Assembled from the museum’s extensive 20th-century holdings, “Artist to Artist” features eight pairings: Miguel Luciano and Juan Sánchez, George Tooker and Paul Cadmus, Loïs Mailou Jones and Elizabeth Catlett, Frank O’Hara and Grace Hartigan, Yasuo Kuniyoshi and Bumpei Usui, Thomas Hart Benton and Jackson Pollock, Joan Brown and Elmer Bischoff, and Ray Yoshida and Christina Ramberg. Each pairing represents two figures whose trajectories intersected at a creatively crucial moment, whether as student and teacher, professional allies, or ardently close friends. Based in common goals or shared life experiences, the personal interactions represented by these works helped shape and sustain American art.
Within this exhibition is “New on View,” an ongoing series of installations that place recently acquired artworks — both gifts and museum purchases — in dialogue with works already in SAAM’s collection. — Smithsonian American Art Museum