Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

H.C. Westermann

This retrospective of American sculptor H.C. Westermann (1922-1981) features the artist's sculptural work in depth, covering his career from his first mature works in the mid-1950s to his final works made in 1981.

February 14, 2002 – May 12, 2002

Hirshhorn Museum

Directions: Marina Abramovic

This Belgrade-born, Amsterdam-based performance artist (b. 1946), whose Balkan Baroque won the top prize at the 1997 Venice Biennale, is represented by Hero, a new performance-related video work.

November 15, 2001 – February 18, 2002

Hirshhorn Museum

Juan Munoz

Mark the first career survey in the United States for Spanish sculptor Juan Munoz (1953-2001), whose cast-resin figure ensembles and installations have helped re-invigorate contemporary sculpture.

October 18, 2001 – January 13, 2002

Hirshhorn Museum

Directions: Tacita Dean

See two wide-screen 16 mm film installations by British artist Tacita Dean; Fernsehturm (Television Tower), and Disappearance at Sea.

July 26, 2001 – October 23, 2001

Hirshhorn Museum

Clyfford Still: Paintings, 1944-1960

Expressive abstract art is reintroduced through approximately 39 large canvases American painter Clyfford Still (1904-1980).

June 21, 2001 – September 16, 2001

Hirshhorn Museum

Directions: Tim Hawkinson

Los Angeles-based artist Tim Hawkinson uses castoff materials, deadpan humor, kitsch imagery and quirky mechanics to create constructions and drawings that are subtle meditations on human nature and the passage of time.

March 15, 2001 – July 1, 2001

Hirshhorn Museum

William Kentridge

View 13 animated short films and some 60 related figure drawings created since the late 1980s by South African artist William Kentridge.

February 28, 2001 – May 13, 2001

Hirshhorn Museum

The Collection in Context: Horace Pippin's "Holy Mountain III"

See a Biblical scene painted in 1945 by self-taught African American artist Horace Pippin.

September 14, 2000 – March 14, 2001

Hirshhorn Museum

Directions: Dana Hoey

Visit the first solo exhibition of color photographs by New York-based artist Dana Hoey.

November 16, 2000 – February 19, 2001

Hirshhorn Museum

Wolfgang Laib: A Retrospective

Survey the work of German artist Wolfgang Laib (b. 1950) who since the mid-1970s has deepened the Minimalist aesthetic by creating objects from pure organic materials.

October 26, 2000 – January 22, 2001

Hirshhorn Museum

Directions: Cathy de Monchaux

View sculptural forms combining brass, puckered suede, chalk, and paper--part seductive, part repellent objects and installations that suggest animal or human anatomy.

July 14, 2000 – October 26, 2000

Hirshhorn Museum

Ed Ruscha

Wit, graphic skill, and a focus on language, vernacular culture, and mass media characterize the work of Los Angeles-based American artist Edward Ruscha (b. 1937), represented here in his first American museum retrospective since 1982.

June 29, 2000 – September 17, 2000

Hirshhorn Museum

Directions: Leonardo Drew

View a new work for the Directions Gallery created by Leonardo Drew who first gained critical attention in the early 90s for his large, wall-mounted sculptures made from distressed materials.

March 16, 2000 – June 20, 2000

Hirshhorn Museum

Dali's Optical Illusions

Contemplate 60 paintings and drawings created from the early 1920s to the 1970s by the Spanish artist Salvador Dali (1904-1989) that focus specifically on his exploration of optics and perception.

April 19, 2000 – June 18, 2000

Hirshhorn Museum

Robert Gober: Sculpture + Drawing

See more than 100 drawings, a group of sculptures, and an early slide-projection installation by American artist Robert Gober.

February 24, 2000 – April 23, 2000

Hirshhorn Museum

Directions: Shahzia Sikander

Sikander creates luminous, vividly detailed, often autobiographical images of figures, creatures, and landscape elements that update the Asian miniature tradition.

November 18, 1999 – February 23, 2000

Hirshhorn Museum

The Hirshhorn Collection at 25

Celebrating the museum's 25th anniversary, fresh combinations of older works with new acquisitions underscore the breadth of the museum's collection.

February 25, 1999 – January 27, 2000

Hirshhorn Museum

Regarding Beauty: A View of the Late Twentieth Century

Examine how late 20th-century artists perceive beauty through some 88 paintings, sculptures, photographs, drawings, and mixed-media works.

October 7, 1999 – January 17, 2000

Hirshhorn Museum

Directions: Sam Taylor-Wood

Mystery and tension characterize this projected-video installation, Noli Me Tangere, by one of Britain's most noted young artists.

July 15, 1999 – October 17, 1999

Hirshhorn Museum

Brice Marden, Work of the 90s: Paintings, Drawings, and Prints

View some 24 paintings and as many works on paper by American artist Brice Marden.

May 27, 1999 – September 6, 1999

Hirshhorn Museum

Directions: Juliao Sarmento: Fundamental Accuracy

See new works including sculptures and figurative paintings by this Portuguese painter.

February 4, 1999 – June 20, 1999

Hirshhorn Museum

Faces of Friendship: The Art-World Circle of Joseph and Olga Hirshhorn in Documentary Photographs

See photographs of artists who were friends of museum founder, Joseph Hirshhorn.

April 7, 1999 – May 9, 1999

Hirshhorn Museum

Chuck Close

This retrospective features some 80 paintings, drawings, prints, and photos by this American photo-realist artist.

October 15, 1998 – January 10, 1999

Hirshhorn Museum

Triumph of the Spirit: Carlos Alfonzo, A Survey (1975–1991)

This first career retrospective features the ideographic and autobiographical works of the Cuban-American painter, who died of AIDS in 1991.

June 18, 1998 – September 13, 1998

Hirshhorn Museum

The Collection in Context: Henry Moore's Stringed Figure No. 1

This installation focuses on Stringed Figure No. 1 (1937), a cherrywood & string sculpture by this British artist.

June 4, 1998 – September 7, 1998

Hirshhorn Museum