www.americanart.si.edu

This museum is situated in an Empire-style mansion (designed by James Renwick and begun in 1859) near the White House and not far from the Corcoran Gallery. The building itself was once the site of the Corcoran Gallery, and the exterior features the inscription “Dedicated to Art” and an etched portrait of Corcoran. Later, it was used as a courthouse until Jackie Kennedy convinced the Smithsonian Institution to take it over. The museum is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and it highlights craft and design from the nineteenth to the twentieth century.

When you enter its lush interior, restored in late nineteenthcentury grandeur, you'll find yourself in the Grand Salon, which features mauve walls, carved wainscoting, and a large skylight that makes you feel as if you've stepped back in time to the Victorian era. The Grand Salon is home to a number of paintings by minor nineteenth-and twentieth-century painters and two colossal Centennial urns on top of the plush velvet banquettes.

Across the hall from the Grand Salon is an archway that was built to showcase Hiram Powers's highly controversial sculpture Greek Slave, a nude woman in chains considered so scandalous in the nineteenth century that it was shown to groups of men and women on different days of the week. Now Wendal Castle's trompe l'oeil Ghost Clock is displayed in this space (with the Greek Slave on display in the Corcoran Gallery of Art), and it too is a masterpiece, its brilliantly carved wood painted white to resemble a sheet draped over a grandfather clock.

Other rooms in the museum feature outstandingly quirky pieces of American craft and design such as Larry Fuente's Game Fish, made from bright pieces of beads, buttons, coins, game pieces, blocks, magnetized letters, light bulbs, paintbrushes, and even a yo-yo.

The Renwick Gallery is an unexpectedly fun museum in an exquisite setting. Its gift shop features a rich selection of scarves and glass pieces, as well as unique jewelry.

The Renwick Gallery is located one block west of the White House. It is accessible from the Farragut West (Orange or Blue Line) or Farragut North (Red Line) Metro station. Hours of operation are 10 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. Tours are offered weekdays at noon, and on weekends at 1 P.M.