Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Ben Benn/Jose de Creeft

Visit a small exhibit, taken from the Musem's collection, in honor of the 90th birthdays of the artists.

December 15, 1974 – January 13, 1975

Hirshhorn Museum

In Memoriam: Thomas Hart Benton, 1889-1975

See a small exhibit to mark the recent death of the artist.

January 22, 1975 – February 7, 1975

Hirshhorn Museum

Inagural Exhibition

In the first exhibition of the new museum, see 900 works on display from the permanent collection, which totals some 4000 paintings and 2000 sculptures.

October 4, 1974 – September 15, 1975

Hirshhorn Museum

Jesus Raphael Soto: A Retrospective Exhibition

Optical problems and the representation of movement have occupied this contemporary Venezuelan artist for nearly three decades. A feature of the Exhibition will be one of his Penetrables -- a construction into which the visitor enters, thus becoming a participant in the completion of the work.

September 25, 1975 – November 9, 1975

Hirshhorn Museum

The Sculpture and Drawings of Elie Nadelman

See a comprehensive exhibition of 102 sculptures and 41 drawings, including Nadelman's neo-classical works, portraits, decorative pieces, and a group entitled Ideal Heads.

December 18, 1975 – February 15, 1976

Hirshhorn Museum

Artists, Authors, and Others: Drawings by David Levine

See an exhibition of 65 pen and ink caricatures of personalities in the arts, including Levine's acerbic drawings of Rembrandt, Picasso, Pollock, Hemingway, Joyce, Mann, Stravinsky, Mahler, Fellini, Bogart and Chaplin.

March 4, 1976 – June 6, 1976

Hirshhorn Museum

The Sources of Country Music

See a mural completed by Thomas Hart Benton just before his death in 1975, as well as 27 sketches and studies in pencil, ink and oil made by the artist in conjunction with the mural.

June 29, 1976 – September 6, 1976

Hirshhorn Museum

Homage to Joan Prats

See 11 prints by 8 artists, including Calder and Miro, in tribute to their friend, Joan Prats, a Barcelona hatmaker whose shop was a gathering place for artists and critics until his death in 1970.

June 29, 1976 – September 6, 1976

Hirshhorn Museum

Robert Rauschenberg: Stoned Moon Series

In conjunction with the opening of the National Air and Space Museum, see a group of 29 lithographs by the artist. They were created after he watched the launching of Apollo 11 in 1969. The Series' title makes reference to stones used in the lithographic process.

June 29, 1976 – September 6, 1976

Hirshhorn Museum

Bicentennial Banners

Enjoy 20 bright-colored nylon banners hung outdoors in the HSMG fountain court, in keeping with the custom of flying flags and banners at national celebrations.

March 31, 1976 – September 6, 1976

Hirshhorn Museum

The Golden Door: Artist-Immigrants of America, 1876-1976

Visit 204 works by 67 foreign-born painters, sculptors, architects and photographers celebrating the fact that in the past century, the U.S. offered sanctuary to the world's immigrants and refugees, and that, in turn, the artist-immigrants made major contributions to our cultural heritage.

May 20, 1976 – October 20, 1976

Hirshhorn Museum

John Covert, 1882-1960

See the first retrospective of the pioneer American modernist. Covert's unique fusion of cubism and dadaism are illustrated by the 27 works on view.

September 16, 1976 – November 14, 1976

Hirshhorn Museum

Winslow Homer Drawings

Visit a selection of works from the Cooper Hewitt National Museum of Design's collections to mark the opening of that museum in New York.

October 7, 1976 – December 12, 1976

Hirshhorn Museum

Hans Hofmann

This major loan exhibition re-examines one of this century's most important painters. View 75 oil paintings, dated 1935-65, spanning Hofmann's career in the United States.

October 14, 1976 – January 2, 1977

Hirshhorn Museum

Alfred Leslie

View an exhibition of monumental figurative works, including 11 large oil paintings and a small selection of drawings assembled especially for HMSG by the show's organizer, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

November 11, 1976 – January 9, 1977

Hirshhorn Museum

Peter Plagens: Works on Paper

Visit a loan exhibition of about 33 works in mixed media and pastel by the West Coast artist and author of Sunshine Muse: Contemporary Art on the West Coast.

December 2, 1976 – February 6, 1977

Hirshhorn Museum

e.e. cummings: The Poet as Artist

See the HMSG collection of 63 drawings, 5 watercolors and one oil painting by the American poet exhibited as part of Inscapes: Words and Images, a city-wide festival of poetry and its relation to the visual arts.

December 2, 1976 – February 6, 1977

Hirshhorn Museum

Chac-Mool: A Bicentennial Loan from Mexico

On loan from the National Museum of History and Anthropology, Mexico City, is a major piece of Maya-Toltec sculpture (978-1185 A.D.) In addition, 12-15 Meso-American works from the HMSG collection are on view.

November 19, 1976 – March 5, 1977

Hirshhorn Museum

14 Canadians: A Critic's Choice

Visit an exhibition of 42 recent works by 13 painters and one sculptor that is being held in conjunction with a Symposium on 20th century Canadian culture.

February 3, 1977 – April 10, 1977

Hirshhorn Museum

Acquisitions: 1974-1977

See paintings, sculptures and works on paper that represent the works acquired for the collection through gifts and purchases.

March 25, 1977 – July 24, 1977

Hirshhorn Museum

The Photography of Leland Rice

See the first exhibit of exclusively photographic works at HMSG, consisting of 35 photographs, in black and white and color.

June 16, 1977 – September 5, 1977

Hirshhorn Museum

The Thomas Eakins Collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

HMSG's Eakins collection is one of the largest in the U.S.; several works are on display for the first time. View 135 items, including the museum's 52 Eakins paintings, letters, scrapbooks, studio memorabilia, and studies for many major works, in photography, sculpture, and oil.

May 24, 1977 – September 5, 1977

Hirshhorn Museum

Summer Sculpture '77: Jules Olitski

Visit HMSG's first outdoor loan exhibition of contemporary sculpture, consisting of 6 large works employing curved or corrugated sheets of oiled steel in horizontal or vertical layers, extending as much as 10 feet in height or width.

July 20, 1977 – October 4, 1977

Hirshhorn Museum

Homage to Josef Albers: Selections from the MHSG Collection

Visit a selection of 19 works by the influential artist/teacher, including 2 major paintings of 1973, on public view for the first time.

August 1, 1977 – October 9, 1977

Hirshhorn Museum

The Arthur B. Carles Collection of the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

See the HMSG's collection of 14 paintings by Carles (1882-1952), a pioneering American modernist who developed a style of vibrant color from the traditional subjects of figure, still-life, and landscape.

August 18, 1977 – October 9, 1977

Hirshhorn Museum