Culture Watch

The museum features a series of openings — 'lenses' — throughout the exhibition spaces that frame views of the Washington Monument, the White House and other Smithsonian museums on the National Mall. These framed perspectives remind visitors that the museum presents a view of American through the lens of the African American experience. "Save Our African American Treasures" is one of the museum's signature programs. more »

Art meets fashion October 6th through 8th, 2016, when 80 master designers come to Washington DC’s National Building Museum for a Craft2Wear show and sale of hand-crafted wearable arts. Returning artists — all previously juried into the Smithsonian Craft Show — are joined by a group of first-in-show designers recommended by California College of the Arts,The Fashion Institute of Technology, Pratt Institute, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Savannah School of Art and Design and the DC Fashion Foundation. more »

Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War is an account of a daring rescue mission that occurred on the precipice of World War II. It tells the story of Waitstill and Martha Sharp, a Unitarian minister and his wife from Wellesley, Massachusetts, who left their children behind in the care of their parish and boldly committed to multiple life-threatening missions in Europe. Over two dangerous years they helped to save hundreds of imperiled political dissidents and Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazi occupation across Europe. more »

Sargent carefully staged his stylishly dressed sitters against 18th century French furniture and architectural elements. The animated Mrs. Meyer is posed just to the right of center at the edge of a canapé. She wears a dress of satin, velvet, and organdy which may have been supplied by Worth in Paris. A rope of oriental pearls drapes across her prominently featured bodice, touching the tips of her shoes. more »