Local Color: Washington Painting at Midcentury

Explore the expressive possibilities of color in this special installation of twenty-seven large-scale paintings from SAAM's permanent collection. Local Color: Washington Painting at Midcentury examines the cross influences of Washington, D.C.-based artists between the mid-1950s and mid-1970s when our nation's capital was home to one of the most dynamic artistic communities in the country. Looking beyond the Color School label, this exhibition explores the astonishing breadth of styles and techniques adopted by Washington artists Leon Berkowitz, Gene Davis, Thomas Downing, Sam Gilliam, Fel Hines, Jacob Kainen, Howard Mehring, Paul Reed, and Alma Thomas who were conducting innovative experiments with color and form.

Earth and Sky: Photographs by Barbara Bosworth

Nature's strength, endurance, and fragility are captured in the dynamic work of Barbara Bosworth (b. 1953). Best known for her photographs of National Champion trees—the largest identified example of each species in the United States—Bosworth creates panoramic images using a unique method that combines multiple large-format negatives in a single print. The exhibition, which celebrates a recent gift of the artist's work, will feature forty of Bosworth's photographs, including The Bitterroot River, an extended narrative sequence that deals with loss and recovery, and her most recent color photographs of songbirds and the New England landscape surrounding her home near Boston. Surveying two decades of her photographs, this exhibition reveals an artist who speaks with singular passion and sentiment for the American landscape. Also, check out our Barbara Bosworth slideshow.

Pictured 1st: Jacob Kainen, Cosmo-Queen, 1972, oil on canvas, 66 x 48 1/4 in. (167.7 x 122.5 cm.), Museum purchase

Pictured 2nd: Barbara Bosworth, Artist's Bluff, White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire, 1991, gelatin silver print on paper, 9 5/8 x 15 1/2 in. (24.4 x 39.4 cm), Gift of Haluk Soykan and Elisa Frederickson