Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Contemporary Muslim Fashions

This is the first major museum exhibition to explore the complex and diverse nature of Muslim dress codes worldwide.

February 28, 2020 – July 11, 2021

Nature by Design: Bathing Beautiful

Nature appears throughout Cooper Hewitt’s collection of wallcoverings, which includes designs for the bathroom that beautified the appearance of this everyday domestic space.

June 8, 2019 – March 13, 2020

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Nature by Design: After Icebergs

After Icebergs presents a selection of sketches and studies made by Church that document his first-hand impressions of these majestic forms of floating ice.

November 16, 2019 – March 13, 2020

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Herbert Bayer: Bauhaus Master

Coinciding with the centenary of the founding of the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany, this exhibition presents rare works by the groundbreaking graphic designer Herbert Bayer (1900–1985).

November 16, 2019 – March 13, 2020

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

Nature—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial

Nature addresses the ways designers are exploring sustainable production methods, identifying new ways for protecting future generations, and deepening the understanding of, and relationship with, nature.

May 10, 2019 – January 20, 2020

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Nature by Design: Paisley

Design’s tear-drop shaped motif popularly known as paisley has persisted, and its timeline of design variations reflect a diversity of natural forms.

April 12, 2019 – November 11, 2019

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Iridescence

Objects ranging from ancient to the contemporary show how the optical effects of iridescence have maintained a lasting impact on design.

July 28, 2018 – October 27, 2019

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Nature by Design: Katagami

This exhibition highlights the traditional Japanese craft of katagami: paper stencils carved by master artisans for use in decorating textiles.

March 30, 2019 – October 27, 2019

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Nature by Design: Embroidered and Embellished

Throughout history, designers have observed nature, investigated its materials, and imitated and abstracted its patterns and shapes. A fanciful, romantic, and stylized interpretation of nature embellished men’s waistcoats in 18th-century France.

March 30, 2019 – October 27, 2019

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Scholten & Baijings: Lessons from the Studio

An interactive installation of industrial design from the award-winning Dutch design studio on view in the Process lab, where visitors can explore the studio’s experiments with form, material, and color.

September 14, 2018 – September 2, 2019

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Rebeca Méndez Selects

Artist and designer Rebeca Méndez draws connections across the diverse collections of Cooper Hewitt, the National Museum of Natural History, and the Smithsonian Libraries to explore how culture, design, technology, and the natural world have converged.

October 5, 2018 – June 16, 2019

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Models & Prototypes

Models & Prototypes showcases the exceptional models of staircases donated to Cooper Hewitt by Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw.

December 12, 2014 – May 27, 2019

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Moustiers Ceramics: Gifts from the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Collection

Showcasing nearly 60 works of faience alongside prints and textiles related to the flourishing of this elegant earthenware, the exhibition celebrates the substantial gift of Moustiers ceramics from the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw collection to Cooper Hewitt.

May 20, 2017 – May 27, 2019

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Tablescapes: Designs for Dining

Three distinct table settings from different time periods illuminate how design transforms the ritual of communal dining in response to cultural and social changes.

October 5, 2018 – April 14, 2019

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

The Road Ahead: Reimagining Mobility

The Road Ahead points to several possible futures for our cities and asks audiences to consider how design will improve and expand options for urban transport.

December 14, 2018 – March 31, 2019

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Color Decoded: The Textiles of Richard Landis

Color Decoded celebrates the recent acquisition of six of the master weaver’s most important textiles, installed together with three process drawings and a selection of weavings.

June 9, 2018 – March 17, 2019

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color

Featuring over 190 objects spanning from antiquity to the present, the exhibition reveals how designers apply the theories of the world’s greatest color thinkers to bring order and excitement to the visual world.

May 11, 2018 – March 17, 2019

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

The Senses: Design Beyond Vision

Featuring inclusive interactive installations created in collaboration with contemporary designers and products that enhance life for all, including those with sensory disabilities.

April 13, 2018 – October 28, 2018

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Bob Greenberg Selects

Selections by Bob Greenberg, founder, chairman, and CEO of R/GA, a 2003 National Design Award winner for Communication Design, and a pioneer in the advertising and communications industry.

February 23, 2018 – September 9, 2018

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Access + Ability

The exhibition features more than 70 works, from adaptive clothing and eating implements that assist with daily routines to apps and “smart” technologies that aid in social interactions and navigating the environment.

December 15, 2017 – September 3, 2018

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Hear, See, Play: Designing with Sound

An interactive exploration of how designers use and create sounds to enhance the user experience and give objects human-like personalities.

October 13, 2017 – August 26, 2018

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Passion for the Exotic: Japonism

The exhibition explores how American and European designers, following the opening of Japan to the West in the late 19th century, created objects inspired by Japanese imports and other examples of Eastern design through form, technique, motifs, and materials.

September 9, 2017 – July 22, 2018

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Jewelry of Ideas: Gifts from the Susan Grant Lewin Collection

The exhibition, co-curated by Ursula Ilse-Neuman and Cooper Hewitt, features 150 brooches, necklaces, bracelets and rings, and traces radical developments in jewelry from the mid-20th century to the present.

November 17, 2017 – May 28, 2018

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Ilonka Karasz

One of the most successful American women designers of the early 20th century, Karasz deployed her modern aesthetic to design everything from ceramics and toys to rugs, silver, furniture, and more as seen in her works from the permanent collection.

October 12, 2017 – April 22, 2018

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum