Past Exhibitions

Advancing American Art: Politics and Aesthetics in the U.S. State Department

See 73 oils and watercolors in a partial reconstruction of an exhibition organized by the State Department as the cultural arm of postwar reconstruction programs abroad.

June 1, 1984 – October 8, 1984

Recent Acquisitions (1984)

See approximately 40 works of art, mostly prints and photographs, acquired during the past year.

July 11, 1984 – October 7, 1984

African Mankala

See 27 sculptured gameboards and 11 related objects that depict the vital visual forms of Africa's popular game, mankala.

June 20, 1984 – October 7, 1984

African Art Museum

Adventurous Pursuits: Americans and the Old China Trade, 1784-1844

This exhibition includes portraits of merchants, mariners, and others by American, English, and Chinese artists, complemented by objects brought from Asia--porcelain, silk, lacquerware, carved ivory, silver, and landscape paintings.

March 16, 1984 – September 30, 1984

Treasures from the Smithsonian

These photo panels are an adaptation of an exhibition of Smithsonian artifacts on view at the Edinburgh Festival, Scotland.

August 1, 1984 – September 30, 1984

Smithsonian Castle

One Hundred Years of Animal Health

Mark the centennial of the 1884 founding of the USDA Bureau of Animal Industry.

July 17, 1984 – September 30, 1984

Yesterday's Tomorrows: Past Visions of the American Future

See more than 300 objects--toys, models, posters, photographs, costumes, advertisements, drawings--created by artists, engineers, inventors, film makers, and other visionaries of the last 100 years.

August 7, 1984 – September 30, 1984

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Manhattan Skyline: New York Skyscrapers Between the Wars

Celebrate the development and design of skyscrapers in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s through drawings, vintage photographs, models, and some examples of architectural ornament.

June 12, 1984 – September 23, 1984

Devil Dance Masks of Sri Lanka

See approximately 30 masks used in the Devil Dance of Sri Lanka (Ceylon), including three exceptionally large masks.

November 3, 1982 – September 20, 1984

Natural History Museum

Every Four Years (Summer Olympics)

View memorabilia from several Olympic Games, including Bobby Morrow's 1956 Gold Medal for track (Melbourne); books, cards, and tickets from the first Summer Olympics held in the U.S. (St. Louis, 1904); and the only other Summer Olympic Games held in Los Angeles (1932).

August 1, 1984 – September 17, 1984

Variations: Musicians in Caricature, 1920-1960

Original caricature portraits of composers, conductors, and performers show the growth in popularity of modern American music--jazz, musical theater, and popular songs.

April 14, 1984 – September 16, 1984

The Better to See

View some 35 spectacles and eye testing charts from the 17th to the 20th century.

April 1, 1984 – September 16, 1984

Patterns and Forms in African Art

See some 30 works examining pattern and form in four sections: body painting and body scarification; "Decorated Form," illustrating the way in which African artists shape household objects; ritual uses and qualities; and pattern in textiles.

August 20, 1984 – September 16, 1984

African Art Museum

Erastus Salisbury Field: 1805-1900

View 29 paintings and drawings in a major retrospective exhibition of one of America's preeminent 19th-century naive painters.

June 8, 1984 – September 4, 1984

Erastus Salisbury Field: 1805-1900

View 73 portraits by one of America's preeminent 19th-century naive painters who lived and worked most of his life in the Connecticut River Valley.

June 8, 1984 – September 4, 1984

Golden Age of Flight: Art Exhibition

See thirty art works by young American artists, selected from contest entries.

April 5, 1984 – September 3, 1984

Air and Space Museum

Roger Tory Peterson: 50th Anniversary of "A Field Guide to the Birds of North America"

View some 100 works by the artist/naturalist Roger Tory Peterson, honoring the 50th anniversary of the publication of A Field Guide to the Birds of North America.

April 27, 1984 – September 3, 1984

Natural History Museum

Harvey K. Littleton: Glass Sculptures and Ceramics

Trace Littleton's evolution from studio potter to an internationally respected glass artist, recognized as the "father" of the modern studio glass movement, with these 108 objects.

March 30, 1984 – September 3, 1984

Renwick Gallery

Wood Works: Constructions by Robert Indiana

See approximately 31 constructions by the contemporary American pop artist. Created from materials salvaged from New York City demolition debris, the works contain complex references to literary or historical figures, world events, or to his own paintings.

May 1, 1984 – September 3, 1984

The Baltimore Clay Works

Admire and purchase functional pottery created by 12 artists whose individual approaches produce works in a range of styles.

August 1, 1984 – September 3, 1984

Renwick Gallery

Special Installation: Glass

See 6 pieces of contemporary glass from the permanent collection

April 6, 1984 – September 3, 1984

Renwick Gallery

Conserving Collections: Problems and Solutions

See objects illustrating a variety of conservation problems, from a baby's jacket faded by light to a tarnished candlestick and an example of cracked glass. P

May 1, 1984 – August 31, 1984