RECASTING THE PAST

The Smithsonian explores how American sculpture has shaped the ways generations visualize and conceptualize

- John O'Hern

Daniel Chester French (1850-1931), Maquette: Personification of “America” for Four Continents, U.S. Custom House, ca. 1907. Plaster and metal, 75/8 x 6¼ x 67/8 in. Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Gift from the Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., is home to the largest collection of American sculpture in the world. The last major public survey of American sculpture was 50 years ago. The museum’s current exhibition, The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture, is the result of exhaustive research and collaboration among a number of institutions and scholars. It “examines the role of American sculpture, from the 19th century to today, in understanding and constructing the concept of race in the United States and how this medium has shaped the way generations have learned to visualize and think about race.”