Past Exhibitions

Recent Acquisition

Admire Morning Glory, a sculpture by Joel Tanner Hart.

November 2, 1986 – November 30, 1986

Antarctic Summer: Watercolors by Lucia de Leiris

View 38 watercolors by Lucia de Leiris, who recently spent four months at the continent's Palmer Scientific Station in order to illustrate a book on the natural history of the Antarctic peninsula.

August 8, 1986 – November 30, 1986

Through Light and Shadow: Photographs by Clara Sipprell

Visit 33 portraits by American photographer Clara Sipprell, who relied upon the effects of natural light to produce her characteristic soft-focus images.

May 23, 1986 – November 30, 1986

Portrait Gallery

Unknown Territory: Photography by Ray Metzker

View 190 photographs in a retrospective exhibition that chronicles Metzker's art over the past 25 years.

September 12, 1986 – November 23, 1986

Invention and Enterprise

This exhibition consists of 10 objects from the museum's collections which illustrate the development process of an invention--from its inception to its success as a commercial product.

June 20, 1986 – November 16, 1986

Selections from the Joseph H. Hirshhorn Bequest

See some 80 paintings and sculptures of the most important works selected from the approximately 5,300 works bequeathed in 1981 by the museum's founding donor.

August 7, 1986 – November 16, 1986

Hirshhorn Museum

Magnificent Voyagers: The U.S. Exploring Expedition 1838-1842 (Wilkes Expedition)

See fossils, minerals, plants, maps, masks, carved wooden figures, baskets, paintings, drawings, and vividly colored scientific illustrations, all from the daring, four-year voyage to South America, Pacific Islands, Antarctica, Australia.

November 14, 1985 – November 9, 1986

Lunda Hoyle Gill: Oil Paintings of the People of China

See 50 portraits and sketches of ethnic minorities in the People's Republic of China, by the California-born artist.

September 19, 1986 – November 9, 1986

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Islamic Metalwork from the Freer Collection

Admire 37 intricately crafted examples of vessels, plates, ewers, weapons, and other objects in brass, silver, bronze, and gold that explore the technical and aesthetic development of metalwork in the Islamic world from the 7th-8th through the 17th centuries.

September 27, 1985 – November 9, 1986

Second Great International Paper Airplane Contest Winners

See the 40 winning entries in the Second Great International Paper Airplane Contest sponsored by NASM, Science 85 and Seattle's Museum of Flight, along with the paper airplane flown by Senator Jake Garn on a recent space shuttle mission.

July 24, 1985 – November 4, 1986

Air and Space Museum

Recent Acquisition

See Panorama, 11/26/84, a photograph by Lucas Samaras.

October 1, 1986 – November 2, 1986

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Garden Potteries and Offical Kilns: Clan-sponsored Ceramics in the Edo Period

Observe 38 pieces of ceramics made under the direct sponsorship of feudal lords, a little-known aspect of Japan's ceramic production during the Edo period (1615-1868)

January 17, 1986 – November 2, 1986

The Hospital in Service of the City

See photos and documents commemorating the people, service, and facilities of New York's Bellevue Hospital, in continuous operation for over 250 years.

July 18, 1986 – October 31, 1986

Gifts of Mother Earth: Ceramics in the Zuni Tradition

See some 85 examples of traditional Zuni pottery selected primarily from the Stevenson Collection of NMNH.

June 14, 1985 – October 31, 1986

The History of Women's Gym Suits, or the Late Bloomers and How They Blossomed and Died

View graphics and examples of exercise clothes worn by American women from the 1830s to the 1980s.

May 22, 1986 – October 21, 1986

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Newcomb Pottery: An Enterprise for Southern Women

See ceramic objects produced at Newcomb College, Tulane University, one of the important centers of the Arts and Crafts Movement in the U.S. and the only major pottery center in the South.

August 19, 1986 – October 19, 1986

Hollywood: Legend and Reality

Explore the development of the motion picture industry in Hollywood and the impact of movies on American culture represented by props, costumes, and artifacts from well-known movies, artists and photographers.

September 5, 1986 – October 12, 1986

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Pewter

Admire and purchase a range of objects from functional to sculptural, including boxes with inlaid stones, mirrors, paperweights, candlesticks, vases, and cups.

August 1, 1986 – October 5, 1986

Renwick Gallery

All in a Day's Work

View photographs depicting the daily work of postal inspectors.

August 23, 1986 – October 1, 1986

A Century of Museum Collecting

The centennial of the Smithsonian's National Philatelic Collection is commemorated in a small exhibit including some of its earliest collected artifacts.

August 23, 1986 – October 1, 1986

Gotcha!

View artifacts of evidence used to solve "mail crimes" by the postal inspection service.

August 23, 1986 – October 1, 1986

A Century of Organized Philately

This small exhibit commemorates the 100th anniversary of the American Philatelic Society, America's largest and oldest philatelic organization.

August 23, 1986 – October 1, 1986

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Wonders of Creation, Oddities of Existence: An Exhibition in Celebration of Halley's Comet

See 21 paintings, 2 pieces of metalwork, and a ceramic bowl that examine Islamic attitudes toward the cosmos from the 13th through the 18th centuries.

March 3, 1986 – October 1, 1986

Focusing on Art: Peter A. Juley & Son

Visit 30 photographs selected from the 127,000 photographic negatives comprising the NMAA Juley Collection. Believed to be the largest single photographic record of American art, the collection is particularly valuable because it often contains the only surviving visual record of the original state of many works of art.

November 22, 1985 – September 30, 1986