Description: "The Smithsonian American Art Museum, home to one of the country's finest collections of American art, is housed in the building that once served as the United States Patent Office, a nineteenth-century clearinghouse for patents on inventions. It seems appropriate that an art museum, dedicated to collecting and preserving the nation's artistic creativity, has found a home in the very building that promoted innovation early in the nation's history. And innovation is still the watchword: For the past six years, the landmark building underwent extensive renovation, allowing the Museum to expand its gallery spaces - and its capacity - to present its collections to the American people." "America's Art is published on the occasion of the Museum's reopening and gathers 225 of its best works, culled from a collection of forty thousand objects. Like the Museum's renovation, this catalogue embraces a bit of innovation itself. The book broadly sketches periods in America's history - from the colonial period and Revolution through the Civil War, to the Gilded Age, World War II, and modern art - to create a vibrant portrait of creativity, reflection, and celebration."--BOOK JACKET.

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