Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Harvest Ceremonies and Celebrations: African Art, Kwanzaa

View a headdress and mask, a wall mural, a sculpture, and Kwanzaa materials.

January 1, 1980 – January 31, 1980

Five 19th-Century Afro-American Artists

See 25 works by Henry O. Tanner, Edward Mitchell Bannister, Robert S. Duncanson, Edmonia Lewis, and Joshua Johnston selected from the permanent collection.

February 4, 1980 – February 29, 1980

African Art Museum

The Sculptor's Eye: Chaim Gross Collection

View 150 figures, masks and other objects, as well as 250 Ashanti goldweights from Chaim Gross's collection.

January 1, 1980 – March 31, 1980

African Art Museum

Recent Gift Acquisitions (African Art)

View figures, masks, and musical instruments from the Senufo, Babara, Baga, Dan, Yoruba, and Luba peoples of West and Central Africa.

April 1, 1980 – May 15, 1980

African Art Museum

The Useful Arts of Kenya

See a comprehensive display of Kenyan arts and crafts, plus other utilitarian objects.

January 1, 1980 – May 15, 1980

African Art Museum

Traditional Art from Upper Volta

View more than 115 masks, figures, jewelry, and utilitarian items from the Bwa, Bobo, Lobi, Mossi, and Gurunis peoples of Upper Volta.

January 1, 1980 – May 31, 1980

African Art Museum

Animals in African Art

See some 50 objects from the permanent collection that show how animals are depicted in the art of a number of African peoples.

January 1, 1980 – July 31, 1980

African Art Museum

Tribute to Africa: Eliot Elisofon Photographs

See an audio-visual presentation of the outstanding color photography of Eliot Elisofon, renowned TIME/LIFE photographer.

January 1, 1980 – July 31, 1980

African Art Museum

Drums & Musical Instruments

View kalimba (thumb pianos), xylophones and percussion instruments from West and Central Africa.

May 1, 1980 – July 31, 1980

African Art Museum

African Influences in Modern Art

See an exhibition illustrating the similarities in form and artistic concept between traditional African sculpture and works of modern Western art.

January 1, 1980 – July 31, 1980

African Art Museum

Puppets from West Africa: Mali, Nigeria, Guinea

Included in the 27 puppets on view is Mali's answer to "Big Bird"--Kono Don, a 5-1/2-ft. costumed figure--as well as green-haired maidens with movable torsos and arms; horse and rider puppets; and elaborately decorated antelope-head puppets.

June 6, 1980 – September 21, 1980

African Art Museum

African Sources in Modern Art

As part of an expanded permanent exhibit, see a second gallery of examples which show the impact of traditional African sculpture on modern Western art.

August 1, 1980 – September 30, 1980

African Art Museum

Outdoor Wall Murals of the N'debele

As part of an expanded exhibit, an inner court has been painted with geometric color murals in the style of the N'Debele villages of southeast Africa.

August 1, 1980 – September 30, 1980

African Art Museum

The Image of the Black in Western Art

See a representative selection of reproductions of art and artifacts from Egypt, Nubia, the Greco-Roman world, Byzantium, and medieval Western Europe in 100 framed photographs.

September 27, 1980 – November 2, 1980

African Art Museum

Appliqued Textiles of the Dahomey Kingdom

View 18 colorful textile hangings, traditional symbols of power in the royal courts of the Fon people of the Republic of Benin (formerly Dahomey). A Fon royal palace courtyard is re-created in the exhibition gallery.

April 15, 1980 – December 14, 1980

African Art Museum

A Caravan of Crafts from the Sahel

View and purchase Tuareg jewelry, handwoven textiles, Botswana baskets, wooden sculpture, and Boklafani print ties.

November 15, 1980 – January 31, 1981

African Art Museum

Treasures of Ancient Nigeria: Legacy of 2,000 Years

See approximately 100 objects that comprise the first comprehensive exhibition of Nigerian art in the U.S.

December 18, 1980 – February 1, 1981

African Art Museum

The Art of Mali and Guinea

View a new segment of the permanent collection featuring ceremonial masks and figures of the peoples of Mali and Guinea, as well as photo-murals of Dogon villages by Eliot Elisofon.

November 15, 1980 – February 20, 1981

African Art Museum

Traditional Costumes and Jewelry of Egypt

View embroidered dresses, cloaks, veils, belts, footwear, necklaces, bracelets and other items from all sections of Egypt, including the eastern desert, the Sinai, Nubia and oases of the south.

March 16, 1981 – May 3, 1981

African Art Museum

Traditional Costumery and Jewelry in Africa

View costumes from Nigeria, Cameroon, Tanzania, and Kenya as well as jewelry of the Berber people of Algeria and Morocco, the Masai of Tanzania, the Zulu of southeastern Africa, the Baule of the Ivory Coast, and the Bobo of Upper Volta

February 27, 1981 – May 31, 1981

African Art Museum

Traditional Art of Angola and Cameroon

View selections from the permanent collection.

December 18, 1980 – May 31, 1981

African Art Museum

Selections from the Permanent Collection

View 450 objects, including sculpture, masks, jewelry, ceremonial costumes, and textiles.

June 26, 1980 – August 31, 1981

African Art Museum

Costumes and Jewelry of the Maasai

See costumes, jewelry, dress, and accessories of the people of Kenya and parts of Tanzania.

July 1, 1981 – September 7, 1981

African Art Museum

Out of the Ordinary: Domestic and Ritual Furnishings from Africa

View an exhibit of domestic furnishings that illustrates the aesthetic and spiritual qualities they have in common with ritual objects.

September 17, 1981 – October 31, 1981

African Art Museum

Life...Afterlife: African Funerary Sculpture

See more than 100 pieces of funerary sculpture from all regions of Africa showing how art is used in African funerals to express concepts of life, death, and the continual cycle of existence.

November 19, 1981 – March 1, 1982

African Art Museum