Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Skin: Surface, Substance and Design

See more than 150 objects--an international mix of products, fashion, furniture, architecture and digital media-- that explore the role of "skin" as outer surface and structural form.

May 7, 2002 – September 15, 2002

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Russel Wright: Creating American Lifestyle

Take in this first major retrospective of one of the country's greatest industrial designers and explore the products and ideas developed and marketed by Russel Wright, inventor of a gracious, informal and contemporary approach to the middle-class, mid-century American home.

November 20, 2001 – September 15, 2002

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Rooms with a View: Landscape and Wallpaper

Examine 90 selections of wallpaper--from the 18th to the 20th century--that document changing attitudes toward nature.

April 24, 2001 – October 14, 2001

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Aluminum by Design: Jewelry to Jets

View more than 100 objects that trace aluminum's first appearance in precious and fine jewelry through early modernist uses in architecture and interiors to its present and envisioned role in aeronautics and other major industries.

March 20, 2001 – July 15, 2001

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

The Opulent Eye of Alexander Girard

Discover the work of artist Alexander Girard (1907-1993), one of America's most innovative 20th century designers, who created textiles as well as graphics, interiors, and furnishings that introduced modern design to millions of Americans.

September 12, 2000 – March 18, 2001

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Masterpieces from the Vitra Design Museum: Furnishing the Modern Era

View furniture that highlight the concepts, styles, and materials central to furniture design in the modern era.

October 10, 2000 – February 4, 2001

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

National Design Triennial: Design Culture Now

Visit an exhibition featuring the work of 83 designers that focuses on emerging talent as well as established designers who continue to drive design practice.

March 7, 2000 – August 6, 2000

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

El Nuevo Mundo: The Landscape of Latino Los Angeles

Trace the changes through approximately 100 photographs by Camilo Jose Vergara that reveal the physical and social character of Los Angeles as its population has become increasingly Latino during the past 30 years.

June 29, 1999 – September 5, 1999

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

The Huguenot Legacy: English Silver, 1680-1760, from the Alan and Simone Hartman Collection

View more than 100 examples of works by French Huguenot silversmiths, who fled France to escape religious persecution.

April 27, 1999 – August 8, 1999

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Graphic Design in the Mechanical Age: Selections from the Merrill C. Berman Collection

View some 200 works of international graphic design created between the two World Wars, a time of great political upheaval.

February 9, 1999 – May 23, 1999

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

The Window Show

Travel to this off-site exhibition that celebrates window designers and the design of store windows at 14 of New York City's top stores.

May 14, 1999 – May 21, 1999

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

The Architecture of Reassurance: Designing the Disney Theme Parks

See some 200 artifacts that reveal the methods of Disney's design team and trace the history of the parks from original concepts to present day developments.

October 6, 1998 – January 10, 1999

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

Fountains: Splash and Spectacle

View some 250 artifacts--drawings, prints, photographs, and videos--that explore the roles of the fountain, from the Renaissance to the present.

June 9, 1998 – October 11, 1998

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Opening Our Doors: Selections from the Design Resource Center

See items from the Design Resource Center's 4 collecting departments--Drawings & Prints, Wallcoverings, Textiles, and Applied Arts & Industrial Design.

June 4, 1998 – August 30, 1998

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Concerned Theatre Japan: The Graphic Art of Japanese Theatre, 1960-1980

See 70 posters by post-WWII avant-garde artists that focus on theater as a vehicle for innovations in graphic design in Japan in the 1960s and 70s.

June 24, 1998 – August 22, 1998

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Arquitectonica: The Times Square Project

View photographs, models, and drawings that reveal the Miami-based architectural firm Arquitectonica's vision of the Times Square Project in New York City--a multi-story hotel, entertainment, and retail complex.

February 17, 1998 – May 10, 1998

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

The Jewels of Lalique

See some 200 rare pieces of art nouveau jewelry and works in glass created before World War I by Rene Lalique (1860-1945).

February 3, 1998 – April 12, 1998

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Design for Life: A Centennial Celebration

See some 200 objects that examine how design shapes society, spanning 3,000 years of the products and processes of design from the museum's collections.

September 30, 1997 – January 4, 1998

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Do-It-Yourself Architecture for the Great Outdoors

Visit 10 contemporary commercial tents created for backpackers, mountain climbers, and campers that feature structural and technical ingenuity.

June 24, 1997 – October 19, 1997

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

The Jewelry of Tone Vigeland

Visit 79 works of Norwegian jeweler Tone Vigeland (b. 1938) in her first retrospective,

June 17, 1997 – August 24, 1997

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Henry Dreyfuss Directing Design: The Industrial Designer and his Work, 1929-72

View some 200 drawings, models, prototypes, and household products created by industrial designer Dreyfuss (1904-1972) and his firm.

March 18, 1997 – August 24, 1997

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Disegno: Italian Renaissance Drawings for the Decorative Arts

See 30 drawings and prints, augmented by objects, that examine disegno--the origin of Western design in 16th-century Italy.

February 11, 1997 – May 18, 1997

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum