Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Drawings from the Cooper-Hewitt Museum: Training the Hand and Eye

View 75 drawings, watercolors, and oil sketches--many of them never before exhibited--from the museum's collection of more than 7,000 drawings.

January 24, 1989 – March 5, 1989

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Purses, Pockets, Pouches

Admire an exhibition that illustrates the textile techniques used to make purses, pockets, portfolios, and pouches, all drawn from the museum's collections.

December 6, 1988 – March 5, 1989

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Courts and Colonies: The William and Mary Style in Holland, England, and America

See some 250 works of art, architectural prints, drawings, furniture, ceramics, and silver from the late 17th and early 18th centuries, commemorating the 300th anniversary of the accession of William and Mary to the English throne.

November 15, 1988 – February 12, 1989

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Erich Mendelsohn: Architectural Drawings

See project drawings by the German-born Mendelsohn, a contemporary of many of Europe's "second generation" of architects -- Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, and Bruno and Max Taut -- who determined the direction of European architecture in the 1920s and 1930s.

October 18, 1988 – January 8, 1989

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

The Modern Dutch Poster: The First Fifty Years, 1890-1940

Enjoy the diversity and unique quality of Dutch poster arts during the first half of this century.

October 4, 1988 – January 8, 1989

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

The Countess' Treasury: Gems and Curiosities from Burghley House

Visit the Burghley collection, a rare surviving compendium of the small "treasury" pieces that used to be essential to a great nobleman's surroundings.

September 6, 1988 – November 27, 1988

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

Paris Opera on Stage: Designs, Costumes, Jewels

See costumes, jewelry, set designs, and models featuring a range of colorful theatrical designs and objects associated with the legendary Paris Opera.

June 9, 1988 – September 25, 1988

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Annual Reports

Visit an exhibition featuring case studies over the past 100 years with 3 companies--Domino's Pizza, H.J. Heinz, and Potlatch Corp.

July 5, 1988 – September 25, 1988

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

The Outdoor Chair

Sit down and try out chairs created by 43 architects, landscape architects, furniture designers, interior designers, and artists from the San Francisco bay area.

May 24, 1988 – September 18, 1988

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Ceramics of the Weimar Republic, 1919-1933

Enjoy approximately 100 examples of commercially made ceramics produced by German factories between the World Wars.

June 14, 1988 – August 28, 1988

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

The Art That Is Life: The Arts and Crafts Movement in America, 1875-1920

View nearly 200 objects ranging from stained glass, silver, jewelry, books, pottery and architectural drawings that represent the Arts and Crafts Movement.

April 5, 1988 – June 26, 1988

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

The Triumph of Simplicity: 350 Years of Swedish Silver

See 80 examples of the art of silversmiths in Sweden, dating from the 17th century to the present day.

March 1, 1988 – June 5, 1988

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

Color by the Yard: Printed Fabric 1760-1860

Explore both furnishings and clothing fabrics from around the world, from 1760 up to 1860.

November 3, 1987 – March 13, 1988

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

Surprise! Surprise! Pop-up and Movable Books

Visit a selection of pop-up books representing subjects ranging from medicine to children's fairy tales, including examples by Lothar Meggendorfer and others.

October 27, 1987 – February 21, 1988

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Honor and Glory: Monumental Arches

Examine the history of monumental arches, through some 60 drawings, prints, photographs, rare books, textiles, and models of a variety of arches from the Cooper-Hewitt collection.

October 13, 1987 – January 31, 1988

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Arches for Galveston

Study the Galveston Arches, seven high fantasy arches constructed for the Mardi Gras in Galveston in 1986, including one re-erected for the exhibition.

October 13, 1987 – January 31, 1988

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

Safe and Secure: Keys and Locks

Discover some 225 pieces, including embellished locks and keys, and a chronology of key and lock development and use, styles and symbolism.

June 9, 1987 – October 18, 1987

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Art Nouveau Bing: The Paris Style 1900

See some 200 prints, posters, decorative art objects, and furniture are used to explore the international influence of Siegfried Bing (1838-1905), one of the earliest supporters of Art Nouveau.

July 21, 1987 – October 11, 1987

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Robert Adam and Kedleston:The Making of a Neo-Classical Masterpiece

Study some 80 architectural drawings by Robert Adam, Michael Henry Spang, William Collins, and others.

June 30, 1987 – September 20, 1987

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Frank Lloyd Wright and the Johnson Wax Buildings: Creating a Corporate Cathedral

View over 100 pieces including lithographs, drawings, furniture, and decorative arts of one of the most extraordinary works in American architectural history.

May 12, 1987 – July 19, 1987

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Louis Sullivan: The Function of Ornament

See some 180 pieces--including drawings, models, ornament, hardware, books, and photographs--relating to Chicago architect Louis Henry Sullivan (1856-1924), one of the most important and influential figures in late-19th and early 20th-century architecture in America.

March 24, 1987 – June 28, 1987

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum