Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Seasons: Japanese Screens

Visit a selection of seasonal Japanese screens from the nearly 200 screens held by the Freer Gallery.

December 24, 2010 – January 22, 2012

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Seasons: Chinese Flowers

View Chinese art featuring seasonal flowers.

July 2, 2011 – January 8, 2012

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Ancient Chinese Pottery and Bronze

The exhibition shows the complex, changing relationship between two of China's oldest artistic traditions: ceramic and bronze vessels.

March 7, 1997 – August 14, 2011

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Charles Lang Freer and Egypt

See some 70 small glass vessels, bronzes, amulets, and sculptures from the New Kingdom to the Roman Period from Freer's eclectic collection of Egyptian artifacts.

June 13, 1998 – August 14, 2011

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

See how the civilizations that have embraced Buddhism have given a local and distinctive interpretation and sensibility to the representation of the Buddha as well as to the other images and symbols characteristic of Buddhist art.

May 9, 1993 – August 8, 2011

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Chinamania: Whistler and the Victorian Craze for Blue-and-White

Follow the craze for blue-and-white porcelain in Whistler's England during the 1870s through 23 works of art.

August 7, 2010 – August 7, 2011

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Korean Ceramics

View Korean ceramics made between 200 and 1900, ranging from tableware and Buddhist cinerary urns to bowls, bottles, and storage jars.

March 1, 1997 – August 7, 2011

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Seasons: Chinese Landscapes

Explore the moods evoked in seasonal Chinese landscape paintings.

December 18, 2010 – June 12, 2011

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

The Peacock Room

Do not miss the Peacock Room—the dining room in wealthy London shipowner Frederick R. Leyland's home—that James McNeill Whistler elaborately redecorated.

1923 – April 8, 2011

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Cornucopia: Ceramics from Southern Japan

Discover the engaging variety of local styles of glazing and decoration invented by Kyushu potters over three centuries.

December 19, 2009 – January 9, 2011

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Masterpieces of Chinese Painting

Trace the development of Chinese painting across the generations from 960-1911.

June 12, 2010 – November 28, 2010

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Black & White: Chinese Ceramics from the 10th-14th Centuries

Delight in the variety of glossy black-glazed wares, brilliant white porcelains, and eye-catching combinations of both colors on single vessels created during the Song and Yuan dynasties.

December 18, 2004 – August 1, 2010

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Surface Beauty: American Art and Freer's Aesthetic Vision

See paintings by American artists Thomas Dewing and Dwight Tryon whose interest in surface beauty resonated with the work of James McNeill Whistler.

February 23, 2008 – August 1, 2010

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

The Texture of Night: James McNeill Whistler

Though small in scale, view these nighttime views of London, Venice, and Amsterdam that are among Whistler's most aesthetically suggestive and technically innovative works.

June 6, 2009 – July 25, 2010

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Children at Play in Chinese Painting

Enjoy the recurring theme of children at play in fragrant gardens or at work in lush fields in Chinese art over the past two millennia.

November 18, 2009 – May 23, 2010

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Vietnamese Ceramics from the Red River Delta

See the first major presentation of 25 works from the Freer's Vietnamese ceramic collection.

July 9, 2005 – January 31, 2010

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Golden Seams: The Japanese Art of Mending Ceramics

See ceramics from China, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan that were mended and enhanced by a unique method of 'gold' lacquer repair created by Japanese craftsmen.

November 8, 2008 – November 29, 2009

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Moonlight and Clouds: Silver and Gold in the Arts of Japan

View artworks that showcase the distinctive repertoire of techniques for applying gold and silver on a variety of materials that Japanese artists developed beginning in the 17th century.

November 8, 2008 – November 29, 2009

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Writing, Carving, and Rubbing: China's Calligraphic Arts

Follow the evolution of Chinese calligraphy through six major script types in the past three millenniums.

April 4, 2009 – October 25, 2009

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Winslow Homer: Four Views of Nature

See three technically innovative watercolors and the monumental oil painting Early Evening, painted by American artist Winslow Homer.

November 22, 2008 – May 25, 2009

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Guests of the Hills: Travelers and Recluses in Chinese Landscape Painting

Enjoy Chinese landscape paintings created over a 700-year period that depict recluses and recreational travelers as well as free-roaming mountain sages or gentlemen living in retirement.

August 23, 2008 – March 15, 2009

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Small Masterpieces: Whistler Paintings from the 1880s

View 23 of the most beautiful of Whistler's small oil paintings -- many produced in his studio or from nature.

April 2, 2005 – November 14, 2008

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Tea for Everyone: Japanese Popular Ceramics for Tea Drinking

Discover a later moment in the history of tea when enjoyment of powdered tea (matcha) became widespread among Japanese people.

March 8, 2008 – October 19, 2008

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Japanese Arts of the Edo Period, 1615-1868, Part 2

Visit the second part of this exhibition that also features a selection of paintings, lacquer, and ceramics of the Edo period from the Freer Gallery's extensive permanent collection.

March 8, 2008 – October 19, 2008

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Tales of the Brush Continued: Chinese Paintings with Literary Themes

Enjoy the works of Chinese artists who have turned to literature for inspiration for their paintings, works on silk and paper, and other objects.

February 9, 2008 – July 27, 2008

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery