Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

The Ocean Liner: Speed, Style, Symbols

See models, drawings, posters, and other related objects that feature ocean liners as symbols of 20th-century technology and artistry.

January 22, 1980 – April 6, 1980

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Einstein: A Centenary Exhibition

This comprehensive exhibition explores Einstein the man and thinker.

March 3, 1979 – April 8, 1980

American History Museum

Japanese Prints ("Surimono" Genre)

See 10 "Surimono," miniature genre prints and poems that are the focal point of 24 works.

January 25, 1980 – April 15, 1980

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

The Great Crash

Mark the 50th anniversary of Wall Street's "Black Thursday" in 1929, and focus on the personalities who shaped the times.

October 24, 1979 – April 20, 1980

Portrait Gallery

The American Renaissance, 1876-1917

Created during a period when Americans identified themselves as spiritual heirs of the European Renaissance, these 300 works include architectural models, plans, drawings, photographs, paintings, murals, sculpture, glass, bookbinding, jewelry, furniture, fabrics, and wallpaper.

February 22, 1980 – April 20, 1980

American Art Museum

Twills With Titles: H. Theodore Hallman, Weaver; Kenneth A. Mills, Poet

See 18 contemporary textile hangings which document innovative fiber artist H. Theodore Hallman's work, each with titles by Mills.

February 1, 1980 – April 27, 1980

Renwick Gallery

Frank and Lillian Gilbreth: Motion Engineers

Highlighted is a chronocyclegraph, a device invented by the Gilbreths to study the hand and arm motions of industrial workers.

March 6, 1980 – April 30, 1980

American History Museum

A Decade of Discovery: Selected Acquisitions, 1970-1980

View 114 works that represent a variety of Asian cultures, including secular paintings, religious images and ritual objects, personal ornaments and household furnishings ranging in time from 3,000 B.C. to the 19th century.

January 1, 1980 – April 30, 1980

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Like Cures Like

This case presents a brief history and background of homeopathic medicine.

April 1, 1980 – May 1, 1980

American History Museum

Recent Gift Acquisitions (African Art)

View figures, masks, and musical instruments from the Senufo, Babara, Baga, Dan, Yoruba, and Luba peoples of West and Central Africa.

April 1, 1980 – May 15, 1980

African Art Museum

Photographing the Frontier (Phase II)

See a second group of about 80 photographs taken by itinerant photographers documents life in the Far Western part of the U.S. in the last half of the 19th century.

January 26, 1978 – May 15, 1980

American History Museum

The Useful Arts of Kenya

See a comprehensive display of Kenyan arts and crafts, plus other utilitarian objects.

January 1, 1980 – May 15, 1980

African Art Museum

Japanese Dolls Today

Brought back by popular demand, this exhibit features 125 contemporary dolls donated by Nippon Harp Promotion Society.

March 3, 1980 – May 16, 1980

Natural History Museum

African Insights

View color photographs of flora, fauna, and landscapes shot in South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya by Mignon Davis, MNH Dept. of Entomology.

March 22, 1980 – May 18, 1980

Natural History Museum

A Century of Ceramics in the United States, 1878-1978

Visit a variety of ceramics styles, philosophies, and techniques illustrated by some 200 examples of the work of major potters, designers, and craftsmen.

February 26, 1980 – May 25, 1980

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Walter Quirt: Early Works

View 50 paintings, drawings, and political cartoons by the Midwestern surrealist

April 4, 1980 – May 25, 1980

American Art Museum

Belgian Artists in the Museum's Collection

View 16 works--6 paintings and 10 sculptures--by 7 artists, among them: Margritte, Alechensky, and Pol Bury.

April 10, 1980 – May 26, 1980

Hirshhorn Museum

Traditional Art from Upper Volta

View more than 115 masks, figures, jewelry, and utilitarian items from the Bwa, Bobo, Lobi, Mossi, and Gurunis peoples of Upper Volta.

January 1, 1980 – May 31, 1980

African Art Museum

Spectacular Spaces: Drawings from the Cooper-Hewitt Collection

View unusual, unconventional, and sometimes fanciful architectural drawings of exterior and interior spaces by designers from the 16th-20th centuries.

April 8, 1980 – June 1, 1980

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Heralds of Science

Selected rare and significant publications are among the major scientific documents and instruments on view.

April 21, 1980 – June 6, 1980

American History Museum

Works from the 1979 Annual Exhibition of Art Depicting Birds

Admire 47 works including paintings, drawings, watercolors, and wood carvings, chosen from an annual juried exhibition at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, Wisconsin.

February 1, 1980 – June 8, 1980

American Art Museum

Three Glass Masters and Students

Admire and purchase glass objects created by Dominick Labino, Marvin Lipofsky and Harvey K. Littleton and their students, American craftsmen whose work is included in the current New Glass exhibition at the Renwick.

March 21, 1980 – June 8, 1980

Renwick Gallery

Miro: Selected Paintings

Honoring Joan Miro in his 87th year, the show includes approximately 45 of his major paintings. The works date from 1914 to 1974 and are drawn from nearly 30 private and public collections in the U.S.

March 20, 1980 – June 8, 1980

Hirshhorn Museum

Women in the Navy

View examples of the changing role of women in the Navy.

March 3, 1980 – June 15, 1980

American History Museum

French Tradition in Belgium Today: Carnival Costumes from Belgium and Marionettes from Liege

See some 25 figures, ranging from costumed male figures central to local celebrations to the traditional Harlequin and Pierrot; from the permanent collection of the Musee de la Vie Wallone, Liege.

April 25, 1980 – June 27, 1980

Renwick Gallery