Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Tools for the Table: Designs for Dining

Discover approximately 40 European and American dining objects -- including porcelain, silver, glass, and plastic -- ranging from the early 18th century to the present.

May 4, 1993 – September 26, 1993

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

A Memorial to Jan Palach

Visit an exhibition that documents the memorial built in Prague to Czech Jan Palach through 2 scale models designed by architect John Hejduk, accompanied by David Shapiro's poem.

April 6, 1993 – September 26, 1993

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Process of Design: Cheryl R. Riley

Follow the design process of two Coin Encrusted Tudor Tables as they relate to the artist's personal and African American culture identity, through renderings, photographs, and the finished tables.

April 27, 1993 – September 26, 1993

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Design and Fabric Technology: Pushing the Limits

Visit an exhibition that demonstrates unique and creative mergers of commercial and artistic concerns.

May 4, 1993 – September 26, 1993

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Collecting A to Z

See an exhibition that reveals a sampling of the breadth and diversity of the museum's recent acquisitions.

April 24, 1993 – September 12, 1993

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Czech Cubism: Architecture and Design

Follow creative design from Czechoslovakia with furniture, ceramic, and metal objects--along with an exceptional collection of related drawings and original designs.

April 6, 1993 – July 25, 1993

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

From Background to Foreground: Looking at an 18th-Century Wallpaper

See an arabesque-patterned wallpaper printed by the renowned French manufacturer Jean-Baptiste Reveillon that shows the range of designs available during the 1780s and how the designs were derived from pattern books and other sources.

November 24, 1992 – April 6, 1993

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Revolution, Life, and Labor: Soviet Porcelains, 1918-1985

See 250 plates, vessels, and figures ornamented with communist political slogans, soviet heroes, and traditional Russian themes that document history from the Bolshevik Revolution (1917) to glasnost (1985).

November 24, 1992 – April 4, 1993

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

The Power of Maps

Learn the process of mapping and take a look at maps as both records and symbols of changing perceptions of the world in this exhibition celebrating the Columbus Quincentenary.

October 6, 1992 – March 7, 1993

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Aids Awareness Installation

See works from the museum's collections by architects and designers who have died of AIDS.

December 1, 1992 – February 28, 1993

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

The Cooper-Hewitt Collections: A Design Resource

Celebrate the museum with an exhibition of approximately 1,200 objects including drawings, prints, textiles, wall coverings, furniture, ceramics, glass, jewelry, rare books, and metalwork.

March 26, 1991 – August 30, 1992

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

A Bridge to Learning

Visit a 36-foot model of a suspension bridge, built and landscaped as a work-in-progress by inner-city junior high school students in collaboration with The Salvadori Educational Center on the Built Environment.

July 9, 1991 – October 13, 1991

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Mondo Materialis

See over 120 collage panels that use innovative new materials created by international architects, interior designers, and artists.

October 16, 1990 – February 24, 1991

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Gold of Greece: Jewelry and Ornaments

Take in 200 objects, spanning 4,000 years, from the Benaki Museum in Athens.

September 11, 1990 – January 13, 1991

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

18th-Century Scenic and Architectural Design

See 70 drawings and engravings of theater and stage design by the Galli Bibiena family from the National Collection of Portugal.

September 25, 1990 – December 30, 1990

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

The Doghouse

See doghouses created by leading American architects and designers that are accessible to visitors with visual impairments, in this exhibition developed in collaboration with Guiding Eyes for the Blind.

June 8, 1990 – October 14, 1990

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Color, Light, Surface: Contemporary Fabrics

See commercially produced and one-of-a-kind textiles made in England, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Italy, and the United States in the last decade.

April 3, 1990 – September 23, 1990

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

The Heritage of Danish Porcelain

See 150 porcelain pieces from tea services to figurines and tureens, including a 1790 Flora Danica table service.

April 24, 1990 – September 2, 1990

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

E. McKnight Kauffer: Graphic Art and Theater Design

Visit a retrospective of the artist's graphic and theater design career that includes posters for British Rail and American Airlines and stage and costume designs.

November 21, 1989 – April 1, 1990

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

The Intimate World of Alexander Calder

Enjoy over 300 small sculptures, toys, jewelry, and household objects by the artist, who is best-known for his monumental sculptures.

October 17, 1989 – March 11, 1990

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Jewelry: A Selection from the Cooper-Hewitt Collection

See over 100 examples of the jeweler's art from 19th-century England, Italy, France, and the East, including Pio Fortunado, Castillani, and Carlos Guiliano.

August 22, 1989 – January 7, 1990

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Aids Memorial Quilt Panels

View 10 AIDS Memorial Quilt panels that will join the Name Project Quilt, in an observance of A Day Without Art: A National Day of Action and Mourning in Response to the AIDS Crisis.

December 1, 1989 – December 3, 1989

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

Polished Perfection: The Art of Turned-Wood Bowls

See lathe-turned wood bowls in many styles and a variety of woods created by 21 master turners.

July 25, 1989 – October 1, 1989

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

L'Art de Vivre: Decorative Arts and Designs in France 1789-1989

View more than 400 objects--including ceramics, glass, silver, textiles, fashions, and furniture--from both public and private collections, that celebrate the Bicentennial of the French Revolution.

March 30, 1989 – July 16, 1989

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum