Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Generations

See some 275 artifacts selected from Smithsonian museums and collections worldwide that examine the universality of the birth experience, an event which every culture in the world marks with symbolic images.

September 28, 1987 – March 31, 1988

Ripley Center

Drawings, 1980-1987, The Quadrangle Project, Smithsonian Institution

View some 75 original renderings by architect Jean-Paul Carlhian of the architectural firm Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbot that portray various aspects of the African Art Museum, the Sackler Gallery, and the S. Dillon Ripley Center.

October 1, 1987 – March 31, 1988

Ripley Center

Taking Sides in South Africa: A Photographic Documentary of the Conflict During 1985-1986

View some 20 photographs by the South African photographers' cooperative, Afrapix, that graphically portray the intense and sometimes violent scenes from the conflict over apartheid

March 1, 1988 – March 15, 1988

Ripley Center

Early American Cultures: Illustrations from the Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art

View a bilingual, English-Spanish exhibition that features 12 original drawings by artist-researcher Jose Perez de Arce, which portray aspects of life in the Andean cultural area before the European conquest.

December 1, 1987 – February 1, 1988

Ripley Center

Sojourners and Settlers: Yemeni Workers at Home and Abroad

View 110 photographs taken by five American scholars and photographers who traveled in the Arabian peninsula nation of Yemen and in the industrial and agricultural regions of the U.S. where thousands of Yemenis have come in search of work.

October 1, 1987 – October 30, 1987

Ripley Center

Ikebana Display

View some half-dozen floral arrangements demonstrating the work of schools of Ikebana design.

October 1, 1987 – October 3, 1987

Ripley Center

Capturing the Moment: Photographs by the Smithsonian Community

The 32 winning entries reveal each photographer’s point of view—and give us a chance to experience the moments that brought them joy, hope, or inspiration.

May 3, 2022 – Closed

Ripley Center

Smithsonian Stories: African American Groundbreakers

Since the Smithsonian’s founding in 1846, African Americans have made major, but often unacknowledged, contributions to the Institution.

March 6, 2023 – Closed

Ripley Center