Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

DC Art Association - First Annual Exhibition

Members of the District of Columbia Art Association display artwork, including sculptures and paintings in oil, watercolor, and acrylic.

June 1, 1969 – June 30, 1969

Anacostia Community Museum

The Rat: Man's Invited Affliction

Rats pose a challenge globally and locally, including in Washington, DC.

November 16, 1969 – January 25, 1970

Anacostia Community Museum

DC Art Association - Second Annual Exhibition

Members of the District of Columbia Art Association display artwork, including sculptures and paintings in oil, watercolor, and acrylic.

April 12, 1970 – May 3, 1970

Anacostia Community Museum

Lorton Reformatory: Beyond Time

Residents of Lorton Reformatory use their time in the corrections facility to pursue education, vocational training, artwork, crafts, musical performances, and dramatic plays.

October 11, 1970 – November 1, 1970

Anacostia Community Museum

DC Art Association - Exhibition 1971

Members of the District of Columbia Art Association display artwork, including sculptures and paintings in oil, watercolor, and acrylic.

May 2, 1971 – June 20, 1971

Anacostia Community Museum

The Evolution of a Community, Part 1: 1608-1955

Witness the history of Anacostia, a neighborhood in southeast Washington, DC, from 1608 until shortly after World War II, as drawn from interviews with longtime residents.

February 27, 1972 – August 31, 1972

Anacostia Community Museum

The Evolution of a Community, Part 2: 1955-Present

Witness the history of Anacostia, a neighborhood in southeast Washington, DC, from post-World War II through the present.

September 1, 1972 – December 31, 1972

Anacostia Community Museum

DC Art Association - Exhibition '73

Members of the District of Columbia Art Association display artwork, including sculptures and paintings in oil, watercolor, and acrylic.

January 14, 1973 – February 18, 1973

Anacostia Community Museum

Anacostia Today: The Evolution of a Community, Part 2: Continued

Originally shown in 1972 as part of Museum’s fifth anniversary, this exhibit continues its focus on five major topics of deep concern to the residents of Anacostia, a neighborhood in southeast Washington, DC.

March 1, 1973 – July 31, 1973

Anacostia Community Museum

Africa: Three Out of Many: Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria

See art objects and other artifacts relating to religion and everyday life in these countries.

September 15, 1973 – December 22, 1973

Anacostia Community Museum

Barnett-Aden Collection: 100 Years of Multi-Ethnic Art

See about 100 paintings and sculptures on loan from this important collection.

January 20, 1974 – May 6, 1974

Anacostia Community Museum

Student Art from District of Columbia Public Schools

View more than a hundred works, including paintings, wire sculptures, paper mache, silkscreens, photographs, and etchings from elementary and secondary schools.

June 1, 1974 – July 2, 1974

Anacostia Community Museum

The Message Makers

Examine the media --radio, television, newspaper and film--and, more specifically, the decision-making process utilized in the selection of a message, its impact on the lives of people in general and black people in particular.

August 11, 1974 – October 27, 1974

Anacostia Community Museum

DC Art Association - Exhibition 1974-75

Members of the District of Columbia Art Association display artwork, including sculptures and paintings in oil, watercolor, and acrylic.

November 17, 1974 – January 29, 1975

Anacostia Community Museum

Blacks in the Westward Movement

Historical and biographical materials show, in a western environment, Blacks in all phases of life--explorers, settlers, wranglers, trail bosses, soldiers, government agents, rustlers and con men.

February 9, 1975 – June 1, 1975

Anacostia Community Museum

East Bank Artists

The Anacostia Neighborhood Museum creates a communal space for artists working east of the Anacostia River in Washington, DC to share their work.

June 15, 1975 – August 24, 1975

Anacostia Community Museum

Blacks in the Westward Movement

View historical and biographical materials that illustrate the role of Blacks as explorers, settlers, wranglers, trail bosses, soldiers, government agents, rustlers, and con men in the western expansion of the U.S.

September 14, 1975 – January 4, 1976

Anacostia Community Museum

John N. Robinson: A Retrospective

John N. Robinson began to paint at the age of twelve and studied art with Professors James V. Herring and James A. Porter at Howard University. In the late 1920s, he moved from northwest Washington, DC to Anacostia, a neighborhood in the city’s southeast. Inspired by daily life in Anacostia, he painted family, neighbors, landscapes and lilacs. The Anacostia Neighborhood Museum presents this retrospective in cooperation with the Corcoran Gallery of Art, part of the Corcoran’s Bicentennial year series featuring the work of Washington, DC artists. The exhibition will be at the Corcoran Gallery of Art from June 18 through July 30, 1976.

May 9, 1976 – June 13, 1976

Anacostia Community Museum

Black Women: Achievement Against the Odds

Learn about black women whose accomplishments have changed our lives, from 1700 to 1977.

February 8, 1976 – January 2, 1977

Anacostia Community Museum

Flags of Famous Black Military Units

View reproductions of 7 flags representing the participation of blacks in U.S. military forces from the American Revolution through World War II.

February 13, 1977 – March 31, 1977

Anacostia Community Museum

The Anacostia Story: 1608-1930

Follow the history and development of Anacostia, a neighborhood in southeast Washington, DC from pre-1608 to 1930.

March 6, 1977 – January 8, 1978

Anacostia Community Museum

The Frederick Douglass Years

See 42 panels that trace the life and times of Frederick Douglass, the "Sage of Anacostia", as a slave, in the Abolitionist Movement, through the Civil War and Reconstruction, and as an elder statesman.

February 12, 1978 – April 2, 1978

Anacostia Community Museum

Phil Ratner's Washington

Artist and art teacher Phil Ratner creates drawings, sculptures, and portraits to honor his hometown of Washington, DC. His students at Anacostia High School contribute drawings and a mural to the exhibition.

April 16, 1978 – August 27, 1978

Anacostia Community Museum

DC Art Association - Exhibition '78

Members of the District of Columbia Art Association display artwork, including sculptures and paintings in oil, watercolor, and acrylic. Student work from Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Wilkinson Elementary School is also on display.

September 15, 1978 – November 12, 1978

Anacostia Community Museum

Children of South Africa

View 21 photographs by contemporary photo-journalist Peter Magubane.

October 15, 1979 – December 31, 1979

Anacostia Community Museum