Past Exhibitions

The Prints of Howard Norton Cook

Take in 66 works by Cook (1901-1980), a printmaker who worked with equal success in lithography, wood engraving, and intaglio. His varied subject matter included scenes of New York City, New England villages, and Southwest Indians.

January 27, 1984 – May 13, 1984

American Art Museum

Drawings: 1974-1984

This survey exhibition, commemorating the tenth anniversary of the Hirshhorn, includes some 150 works by 15 American and 15 foreign artists.

March 15, 1984 – May 13, 1984

Hirshhorn Museum

The North Carolina Glass Community

Admire and purchase works selected by noted glass artist Harvey Littleton, who has a studio in North Carolina. Both one-of- a-kind and production pieces of 12 craftsmen are included.

March 8, 1984 – May 6, 1984

Renwick Gallery

Vitamin Technology

Visit a 1920s capsuling machine, a model of a 1950s capsuling machine, and some of the work of early vitamin researcher Casimir Funk and others.

January 1, 1984 – April 30, 1984

Oman: Heritage of a Civilization

Discover the history of the Sultanate of Oman, the 2nd largest country in the Arabian Peninsula, from the 3rd millenium B.C. to present times through handicrafts and seafaring traditions.

April 18, 1984 – April 26, 1984

Smithsonian Castle

African Islam

See more than 100 works of art that explore the interaction of Islam and traditional African life.

November 30, 1983 – April 22, 1984

African Art Museum

Etchings by the Tiepolos

See some 50 etchings by the Teipolos--Giovannia Battista, Domenico, and Lorenzo--all selected from the Cooper-Hewitt's comprehensive collection of the works of these 18th-century Italian artists.

January 17, 1984 – April 22, 1984

The Ramayana

See 24 paintings from a 16th-century Indian manuscript that tell the story of Rama, the Hindu god-man. Accompanying the paintings are 7 sculptural interpretations.

October 1, 1983 – April 15, 1984

The Nazca Lines

See 60 black-and-white aerial photographs by Marilyn Bridges offer creative interpretation of the enormous ancient earth designs and drawings executed by the Nazca Indians of Peru.

January 6, 1984 – April 15, 1984

Natural History Museum

Pre-Islamic Metalwork from the Near East

View 24 objects in silver, gold, and bronze, made in Iran and Egypt, from the 4th century B.C. to the 6th century A.D., including Sassanian Iran (224-651) and 9 gold objects from Egypt.

April 16, 1983 – April 15, 1984

German-American Aerospace Heritage

View photographs and career highlights about German-Americans such as Werner von Braun, Eddie Rickenbacker, Edward Heinemann, Grover Loening, William Boeing, and Hans von Ohain.

October 6, 1983 – April 12, 1984

Air and Space Museum

Microelectronics

Marvel at approximately 50 microelectronic devices, including not only early calculators of the 1950s, transistors and chips, but also some of the instruments associated with transistor and integrated-circuit fabrication.

February 1, 1984 – April 12, 1984

Art from Italy: A Selection from the Museum's Collection

More than 50 works represent a cross-section of Italian painting and sculpture, primarily from the postwar years.

February 1, 1984 – April 8, 1984

Hirshhorn Museum

Netsuke: Japanese Design in Miniature

See some 400 examples of "netsuke"; miniature Japanese sculptures in ivory, wood, and other materials, worn from the 16th to mid-19th centuries.

January 31, 1984 – April 8, 1984

The Equestrian Image

View a brass sculpture that served as a finial on a large iron staff, an emblem of leadership called a "sono" by the peoples of Guinea-Bissau in West Africa.

February 17, 1984 – April 8, 1984

African Art Museum

Lura Woodside Watkins: Cultural Historian, 1897-1982

Lura W. Watkins was an innovative scholar, studying 18th- and 19th- century artifacts in order to discover their importance in everyday life. See objects from the collections of the Divisions of Domestic Life and Ceramics and Glass, which she contributed to the Smithsonian.

January 19, 1984 – April 2, 1984

Charles Lang Freer, the Man and His Gallery

Follow the life, travels, and collection of Charles Lang Freer, using photographs and documents from the Freer Archives.

February 1, 1983 – April 1, 1984

American Enterprise: 19th-Century Patent Models

Marvel at more than 500 patent models for technological development as well as for the betterment of the quality of daily life.

January 17, 1984 – April 1, 1984

Japanese Portraiture

Visit a selection of 18 portraits and imaginary portraits by Japanese painters of the 13th to 19th centuries.

July 2, 1983 – April 1, 1984

Valentine's Day Images in Commercial Advertising

View some 15 images, most of which are advertising tear sheets using the American "valentine."

March 1, 1984 – March 31, 1984