Celebrating 70 Years of the Smithsonian Archives of American Art

On Oct. 29, the Smithsonian Archives of American Art held its annual gala at Rockefeller Center’s Rainbow Room. This year marked the 70th anniversary of the institution, a leader in the preservation of ephemera around the creation of visual arts in the U.S. Guests began with a cocktail hour both inside the venue and along its sky-high outdoor terrace before settling into the grand dining room, where poet and playwright Marc Bamuthi Joseph regaled guests with a reading of his poem “Waves and Bridges” paired with a dance performance by Maleek Washington and choreographed by Francesca Harper, Alvin Ailey II’s artistic director,. George Frederick Mead Merck, chair of the Archives of American Art’s advisory board of trustees, awarded artist Richard Tuttle with the Archives of American Art medal. Former Hammer Museum director Ann Philbin, who recently retired after 25 years, received the Lawrence A. Fleischman Award for Scholarly Excellence in the Field of American Art History. Thomas Jean Lax, the curator of the Department of Media and Performance at MoMA, accepted an Archives of American Art Medal award on behalf of conceptual and performance artist Senga Nengudi. The gala also honored philanthropist Alice Walton, the Terra Foundation for American Art, The Henry Luce Foundation, the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation and others. Notables in attendance included Richard Tuttle, Ann Philbin, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Marianne Boesky, Clifford Ross, George Frederick Mead Merck, Thomas Jean Lax, and more. Photos by Rupert Ramsay and Madeleine Thomas/BFA.