A Memorial Site
James D. Dean
1931 – 2024
Artist · Administrator · Champion of Art in the Space Age
Smithsonian Institution · 1974–1980
National Air and Space Museum
In 1974, after twelve years as the founding director of the NASA Fine Arts Program, James Dean joined the staff of the Smithsonian Institution as the first Curator of Art at the National Air and Space Museum. He arrived during a period of intense activity. The new museum building at 6th Street and Independence Avenue SW was under construction; it would open on July 1, 1976, dedicated by President Gerald Ford, on a budget of $40 million, on time and to the day. Dean’s task was to build the art program of an institution that did not yet fully exist.
The NASA Art collection — more than 2,000 works produced by the program Dean had directed since 1962 — was transferred to the new museum in the early 1970s. As Curator of Art, Dean oversaw not only that collection’s installation but the commissioning of the museum’s major permanent works: the vast lobby murals by Robert McCall and Eric Sloane, exterior sculptures by Richard Lippold and Charles Perry, and the design and hanging of the “Flight and the Arts” gallery that would introduce millions of visitors to the relationship between artistic expression and the history of flight.
“Throughout history, we find that some of our most effective art has been that which records significant events. The history of flight is no exception.”
— James Dean, Curator of Art, NASM — The Smithsonian Torch, July 1976
The museum opened to seven million anticipated visitors per year. Dean’s “Flight and the Arts” gallery was its art anchor, housing the NASA collection alongside loans from galleries, private collections, and the artists themselves. Works by Georgia O’Keeffe, Alexander Calder, Jamie Wyeth, Robert Rauschenberg, Lowell Nesbitt, and Washington artists Alma Thomas and Gay Gladding were among those on view. A dedicated science fiction corner — which Dean hoped to one day develop into a full exhibition — gave the gallery an unexpected dimension. The superrealist lobby murals by McCall and Sloane quickly became landmarks: Dean noted that the McCall space mural was already a photo backdrop second in popularity only to the Washington Monument.
In 1975, mid-tenure, Dean was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal for his contributions to the program he had built. He served as Curator of Art until 1980, when he left the Museum to devote himself fully to his own painting — taking a studio at Alexandria’s Torpedo Factory Art Center, where he would work for the next forty years.
The Smithsonian Torch, July 1976
NASM Makes Space For Art — Susan Bliss, The Smithsonian Torch, July 1976
The Smithsonian Institution’s internal newspaper, The Smithsonian Torch, published a special issue in July 1976 to mark the opening of the National Air and Space Museum. Its coverage of the art program centered on Dean, then forty-four, who was interviewed amid the preparations for the new gallery.
“There’s no doubt about where you are,” Dean told the reporter, standing among the construction rubble in the museum’s six-story Independence Avenue lobby. He spoke of the superrealist murals setting a tone for the visitor experience, of the importance of art that records significant events, and of his hope to one day mount an all-science-fiction exhibition. The article noted that Dean was an artist himself, having exhibited locally at the Franz Bader Gallery and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
The piece appeared alongside coverage of the opening ceremonies — presided over by President Ford, Vice President Rockefeller, and Chief Justice Burger — and detailed descriptions of the museum’s 23 galleries, IMAX theater, and Albert Einstein Spacearium.
A Timeline
Dean founds the NASA Fine Arts Program at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC — working with the National Gallery of Art to invite more than 50 artists to document the early space program. He directs the program through Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo.
First major NASA Art Program exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. A second follows in 1969. Both exhibitions subsequently tour the United States and other countries, circulated by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.
Dean joins the Smithsonian Institution as Curator of Art at the National Air and Space Museum — the first person to hold the position. The NASA Art collection of more than 2,000 works is transferred to the museum. Construction of the new building on the National Mall is underway.
Dean is awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal in recognition of his contributions to the NASA Art Program and the development of the museum’s art collection.
The National Air and Space Museum opens July 1, dedicated by President Gerald Ford. Dean’s “Flight and the Arts” gallery opens with the museum, housing the NASA collection alongside major commissions and loans. The museum’s two lobby murals — Robert McCall’s The Space Environment and Eric Sloane’s Earth Flight Environment — were overseen by Dean. The building is designed by Gyo Obata of Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum and faced in Tennessee marble to match the National Gallery of Art across the Mall.
Dean retires from his position as Curator of Art after six years. He takes a studio at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virginia, beginning the final chapter of his career as a full-time working artist.
Smithsonian Institution
Wall of Honor
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center · Chantilly, Virginia
James Dean · Air and Space Friend
Honored by Scott Dean
Foil 62 · Panel 2 · Column 1 · Line 63
The Wall of Honor at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, is a permanent memorial recognizing individuals with a lasting passion for flight. James Dean’s name appears on Foil 62, honored by his son Scott Dean. The Wall of Honor entry records his role as Founding Director of the NASA Art Program, his work with more than 50 artists from 1963 to 1974, and his tenure as Curator of Art at the National Air and Space Museum.
