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Research fellows share new discoveries about artworks on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) as part of a regular series of gallery talks. On July 31, SAAM received a gift of $2 million from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation to fund a fellowship in modern and contemporary art and related efforts. Image courtesy of SAAM, photo by Charla Jasper

Smithsonian American Art Museum receives $2M gift from Frankenthaler Foundation

Sheila Gibson Stoodley
Sheila Gibson Stoodley
Research fellows share new discoveries about artworks on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) as part of a regular series of gallery talks. On July 31, SAAM received a gift of $2 million from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation to fund a fellowship in modern and contemporary art and related efforts. Image courtesy of SAAM, photo by Charla Jasper
Research fellows share new discoveries about artworks on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) as part of a regular series of gallery talks. On July 31, SAAM received a gift of $2 million from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation to fund a fellowship in modern and contemporary art and related efforts. Image courtesy of SAAM, photo by Charla Jasper

WASHINGTON, DC – On July 31, the Smithsonian American Art Museum announced a $2 million gift from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation that culminates a major campaign to support the museum’s fellowship program, considered the preeminent program for American art scholarship since being founded in 1970. The gift will establish an endowment to support the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation Fellowship in modern and contemporary art and the professional development of fellows at the museum. It is the largest single gift to the campaign and the largest gift ever to the museum’s fellowship program.

The fellowship program is part of the museum’s Research and Scholars Center, dedicated to advancing new scholarship by providing emerging and established scholars with financial support, publication guidance, unparalleled research resources and access to a network of colleagues at the Smithsonian and experts across the field.

To mark the 50th anniversary of its fellowship program in 2020, the museum embarked on a fundraising and awareness campaign to strengthen the program’s future and impact. Other recent contributions to the campaign include gifts from the Wyeth Foundation for American Art to establish, in partnership with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, the Betsy James Wyeth Fellowship in Native American Art for five academic years (2024–2029), and a gift from the artist Audrey Flack to establish the Audrey Flack Short-Term Fellowship, which will contribute to greater equity in the field by supporting researchers whose personal circumstances preclude them from participating in longer-term residencies. Together with support from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, these gifts complete the $10 million goal of the SAAM Fellowship Program 50th Anniversary Campaign.

The first Helen Frankenthaler Foundation Fellowship will be awarded for the 2024–2025 academic year. Applications will open in September and are due by Nov. 1. Information about how to apply will be available on the museum’s website or via email.