keep staff and students aware of their rights. As expected from an art school, invitations and announcements, like the announcements to the ASL Scholarship Ball, were decorated with eye-catching graphics to pull audiences to their events. Newsletters and magazines were produced to announce exciting events at the school, feature current or affiliated artists, and provide information about any changes at the League. These publications were used to keep in touch with members and to attract new students. While these objects may not seem as valuable as a letter from a famous artist or an illustrated catalog, they still provide an opportunity to view how the League operated and the ways that they may have evolved over time.
Teachers, Students, and Models
Many alumni from the ASL were proud to proclaim the teachers that they studied under as a badge of honor, associating themselves to talented teachers and classmates. Noting their education lineage could potentially aid students in entering a network of established artists, which would help them navigate the art world. It seems evident that some teachers truly enjoyed their employment there, as some worked at the League for decades, practically their whole careers. For instance, Frank Dumond taught at the League for almost 60 years, and we can follow his career through some of the items in the ASL collection. His file contained a small blue informational booklet describing the classes he taught as well as photos of him in the classroom. After his death the League celebrated his long life and career with a dedicated newsletter as well as a memorial exhibition with a pamphlet catalog. Another former teacher, Richard Mayhew, was a student at the League. Before he started teaching at the League, he served as Edwin Dickinson’s “monitor” for his classes which ultimately led Mayhew to become a teacher at the League and at other schools.[1] The Artist File collection holds what seems to be Mayhew’s request to become a teacher including his resume. Mayhew would teach at the League from 1965 to 1971. Lee Krasner was student at the League in 1928 and took a class with teacher George Bridgman who specialized in anatomical art. Krasner’s file in the ASL collection is full of materials including exhibition announcements and catalogs. While not as well-noted as the artists from the League, the files also contained ephemera about people associated with the school such as the models. One model in particular was Maurice Hunter. Hunter was a popular Black model who modelled for many prominent artists of his time, such as Norman Rockwell. Known as the “Man of 1,000 Faces” Hunter promoted himself through newspaper interviews when no model agencies would take him due to his race. Around 1922, Hunter modelled at the Art Students League, essentially starting his modelling career, and as many of the artists who hired Hunter were employed by major companies, Hunter’s visage was seen by millions through advertisements in magazines and on billboards.[2] Hunter’s artist file included a photo of him accepting an award from the Artist’s Model Board and a 1962 article announcing an exhibition honoring him at the Schomburg. The ASL and those who maintained the artist files took great care to monitor the careers of their teachers, students, staff, and alumni, and would promote them when possible, using the information from the items in these files. Whether it was a hefty catalog from a blockbuster museum exhibition or a newspaper clipping announcing an exhibition in local library, the meticulous curation of these files illustrates the sincere relationships formed at the League.
Art Students League Files at the American Art and Portrait Gallery Library
As the files have been processed, and add to the AAPG Library’s Art and Artist File collection, it has become clear how influential the Art Students League of New York has been to the narrative of American Art. The extent that the materials from the League have impacted patron research at the Smithsonian is immeasurable. The comprehensive care behind the collection and maintenance of these files has ensured that these materials are a highlight of our Artist Files collection and we strive to continue this same approach at the AAPG Library.
[1] Richard Mayhew, “Richard Mayhew: Painting Mindscapes and Searching for Sensitivity,” interview by Bridget Cooks and Amanda Tewes, in 2019, Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
[2] Clare Corbould, “Race, Photography, Labor, and Entrepreneurship in the Life of Maurice Hunter, Harlem’s ‘Man of 1,000 Faces,’” Radical History Review 2018, no. 132 (October 1, 2018): 147, https://doi.org/10.1215/01636545-6942465.
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Smithsonian AA/PG Library reopens for public appointments:
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The AA/PG Library closed and under renovation through 2021:
Smithsonian Libraries plans a much-needed renovation of the American Art & Portrait Gallery Library to improve scholarly research and collaboration for Smithsonian staff, researchers and the public. A redesigned, open reading room will offer additional space for staff and researchers to work, incorporating both quiet and collaborative areas. A redesigned circulation and reference desk will provide a welcoming entry point and enable library staff to monitor public use of books and materials. A newly constructed conference and training room will provide a tech-friendly, comfortable space for public programs and trainings. See more about this exciting project here.
In 2021, you can help AA/PG build the state-of-the-art 21stcentury home it deserves by donating here and inserting “AA/PG renovation” in the comment box.
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AA/PG Annual Art, History, and Biography Booksale Cancelled for 2020-21.
The AA/PG Library remains closed in fall 2020-21 to support the effort to contain the spread of COVID-19. Our staff continues to work remotely and can respond to inquiries related to our library collections through AAPGLibrary@si.edu
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AA/PG Annual Art, History, and Biography Booksale
10:00am-5:00pm on December 4, 5, and 6, 2019.
AA/PG Library, Victor Building 750 9th Street NW, Suite 2100. 202-633-8230
Right in time for the holidays! Open to all.
Over 2,000 books, catalogs, and magazines to choose from at prices at half of what others offer! Titles featuring art from all periods, history, biography, and more.
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Exhibition: The Other Woodstock: Woodstock Artists in the 20th Century.
On view in the AA/PG Library Reading Room October 2019-January 2020
Though it didn’t host the eponymous music festival, Woodstock had been home to a thriving art colony since the early 1900s. The Smithsonian American Art and Portrait Gallery Library has a wealth of ephemera documenting the arts and culture of Woodstock from the 1900s-1960s. Read more about the history and material on display on our blog:
https://blog.library.si.edu/blog/2019/08/16/the-other-woodstock
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Exhibition: A Temple of the Useful Arts: Highlights from the History of the Patent Office Building.
Read more on the Smithsonian Libraries blog: https://blog.library.si.edu/blog/2018/05/11/a-temple-of-the-useful-arts-highlights-from-the-history-of-the-patent-office-building
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Exhibition: Igniting Artistic Consciousness: Ephemera of Twentieth Century Instructors of the Art Students League of New York
The AA/PG Library received the donation of ephemera for more than 3,000 artists from the Art Students League of New York (ASL) in January 2017.
Curated by Smithsonian Libraries & Katzenberger Internship award recipient Michelle Ibarra, we have selected some of the most interesting items related to teachers at the League. On view in the Library Reading Room August-December, 2017.
Related event:
Photo: R. B. Hale Class, ASL no. 623, Photo by Jacob Burckhardt
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Exhibition: "William Henry Holmes: The Glorious Scrapheap"
"William Henry Holmes: The Glorious Scrapheap" features items from the American Art & Portrait Gallery Library Special Collections related to the tenure of the first director of the Smithsonian's National Gallery of Art. Bound scrapbooks, clippings, photographs, artwork and written letters trace Holmes' early days as staff artist for the Smithsonian Institution, to his travels on western expeditions, his time as foremost anthropologist and head of the Bureau of American Ethnology, to his directorship of the first art gallery of the Smithsonian.
On view from April - August, 2017. See the Using the Library page for hours and directions.
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Significant donation from the Art Students League of New York
The Smithsonian Libraries is pleased to announce the February 2017 donation of research ephemera for more than 4,000 artists from the Art Students League of New York (ASL), to be housed at the American Art Museum and Portrait Gallery (AA/PG) Library.
The gift consists of secondary source material on the lives and careers of artists affiliated with the Art Students League as students, instructors, and board members, with particular strength in artists active in the mid-twentieth century. The nucleus of the collection began as the reference files of Ralph Mayer, painter, conservator, and author of The Artist’s Handbook of Materials and Techniques. The files were heavily supplemented by noted art critic, artist and unofficial historian of the ASL, Lawrence Campbell, and were maintained in part to produce the League’s annual catalog and newsletters between 1948 and 1995.
More information on this donation can be found on the Smithsonian Libraries blog. Art and Artist File Material may be consulted on site, and names are indexed in the online Art and Artist Files database.
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Exhibition: Hard-edged, bright color: The Washington Color School
With the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s upcoming exhibition, Gene Davis: Hot Beat, the American Art and Portrait Gallery (AA/PG) Library is hosting a complementary exhibition of ephemera showcasing a group known as the Washington Color Painters. Also known as the Washington Color School, they a group of artists working in Washington, D.C. during the 1950s and 1960s who began experimenting with pure color painting, consequently putting the capital city on the American art stage. The Washington Color School typically refers to six painters: Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, Gene Davis, Thomas Downing, Howard Mehring, and Paul Reed. The AA/PG Library is featuring ephemera from the Art & Artist Files collection for these artists, and many more, including Alma Thomas, Anne Truitt, V.V. Rankine, Hilda Thorpe, Sam Gilliam and Leon Berkowitz.
October 2016 - March 2017
The exhibition is accompanied by a short series of blog posts:
- HARD-EDGED, BRIGHT COLOR: THE WASHINGTON COLOR SCHOOL.
- HARD-EDGED, BRIGHT COLOR: PURE COLOR.
- HARD-EDGED, BRIGHT COLOR: GENERATIONS OF COLOR.
- HARD-EDGED, BRIGHT COLOR: BEYOND THE END.
—“Hard-Edged, Bright Color” was produced by Angelique Roy. Roy was the 2016 ARLIS/NA Wolfgang Freitag Internship Award recipient, and completed her internship at the Smithsonian American Art and Portrait Gallery Library.
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Exhibition: FROM CHARLIE PARKER TO POTATO CHIP PORTRAITS: EXHIBITION OF RECENTLY ACQUIRED ARTISTS’ BOOKS
May - September 2016
The Smithsonian American Art and Portrait Gallery (AA/PG) Library presents an exhibition of some of its recently acquired artists’ books in the Library’s Reading Room.
The artworks show a range of subjects, from the very personal, family stories, to the cult of celebrity. The examples range from mass-produced publications to unique, hand-made book works, created by artists including Sophie Arnold, John Baldessari, Emily Chaplain, Virginia Flynn and Joe Freedman, Jessie Nebraska Gifford and Esther K. Smith, Mar Goman, Karen Hanmer, Cheri Gaulke and Sue Maberry, Kerry McAleer-Keeler, Scott McCarney, Michael Peven, David Stairs, Josephine Stealey, Mungo Thomson, and Beata Wehr.
More information about the exhibition can be found at: FROM CHARLIE PARKER TO POTATO CHIP PORTRAITS: EXHIBITION OF RECENTLY ACQUIRED ARTISTS’ BOOKS
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Exhibition: Come Together: American Artists Respond to Al-Mutanabbi Street
February 1 – March 30, 2016
Reception February 1, 5-7 pm
750 9th Street NW, Suite 2100
Washington, D.C. 20001
In conjunction with the "Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here DC 2016" book arts and cultural festival
January-March, 2016 http://www.amsshdc2016.org/
More information on the project and exhibition can be found on the Smithsonian Global website: https://global.si.edu/projects/al-mutanabbi-street-starts-here
Pictured: "The Cycle of Censorship" Dina Scheel, 2012"
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Exhibition: Field of Vision: Landscape in the Artist’s Book
The Smithsonian Institution Libraries is proud to announce its newest display of artists’ books, titled “Field of Vision: Landscape in the Artist’s Book,” installed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery Library. The display of over 15 artist-made books incorporates examples from the collections of the Warren M. Robbins Library at the National Museum of African Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum & National Portrait Gallery Library, as well as the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library. The books reflect ways in which artists have responded to the world around them, from places they have lived in, travelled to, or only imagined. Books by artists such as Vito Acconci, Susan Allix, Tacita Dean, Edgar Heap of Birds, Richard Long, and Edward Ruscha are featured. The books range from commercially printed volumes, to handmade examples and encompass a period from the late 1960s up through to the last decade. The show will be on view through February 2014.
Please join us October 25, 2013 for A Wikipedia Loves Libraries Editathon at the Smithsonian AA/PG Library, focusing on American Artists at the World's Columbian Exposition. 
Please check out the Smithsonian Libraries blog for collections highlights and news from the AA/PG Library!
http://blog.library.si.edu/tag/aapg-library/
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