Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Yinka Shonibare Selects: Works from the Permanent Collection

Visit an exhibition, curated by Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare, that explores modes of transportation, from the 16th to the 20th centuries, as both a means of economic advancement and as a leisure time activity.

October 7, 2005 – September 24, 2006

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Wyss Institute Selects

Wyss Institute Selects is the 18th installment in the exhibition series that invites designers, artists, architects and public figures to examine and interpret the museum’s collection.

July 12, 2019 – March 13, 2020

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Writing and Reading

Learn from a range of objects from various periods and cultures that provide a survey of the basic skills of writing and reading.

September 15, 1981 – January 3, 1982

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Wine: Celebration and Ceremony

See more than 350 objects in a major exhibition that documents the impact of wine on the history of design.

June 4, 1985 – October 13, 1985

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Willi Smith: Street Couture

In the first museum exhibition dedicated to American designer Willi Smith (1948–1987), over 200 works by Smith and collaborators will illuminate how the streetwear pioneer broke down social, cultural, and economic boundaries.

March 13, 2020 – October 24, 2021

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

What Could Have Been: Unbuilt Architecture of the 80s

View architectural designs from the 1980s, including drawings and models, of plans that have not been constructed.

July 19, 1988 – October 16, 1988

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Walter Crane: Design for Children

Follow the process of design as it relates to the work of the English book illustrator Walter Crane from 1867 to 1913.

November 2, 1993 – May 1, 1994

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Wallpaper from the Cooper-Hewitt Collection

See some 150 Chinese, European, and American wallcoverings dating from the late17th to the early 20th centuries.

August 12, 1980 – October 26, 1980

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Wall Stories: Children's Wallpaper and Books

Explore the relationship between wallpapers, strongly influenced by literature and popular culture, and books created for children.

October 3, 2008 – April 5, 2009

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Visual Space in Music: Drawings by John De Cesare

See some 50 pencil drawings, notable for their outstanding draftsmanship and use of vibrant color, that express De Cesare's personal theory of the relationship between art and music.

May 1, 1984 – August 5, 1984

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Views of Rome: Drawings and Watercolors from the Vatican Library

See over 80 drawings that trace the physical changes of ancient monuments from the Thomas Ashby collection of the Vatican Library.

August 8, 1989 – October 29, 1989

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Vienna/New York, the Work of Joseph Urban, 1872-1933

See approximately 80 objects of the work of architect and designer Joseph Urban, including original architectural drawings, set models, photographs, and furniture.

November 17, 1987 – March 6, 1988

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Vienna Moderne: An Exhibition of the Arts of the Vienna Workshops

Visit all types of decorative arts, paintings, graphics and architectural drawings, created by the "Vienna Secession", members of the Austrian turn-of-the-century art nouveau movement who questioned the validity of ornamentation.

November 21, 1978 – February 4, 1979

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Versailles: The View from Sweden, Drawings from the National Museum and the Royal Palace, Stockholm

See 120 architectural drawings and related designs demonstrating the impact exerted upon the Swedish royal court by Louis XVI's Versailles.

February 23, 1988 – May 15, 1988

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Urban Documents: 20th-Century American Prints

See 75 architectural prints by 35 artists that represent a range of perception and scope.

May 10, 1983 – September 4, 1983

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Unlimited by Design

Visit an exhibition that presents designs for products and spaces that serve the greatest spectrum of the population: from toddlers to 7-foot-tall basketball players to those who suffer from medical conditions.

November 17, 1998 – March 21, 1999

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer

The largest-ever exhibition of works by graphic design pioneer E. McKnight Kauffer (American, 1890–1954) traces the designer’s transformative role in integrating avant-garde style into modern life.

September 10, 2021 – April 10, 2022

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Underground Images: School of Visual Arts Subway Posters, 1947-1987 (SVA)

View approximately 40 posters commemorating the 40th anniversary of the School of Visual Arts (SVA), the country's largest art school.

July 28, 1987 – November 8, 1987

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Under the Sun: An Outdoor Exhibition of Light

Explore Earth's greatest power source--solar energy--and its potential as a catalyst for design, both practical and visionary.

June 21, 1998 – October 25, 1998

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Two Views of Venice: Canaletto and Menpes

View 46 prints by the artists Canaletto and Mortimer Menpes, that offer intimate and personal views of Venice and its surroundings as well as virtuoso technique and innovation in printmaking.

October 26, 1999 – December 19, 1999

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Treasures of Hungary: Gold & Silver from the 9th to the 19th Century

See some 70 gold and silver objects from the National Museum in Budapest and other Hungarian collections, including spectacular personal jewelry and adornments, elegant domestic tablewares, and major examples of ecclesiastical metalwork.

May 20, 1986 – August 10, 1986

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Treasures from the Collection: The Nancy and Edwin Marks Collection Gallery

Visit an exhibition featuring 70 objects juxtaposed across four the principal collecting departments of the museum.

October 16, 2003 – May 2, 2004

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Toys from the Nuremberg Spielzeug Museum

Delight in more than 75 toys from Nuremberg, an important German toy-manufacturing center since the 14th century. See dolls and doll carriages, doll-houses and their furnishings, blocks, pop-up books, a model railroad, games, mechanical, and optical toys.

March 4, 1986 – May 11, 1986

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Toward Modern Design: Revival and Reform in Applied Arts 1850-1920

View more than 80 examples of ceramics, glass, furniture, wallpapers, books, and jewelry that are featured in this exhibit.

September 27, 1993 – September 11, 1994

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Tools: Extending Our Reach

Can tools be functional and have great design? This exhibition examines the role and significance of tools that span world cultures and histories.

December 12, 2014 – May 25, 2015

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum