The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) is one of the most misunderstood art museums in the DC area for its attachment to the National Portrait Gallery. The National Portrait Gallery is well known for displaying the Presidential Portraits, along with photographs, portraits, and busts of other important figures from US history. As they are attached, most visitors do not understand that SAAM is separate from the National Portrait Gallery. However, SAAM should not be overlooked, especially for families of color. As I have already mentioned numerous times throughout this series, children enjoy viewing themselves as the hero/leader. They also connect more with other children than with adults. This article will explore how the museum seeks to display pieces that showcase BIPOC girls in a way that can empower and engage other girls of color to advocate for change in social justice issues.
Slightlines: Chinatown and Beyond is a new temporary exhibit for SAAM that features various art pieces that highlight the imprint of Asian Americans on the physical and cultural terrain of Washington, DC. Since the museum is located in Chinatown, it feels fitting to have an exhibit that “highlights the stories of cultural production that interpret elements of Chinese, Korean, and Javanese culture or express coalition Asian American and BIPOC identities” (SAAM). Visiting the exhibit feels like the museum staff is paying homage to the unseen people who make Chinatown a unique place influenced by all aspects of the Asian American culture and traditions like martial arts, architectural styles, and visual street art like a recreation of a mural that showcases Asian American girls alongside other BIPOC girls participating in a Black Lives Matter protests advocating against hate of BIPOC people in Washington, DC. BIPOC girl visitors can see themselves in this mural and understand that they too can enact change just like the girls in the mural.
Experience America is an ongoing exhibit at SAAM that explores how the 1930s was a heady time for artists in America as through President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs; the federal government paid them to create art pieces that captured the beauty of the landscape, the industry of America’s working people, and a sense of community shared in towns large and small despite the Great Depression (SAAM). This exhibit includes an art piece called School’s Out, created by Allan Rohan Crite, that sees children and their guardians walking out of the school. The children look to be of all races; however, there are more black and other POC children than white children. In an exhibit filled with paintings and sculptures featuring white people, this painting stood out to me as it showcases the life of POC children in the 1930s who look more “normal” than how people of color are known to have been viewed by society in the 1930s. According to the museum’s website, “Although Crite acknowledged that School’s Out may reflect a romanticized view, it also presents a universal statement about community, stability, and the bonds of family life” (SAAM). To Crite’s point, showcasing a romanticized view of life without racism can empower and engage girls of color to view a world that could view children of all races and ethnicities as the same.
I do not have a background in art history, I am not entirely sure if my analysis of these pieces is similar to scholars. However, it has been hard to find research on how art can be analyzed for children. My analysis is based on the research of children in museums. These two examples showcase how a museum can include more engaging and empowering pieces for children to think about how they can be the hero. Though this may be more apparent in the mural than in the painting, both pieces view a society that, through activism against social justice issues, can be a reality. As art museums do not have as many interactives as history and science museums, there needs to be more acknowledgement for displaying pieces that can engage them in ways that they enjoy engaging in a museum space.
References:
“Sightlines: Chinatown and Beyond.” Smithsonian American Art Museum, americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/sightlines-chinatown. Accessed 6 Nov. 2024.
“Experience America.” Smithsonian American Art Museum, americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/experience-america. Accessed 6 Nov. 2024.
-Lindsay Guarnieri
Junior Girl, Curatorial
Girl Museum