The Renwick Gallery, home to the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s craft and decorative arts program, will open to the public Friday, Nov. 13, following a comprehensive two-year renovation. The museum reopens with a refreshed interior aesthetic, restored and newly visible historic features and infrastructural upgrades that preserve the unique historic character of the National Historic Landmark building while updating it for the 21st century. Read the Renwick opening press release here.
The opening exhibition, “WONDER,” features site-specific, gallery-sized installations by nine major contemporary artists, including Maya Lin, Leo Villareal and Janet Echelman. These larger-than-life installations feature surprising materials worked in transformative ways–looming spires constructed from hundreds of thousands of index cards, intricately patterned “wallpaper” made of brightly colored insects and a massive hemlock tree recreated in countless tiny wooden blocks are among the works that explore the future of craft and transform the Renwick itself into an immersive work of art. Read the “WONDER” press release here.
Media are invited to a press preview Tuesday, Nov. 10 from 10 a.m. to noon. Details are available in an advisory. RSVP here.
The Renwick Gallery is the first purpose-built art museum in America and one of the first and finest examples of Second Empire architecture in the country. It was built in 1859 to “encourage American genius” and was hailed as the “American Louvre.” Saved from demolition by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in 1962, it has served as the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s branch museum since 1972. This November marks the third time that the Renwick building has opened as an art museum in three centuries. The reopening will be be accompanied by a series of celebratory public programs and three special publications. 
