Smithsonian American Art Museum

Smithsonian American Art Museum

The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) is dedicated exclusively to the art and artists of the United States. All regions, cultures, and traditions are represented in the museum's collections, research resources, exhibitions, and public programs. (SAAM) has long championed works that were overlooked by many collectors, museums, and art historians. Today, the museum holds a notable array of more than 2,000 works by African American artists.

William H. Johnson studied art in New York and spent a decade in Europe before returning in 1939 to teach at the Harlem Community Art Center. There he adopted a primitive, almost folk style and began to paint scenes of African American life. The spindly limbs, large hands, and oval heads of this farm family resemble forms in African sculpture that Johnson sketched. His subject—sharecroppers working marginal land—is based on memories of Johnson's childhood in rural South Carolina.

Here is a sampling of artwork by some of the artists portrayed in the National Museum of African American History and Culture's inaugural exhibition,Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits. These works are housed in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.