
D.C. Artists
Washington, DC, has always been home to vibrant communities of artists. Photographers like Mathew B. Brady and Addison Scurlock documented political leaders and local life. The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design and Howard University cultivated generations of artists, including members of the abstract Washington Color School.
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Video: How One Family Photographed a Black Renaissance
Art historian Rashieda Witter tells the story of the Scurlock Family, who photographed some of the artists and creatives responsible for the Black Renaissance in Washington, D.C.

Video: Photograph Like a Great: Dorothea Lange
Washington, D.C. artist and native Dee Dwyer attempts to recreate the emotion and impact of Dorothea Lange's memorable photographs in her own work.

Video: D.I.Y. Art: Mosaic Inspired by Alma Thomas
Watch and learn how to make mosaics inspired by Alma Thomas's 1969 work Autumn Drama.

Video: Oddly Satisfying: Kinetic Sand Inspired by Sam Gilliam
Watch and listen as Sam Gilliam’s 1965 Shoot Six inspires new shapes, colors, and forms through the mesmerizing cutting, scooping, and squishing of kinetic sand.

Video: Oddly Satisfying: Slime Art Inspired by Leon Berkowitz
Watch and listen as Leon Berkowitz’s Coronation and Untitled inspire new shapes, colors, and forms through the ooey gooey goodness of slime.

Video: D.I.Y. Art: Mosaics Inspired by Alma Thomas
Watch and learn how to make mosaics inspired by Alma Thomas's 1969 work Pansies in Washington.

Article: Alma Thomas’s Tiptoe Through the Tulips in Living Color
Author and art historian Katy Hessel on the abstract artist's love for flowers.

Video: How to Create an Alma Thomas Collage for Kids
Learn how to create an Alma Thomas-inspired collage for kids.

Video: Alma Thomas: Your New Favorite Artist
In this short video, Michelle Obama and others share why Alma Thomas and her art continue to inspire.

Article: Alma Thomas: Life in Washington
Find out where artist the abstract painter was born, went to school, and lived.

Video: Guided Meditation: Color in Leon Berkowitz’s "Coronation"
Plunge into a field of color in this short, guided meditation on Leon Berkowitz’s atmospheric painting Coronation.

Video: Anne Truitt in Washington: A Conversation with James Meyer and Alexandra Truitt
James Meyer, curator of art, 1945–1974, National Gallery of Art, speaks with Alexandra Truitt, independent photo editor and picture researcher, and manager, Estate of Anne Truitt.
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Photography
Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre was the first to permanently record an image using light in 1837. His daguerreotype changed the way we consume images. Many innovations like stereographic photographs and tintypes would follow but it was George Eastman’s invention of the Kodak film camera in 1888 that made cameras widely available.