Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Americans in Brittany and Normandy: 1860-1910

Understand the "plein air" style of painting the beaches and countryside through 118 paintings that focus on Americans who were attracted to the art colonies at Pont Aven and Giverny.

June 10, 1983 – August 14, 1983

American Art Museum

The Courtyard of El Haram, the Great Mosque of Mecca

Walk through an audiovisual unit representing the courtyard of the Great Mosque, with animated figures and recorded narration that demonstrate and explain Muslim religious practices from dawn to dusk.

June 2, 1983 – August 9, 1983

Natural History Museum

Designed for Theater

Visit a theatre exhibition featuring stage designs, costumes, and theater architecture and decoration.

January 24, 1983 – August 7, 1983

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

E.C. Segar's Popeye: American Culture Hero

Examine Popeye in relation to other American popular culture heroes, including popular images of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

March 1, 1983 – July 31, 1983

American History Museum

Portraits

View works on paper from the HMSG collection.

February 1, 1983 – July 31, 1983

Hirshhorn Museum

Royal Gifts from the Kingdom of Thailand

View 15 exquisitely crafted gifts from Thai monarchs to the United States and to U.S. presidents from 1856 to the present.

November 1, 1982 – July 31, 1983

Natural History Museum

The Italians and the Creation of America

Investigate 79 old books, maps, and supplementary materials from the late 13th through the early 19th century on Columbus and other Italian explorers.

October 12, 1982 – July 31, 1983

American History Museum

Canes and Walking Sticks

See some 200 canes and sticks that survey the range of design and materials used in fashioning these accessories.

May 3, 1983 – July 24, 1983

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Joseph Stella: The HMSG Collection

Trace the full range of Stella's stylistic evolution through 34 works, from his early realistic manner through the colorful dynamic Futurism for which he is best known to his late symbolism.

May 12, 1983 – July 17, 1983

Hirshhorn Museum

Faberge: Jeweler to Royalty

See more than 200 works by Peter Carl Faberge, Russian master jeweler, including hardstone carvings of animals; flower studies in gold, enamel, and rock crystal; table top accessories ranging from letter openers to miniature picture frames; and Easter eggs exchanged among members of the Russian royal family.

April 15, 1983 – July 10, 1983

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Celebration: A World of Art and Ritual

View a 2-part exhibition with some 600 objects used in celebrations among 62 cultural groups around the world. The exhibition draws from the collections of nine Smithsonian museums.

March 17, 1982 – July 10, 1983

Renwick Gallery

The Washington Bowl

Admire and purchase bowls created of glass, clay, and turned wood by 10 artists from the Washington metropolitan area.

April 7, 1983 – July 4, 1983

Renwick Gallery

Japanese and Chinese Lacquer

View approximately 60 examples of lacquer containers, utensils, and furniture from China and Japan, incorporating such techniques as monochrome, carved and colored lacquer, and Japanese decoration in silver and gold.

October 1, 1982 – June 30, 1983

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

The Silk Route and the Diamond Path (Buddhist Art)

Buddhist bronze, stone, and terra cotta sculptures; paintings; and ritual objects dating from the 7th century to the present comprise this exhibition of over 130 rare works.

May 6, 1983 – June 30, 1983

Natural History Museum

California Flora: Botanical Watercolors by Mary Foley Benson

Approximately 45 works by illustrator Benson represent the flora of California.

April 30, 1983 – June 26, 1983

Natural History Museum

The Eight

This small exhibition includes paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs of an independent group of early 20th-century American artists known as "The Eight".

February 3, 1983 – June 26, 1983

Portrait Gallery

Jose De Creeft: Sculpture and Drawings

See 65 works in a retrospective exhibition that surveys the achievements of the naturalized American who was born in Spain in 1884 and died in 1982 in New York.

March 18, 1983 – June 19, 1983

American Art Museum

The Mechanical Artist

Investigate instruments that draw and their products -- writing machines, engraving devices, a camera obscura, and a physiognotrace (silhouette-drawing machine), among others.

November 1, 1981 – June 5, 1983

American History Museum

Fashioned in Steel (The Steel Navy)

Commemorate the centennial of the Congressional bill authorizing the Navy Dept. to begin construction of steel ships, and trace their early development through some 7 models and several pictures, as well as the comfort (and discomfort) of people who manned the early ships.

March 22, 1983 – May 31, 1983

American History Museum

D.C. Day Art Contest

On view are works by student artists from D.C. city schools, including the winners of honorable mention recipients in this year's contest. The theme was aeronautics.

February 15, 1983 – May 31, 1983

Air and Space Museum

Alfred Stieglitz

View 5 photogravure prints of New York scenes from the turn of the century.

February 18, 1983 – May 31, 1983

American History Museum

Fighting for Freedom

Read letters written by black soldiers during the Civil War to the War Department and to their families and friends at home.

February 1, 1983 – May 31, 1983

American History Museum

Japanese Masks from the Noh Theater and Kyogen Performances

In conjunction with the Performing Arts' World Explorer performance and demonstration, on view are Japanese masks used in the Noh dance theater, and in the Kyogen, satirical interludes during intermissions in the Noh theater.

May 1, 1983 – May 31, 1983

Natural History Museum

Directions 1983

This group exhibition of contemporary art suggests certain concerns, or "directions," shared by artists using diverse styles or media.

March 10, 1983 – May 15, 1983

Hirshhorn Museum

Threads: 7 American Artists and Their Miniature Textile Pictures

View 26 works conceived on a small scale which use the smallest component of the textile process, the thread, as their principal element.

November 25, 1982 – May 8, 1983

Renwick Gallery