Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

America's Smithsonian

An abbreviated version of the traveling exhibition America's Smithsonian returns home to Washington, D.C., ending its 2-year, 9-city tour with some 80 of the Smithsonian's most popular artifacts.

March 1, 1998 – April 12, 1998

Ripley Center

Orchids of the World

See hundreds of orchids that highlight the diversity of orchids from North and South America, Australia, Africa, Asia, and Antarctica.

January 17, 1998 – March 8, 1998

Ripley Center

Seeing Jazz

See 77 paintings, sculptures, drawings, collages, and photographs, accompanied by literary selections, that express the many moods of jazz.

October 30, 1997 – January 19, 1998

Ripley Center

American Voices: Latino Photographers in the United States

See 210 photos from the 1930s to 1994 by 39 Latino artists that explore Mexican American, Puerto Rican, and Cuban American cultures in the U.S.

May 16, 1997 – September 28, 1997

Ripley Center

Vanishing Amphibians

Maps, models, photographs, graphics, and text examine the decline of amphibian populations and the unique characteristics that make them vulnerable to changes in their environments.

January 22, 1997 – February 16, 1997

Ripley Center

Strong Hearts: Native American Visions and Voices

See approximately 100 color and black-and-white photographs taken by 25 Native American photographers, which present a multi-faceted portrait of contemporary American Indian life.

September 28, 1996 – January 5, 1997

Ripley Center

Artists at Work: A Smithsonian Celebration of Staff Creativity

See an exhibition that showcases the creative talents of Smithsonian staff and complements the 1996 Folklife Festival theme Working at the Smithsonian.

June 18, 1996 – August 11, 1996

Ripley Center

2nd Annual Exhibition of Visual Arts and Crafts by Smithsonian Women

Reflect on and celebrate the creative lives of women artists within the Smithsonian Institution community, in conjunction with Women's History Month. See 64 works including photography, painting, ceramics, textiles, jewelry, and mixed media.

March 4, 1996 – March 29, 1996

Ripley Center

Whispered Silences: Japanese American Detention Camps, Fifty Years Later

Let 44 contemporary prints by photographer Joan Myers evoke the wartime experiences of Japanese Americans, as told through the weathered objects, abandoned gardens, and building fragments of World War II detention camp sites.

December 15, 1995 – January 15, 1996

Ripley Center

Voyages & Visions: 19th-Century European Images of the Middle East from the Victoria & Albert Museum

View 82 watercolors and drawings of the region's lands & cultures, selected from the Searight Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

October 11, 1995 – January 1, 1996

Ripley Center

1995 Discover Graphics

View 41 graphics created by students of Discover Graphics, a project of The Smithsonian Associates. The works were selected by a panel of Smithsonian Institution graphic arts curators.

May 20, 1995 – July 17, 1995

Ripley Center

Cape Verde Photographs

See an exhibit of photographs by Ron Barboza being held in conjunction with Smithsonian's Folklife Festival.

June 17, 1995 – July 15, 1995

Ripley Center

Benedicte Wrensted: An Idaho Photographer in Focus

View photos of European and Native Americans taken by Danish immigrant Benedicte Wrensted in her Pocatello, Idaho studio in the late 19th century.

March 1, 1995 – April 2, 1995

Ripley Center

Monumental Propaganda

See historic Socialist-Realist monuments from Russia's totalitarian past re-created and reinterpreted in 150 drawings, photographs and proposals by artists worldwide.

December 9, 1994 – February 20, 1995

Ripley Center

Wenceslaus Hollar: 17th-century Prints from the Museum Boymans-van Beunigen, Rotterdam

See some 150 engravings, including portraits, still lifes, and landscapes by Czechoslovakian artist and humanist Hollar (1607-1677) that present a reliable record of the land and people during this period.

November 23, 1994 – January 23, 1995

Ripley Center

Sculptures from the Flames: Ceramics by Gustav and Ulla Kraitz

View 28 sculptures by Swedish artists Ulla and Gustav Kraitz created using traditional Chinese techniques of glazing and firing.

August 26, 1994 – November 27, 1994

Ripley Center

Talents of the Brush: Jill Sackler Chinese Calligraphy Competition

See more than 100 works of contemporary Chinese Calligraphy chosen from among the winners of biannual competitions in China.

May 28, 1994 – September 25, 1994

Ripley Center

The Power of Maps

See a variety of maps from around the world, ranging from a 1500 B.C. Mesopotamian clay tablet to 19th-century Native American maps and a superconductor map of the current ozone hole over Antarctica.

November 9, 1993 – January 25, 1994

Ripley Center

In the Temple of Solomon and the Tomb of Caiaphas

In conjunction with a conference of Biblical scholars, 2 artifacts on loan from Israel are presented.

November 19, 1993 – November 28, 1993

Ripley Center

RAP Commissions Art Sale in 1993

View 25 lithographs, including works by Larry Rivers, Robert Indiana, and a serigraph by Sam Gilliam.

September 13, 1993 – October 24, 1993

Ripley Center

Shared Visions: Native American Painters and Sculptors in the Twentieth Century

See an historical overview of 20th-century Native American art, along with a section on contemporary art, in this exhibition of 125 works.

May 24, 1993 – October 3, 1993

Ripley Center

The Egypt Story: Photographs by Fred Maroon

See 29 photographs that record the people, places, structures, art, and events that reflect Egyptian life from ancient times to today

April 9, 1993 – August 22, 1993

Ripley Center

1993 Discover Graphics

View 60 selected graphics by students from 24 area high schools.

May 21, 1993 – July 19, 1993

Ripley Center

Imperial Austria: Treasures of Art, Arms, and Armor from the State of Styria

For the first time outside of Europe, see over 250 works of art, arms, and armor that chronicle the vast changes that swept Austria and Europe from the late Middle Ages through the 17th century.

October 4, 1992 – January 24, 1993

Ripley Center

The Cutting Edge: 200 Years of Cut Crystal

See 15 exquisite crystal objects, such as decanters, bowls, and goblets from the 18th century to the present day that show both the evolution and the technological, aesthetic, and cultural story of the cut crystal object over the last 200 years.

October 4, 1992 – January 24, 1993

Ripley Center