Highlights from the American Art Museum in DC

Electronic Superhighway, Nam June Paik, 1996; each state is represented by video footage reflecting the artist's personal associations with the place (ie Atlanta Olympics, Wizard of Oz in Kansas and Waco tragedy for Texas)

Niagara, Frederic Edwin Church, 1857; this work was considered the finest landscape painting of its day; one critic even referred to the painting as the eighth wonder of the world (this is way before the Astrodome!)

Woman Eating, Duane Hanson, 1971; OMG, this woman looked so real!!!; this artist is known for his super-realistic sculptures that often baffle viewers as to whether the figures are real or artificial

Gallery of the Louvre, Samuel FB Morse, 1833; after having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system and co-developed Morse code

The Smithsonian American Art Museum holds one of the world's largest and most inclusive collections of art, from the colonial period to the present, made in the US; it occupies the 1867 Old Patent Office Building

Market Day Outside the Walls of Tangiers, Morocco, Louis Comfort Tiffany, 1873; inspired by Mark Twain, Tiffany was one of the first Americans to paint scenes from North Africa (despite the great painting, he's better known for his stained glass)

Among the Sierra Nevada, California, Albert Bierstadt, 1868; this painting is 6 ft by 10 ft and was exhibited throughout Europe, creating interest in immigration to the US; the artist himself immigrated from Germany to the US

Hibiscus with Plumeria, Georgia O'Keeffe, 1939; as a guest of Dole Pineapple Co., the artist traveled to Hawaii to paint tropical flora for an ad campaign; I like this work better than her SW pieces

View of the Lower Falls, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Grafton Tyler Brown, 1890; this painter was the first known African-American artist to prominently feature landscapes of the West; Lee and I enjoyed the view from the exact same spot recently

Achelous and Hercules, Thomas Hart Benton, 1947; this huge painting is full of imagery as the Kansas City native saw Greek mythology as a parable for his beloved Midwest

Cape Cod Morning, Edward Hopper, 1950; the museum had 1.7 million visitors last year and contained plenty of masterpieces; you could easily spend all day enjoying the different exhibits as well as the permanent collection

Grandma Moses Goes to the Big City, Grandma Moses, 1946; Moses published her autobiography My Life’s History in 1952 at 92 years old; when Moses died at 101, she had 9 grandchildren and 30+ great grandchildren;

Caparena Figure, Clarence and Grace Woolsey, 1961; this couple spent a decade creating sculptures out of bottle caps; today, Woolsey sculptures have sold individually for $5,000 and more

Godly Susan, Roger Medearis, 1941; the artist, who studied under Thomas Hart Benton, painted this portrait of his grandmother shortly before her death; I thought it was exceptional

Untitled, Ulysses Davis, 1950; the artist carved this relief sculpture for his wife; the museum had an extensive collection of folk art

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Thomas Moran, 1901; the artist is famous for his paintings of the unpeopled West which had the unintended effect of driving tourism and displacing indigenous peoples

Cho-Looke, The Yosemite Fall, Albert Bierstadt, 1864; Abraham Lincoln set aside Yosemite as a protected reserve in the same year this work was painted; Bierstadt and Frederic Church were the foremost landscape painters of this era