Smithsonian American Art Museum in Smithsonian Magazined
SAAM's Many Wests Challenges Mythic Conceptions of the American West
Smithsonian Magazine
Now on tour! Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea, a collaboration among SAAM and four partner museums, offers counterviews of “the West” through the eyes of modern and contemporary artists.
Many Wests presents an opportunity to examine previous misconceptions, question racist clichés, and highlight all Americans, including the Black, Indigenous, Asian American, Latinx, and LGBTQ+ communities who also stake a claim in the American West.
The exhibition is the culmination of a deeply collaborative curatorial effort between the five museums and is part of a multi-year initiative made possible by the Art Bridges Foundation.
Article Information
Published July 27, 2021
Page Header Image Credits
Angel Rodríguez-Díaz, The Protagonist of an Endless Story, 1993. Oil on canvas. Collection of Smithsonian American Art Museum. Museum purchase made possible in part by the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool and the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program, 1996.19. © Angel Rodriguez-Diaz, 1993.