Past Exhibitions

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

Keep the Last Bullet for Yourself: The Fight at Little Big Horn

Commemorating the 100th anniversary of Custer's Last Stand at Little Big Horn, see his Army Orders--never before exhibited--his buckskin coat and pants, a battle flag, rifles, maps, photographs, an Indian pictograph and 22 drawings by Red Horse, a participant in the battle.

June 25, 1976 – October 21, 1976

Signs of Life: Symbols in the American City

Examine the symbols and signs in the domestic, commercial and civic sectors of our culture, discussing their origins and evolutions over the last 200 years and suggesting their greater meaning as cultural artifacts.

February 26, 1976 – October 31, 1976

Renwick Gallery

Wedgwood Portraits and the American Revolution

See about 50 Wedgwood portraits in ceramics of important figures of the Revolutionary War period.

July 13, 1976 – October 31, 1976

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

The Arts of Asia at the Time of American Independence

View about 90 objects from China, Japan, India and the Near East that offer the visitor a contrast in modes of expression to those of the New World.

December 15, 1975 – October 31, 1976

Shinto Art

See a variety of Japanese religious objects dating from the Tumulus Period (3rd-6th century) to the Edo Period (18th century).

November 11, 1976 – November 1, 1976

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

America as Art

Examine how American art has been identified with the changing concepts and ideals associated with the U.S. over the past 200 years.

April 30, 1976 – November 7, 1976

Washington Print Club: Members Show

Celebrate the Bicentennial year with works by American artists, selected for display from the private collections of members.

September 23, 1976 – November 14, 1976

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

1876: American Art of the Centennial

The majority of the 25 paintings and 5 pieces of sculpture in this exhibition were shown in the American gallery at the Philadelphia Centennial of 1876.

May 28, 1976 – November 28, 1976

The American Presidency in Political Cartoons

Enjoy more than 100 cartoons, which provide a visual and narrative commentary on the Presidency from Washington to Ford.

October 15, 1976 – November 28, 1976

Thomas Hart Benton

See the recent acquisition Self-Portrait with Rita, painted in 1922 after Benton's marriage.

September 12, 1976 – November 28, 1976

Bridges

See 16 black and white photographs by David Plowden from his new book Bridges, the Spans of North America.

November 15, 1974 – November 30, 1976

The "Star of Independence" Diamond Necklace

See a 76-carat diamond displayed as a pendant on a necklace made up of 75 smaller diamonds; it is considered to be of near flawless quality.

November 1, 1976 – December 1, 1976

Natural History 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

The Spirit of Fact: The Daguerrotypes of Southworth and Hawes (1843-1861)

View more than 100 daguerrotypes from the nation's most prestigious photographic portrait studio of the mid-19th century.

July 22, 1976 – December 19, 1976

Photoportraits of the Himba: A Cattle Herding People of the Angolia-Namibia Borderland

View 30 color photographs taken by MNH African ethnologist, Dr. Gordon Gibson, during his 1960-73 fieldwork.

October 4, 1976 – December 26, 1976

Natural History Museum

A Touch of the Poet: Portraits from the Permanent Collection

Take a self-guided tour of portraits of American poets, including W.H.Auden, Stephen Vincent Benet, Robert Frost, e.e. cummings, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Marianne Moore.

December 1, 1976 – December 31, 1976

We the People

Taking its name from the preamble to the Constitution, the exhibition's 3 major sections explore the meaning of Lincoln's immortal words, "...government of the people, by the people, for the people."

June 1, 1975 – December 31, 1976

American Banking

Survey the 200-year history of American banking, from the Colonial barter system to 20th century electronic banking.

September 18, 1975 – January 2, 1977

Robert Rauschenberg

Witness the variety of the artist's achievements in combine paintings, sculpture, assemblages, drawings, prints, posters, photographs and multiples. About 150 works from the 1940s to the present are included, some well-known and some never before shown publicly.

October 30, 1976 – January 2, 1977

Anacostia Community Museum

Black Women: Achievement Against the Odds

Learn about black women whose accomplishments have changed our lives, from 1700 to 1977.

February 8, 1976 – January 2, 1977

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

White House Children's Toys

On view are Sally, the White House doll, and a silver rattle and tea set, all belonging to Mary Louisa Adams; and a bisque doll and Wedgewood tea set pitcher, playthings of Grover Cleveland's children.

January 1, 1977 – January 5, 1977