Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Music in the Age of Confucius

Marvel at one of the two largest sets of graduated bronze bells, approximately 2500 years old, as well as instruments from the world's oldest musical ensemble.

April 30, 2000 – September 17, 2000

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Puja: Expressions of Hindu Devotion

Explore 125 bronze, stone, and wooden objects made in India for puja, an act of personal devotion to a deity.

May 12, 1996 – July 4, 2000

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Antoin Sevruguin and the Persian Image

Images by Iranian photographer Antoin Sevruguin (d. 1933) offer a pictoral history of the social and cultural history of Iran.

November 21, 1999 – May 28, 2000

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Imaging the Word: Selections of Calligraphy from the Islamic World

Visit an exhibition highlighting recent acquisitions, composed of 30 examples of kufic or angular script and folios copied in the six different cursive scripts, including contemporary examples.

November 17, 1999 – May 7, 2000

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Constructing Identities: Recent Works by Jananne al-Ani

On view are two pairs of large-format photographs and a related video by contemporary artist Jananne al-Ani that address Orientalism, and in particular the representation of women.

November 21, 1999 – February 28, 2000

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Yoshida Hiroshi: Japanese Prints of India & Southeast Asia

View 32 prints of Southeast Asia produced by Yoshida Hiroshi (1876-1950) using a refined photographic technique he developed in the 1920s to reveal a translucent quality similar to watercolors.

August 1, 1999 – October 17, 1999

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Behind the Himalayas: Paintings of Mustang

Admire Australian architect and artist Robert Powell's watercolors using the same blazing colors found on the buildings of Mustang, a territory that thrusts northward from Nepal into Tibet.

January 31, 1999 – September 26, 1999

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Devi: The Great Goddess

See Devi (The Great Female Goddess of India) presented in approximately 120 works—paintings and sculptures in bronze, stone, and terra-cotta—ranging over a period of 2,000 years.

March 28, 1999 – September 6, 1999

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

The Jesuits and the Grand Mogul: Renaissance Art at the Imperial Court of India (1580-1630)

See 22 paintings, books, and objects that show the blending of Eastern and Western artistic styles resulting from the presence of early Catholic missions in Asia.

September 27, 1998 – April 4, 1999

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Roy Lichtenstein: Landscapes in the Chinese Style

See 26 examples of Lichtenstein's works that reveal the influence of classic Chinese landscape paintings, along with 6 Chinese works that inspired him.

November 8, 1998 – February 7, 1999

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

The Buddha's Art of Healing: Tibetan Medical Painting From Buryatia

See 17 paintings from a 1920s copy of a 17th-century Tibetan illustrated medical text The Blue Beryl that examine the medical traditions of Buddhist healing.

August 2, 1998 – January 3, 1999

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Sakhi: Friend and Messenger in Rajput Love Paintings

View 34 paintings, created in northern India between the 17th and 19th centuries, that highlight the role of the "sakhi" as confidante and messenger in Rajput love paintings.

March 8, 1998 – July 7, 1998

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Poetic Landscapes: Two Chinese Albums

See 21 illustrations from a Ming dynasty album 8 Views of Xiao-Xiang & Landscapes Inspired by Tang Poems by Liu Yu (1620-c. 1689).

March 6, 1998 – July 5, 1998

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Twelve Centuries of Japanese Art from the Imperial Collections

See 20 calligraphic works and 56 paintings that represent Imperial patronage in Japan from the 9th to early 20th centuries, in this first major overseas exhibition agreed to by Emperor of Japan and the Imperial Household Agency.

December 14, 1997 – March 8, 1998

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

The Jewel and the Rose: Art for Shah-Jahan

See 20 paintings, 3 textiles, a carved emerald, and a marble screen—created during the reign of Shah-Jahan, India's 5th Mughal ruler (1627-1658).

May 4, 1997 – January 25, 1998

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

King of the World: A Mughal Manuscript from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle

See 44 paintings and 2 illuminations from the Padshahnama, a 17th-century imperial Indian manuscript, on view publicly for the first time.

May 18, 1997 – October 13, 1997

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Bridge: Illusions in Clay

In this world premiere, see a 60' trompe l'oeil sculpture by Taiwanese artist Ah-Leon (b. 1953) that gives the illusion of a decaying wooden bridge.

March 2, 1997 – July 6, 1997

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Art of the Persian Courts

See some 100 paintings, manuscripts, and calligraphic works from the 14th to 19th centuries that explore the influence of Persian culture across Iraq, Iran, India, and Central Asia.

November 3, 1996 – April 6, 1997

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Preserving Ancient Statues from Jordan

See 8 examples of ancient plaster statues dating from 6500-7000 B.C., excavated in Ain Ghazal, Jordan, in 1985.

July 28, 1996 – April 6, 1997

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Paintings by Masami Teraoka

Examine contemporary issues that portray the realities of the late 20th century in watercolor paintings and prints by this Hawaii-based artist.

June 30, 1996 – January 1, 1997

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Monsters, Myths and Minerals

See over 120 Chinese jades, metalware, and ceramics from the Sackler gift.

September 28, 1987 – November 30, 1996

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Traders and Raiders on China's Northern Frontier

See some 100 metal buckles, chariot and harness fittings, weapons, tools, and vessels from northern China.

November 19, 1995 – September 2, 1996

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

The Power of the Pen: Islamic Calligraphy in the 14th Century

See paintings, calligraphic works, and tools that explore a golden age of Islamic calligraphy during the 14th century.

September 24, 1995 – May 27, 1996

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Painted Prayers

See 61 color photographs by Stephen Hullers that document Indian ritual paintings created by women.

July 23, 1995 – April 7, 1996

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Goyo: Japanese Prints

See 19 prints and drawings issued between 1915-1920 by Japanese woodblock print artist Hashiguchi Goyo (1880-1921), predominantly of women.

August 27, 1995 – March 31, 1996

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery