Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Sensational Statements: Artware

View accessories for men and women.

July 20, 1990 – October 7, 1990

The Noble Path: Buddhist Art of South Asia and Tibet

Follow the evolution of Buddhism in South Asia and Tibet through some 100 objects on loan from the Los Angeles County Art Museum.

October 1, 1989 – September 30, 1990

Asian Art Museum, East Building

Directions: Christian Marclay

See mundane and discarded materials from the world of music and recording technology transformed by the artist.

June 27, 1990 – September 30, 1990

Hirshhorn Museum

Renwick Featured Object

Admire striking walnut library ladder by Daniel Jackson.

August 1, 1990 – September 30, 1990

Renwick Gallery

The Great Strike - Lawrence 1912

A painting by Ralph Fasanella, 1978, depicts textile strike of 1912 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, capturing the worst aspects of early industrialization.

August 3, 1990 – September 30, 1990

American History Museum

Pre-Hispanic Foods of Mexico/Presencia de la Comida Prehispanica

See photographs of foods that were eaten by the people of Mexico before Columbus's arrival in the New World.

June 1, 1990 – September 30, 1990

Ripley Center

African Artifacts from the Collection of Philip Abrams

See 2 late 19th- or early 20th-century wooden helmet masks worn by women during West African women's initiation ceremonies.

December 22, 1989 – September 30, 1990

Natural History Museum

Recent Acquisitions

See 2 lithographs commissioned by RAP and donated to the museum: In Celebration by Sam Gilliam (1987) and Tunis on My Mind by Willem deLooper (1988).

August 31, 1990 – September 28, 1990

American Art Museum

American Collages from the Permanent Collection

View collages, mostly from the 1960s, by such artists as Joseph Cornell, Romare Bearden, and Robert Motherwell.

May 24, 1990 – September 23, 1990

Hirshhorn Museum

Color, Light, Surface: Contemporary Fabrics

See commercially produced and one-of-a-kind textiles made in England, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Italy, and the United States in the last decade.

April 3, 1990 – September 23, 1990

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Variations on a Script (Islamic Calligraphy from the Vever Collection)

View 21 examples of Islamic calligraphy from the Vever Collection.

February 18, 1990 – September 16, 1990

Asian Art Museum, East Building

Infinite Illusions: Electronically Created Imagery

This exhibition highlights computer graphics, including hanging sculptures, video walls, still pieces, and internal photographs.

September 7, 1990 – September 16, 1990

Ripley Center

Whose Art Is It, Anyway?: The Arts in Public Places

View an exhibition that explores the visual and performing arts in public spaces.

July 15, 1990 – September 16, 1990

Anacostia Community Museum

On the East Broad Top Railroad

Approximately 40 photographs document the overhaul of a 1912 narrow-gauge steam locomotive.

July 6, 1990 – September 13, 1990

American History Museum

Yokohama: Prints from 19th-Century Japan

Enjoy 80 woodblock prints that focus on the manners and customs of the foreign residents of the port city of Yokohama.

May 27, 1990 – September 9, 1990

Asian Art Museum, East Building

Ancient Chinese Jades and Bronzes

See Chinese bronze, jade, and turquoise pieces from the Shang and Zhou dynasties in the permanent collection.

October 1, 1989 – September 9, 1990

Asian Art Museum, East Building

Bay Area Figurative Art, 1950-1965

See 88 works that present a definitive look at the postwar expressionist impulse as manifested on the West Coast.

June 13, 1990 – September 9, 1990

Hirshhorn Museum

Icons of Invention: American Patent Models

Enjoy patent models originally displayed in the Old Patent Office.

May 4, 1990 – September 3, 1990

Portrait Gallery

New American Furniture

View American furniture created by 25 contemporary American studio-furniture makers.

April 20, 1990 – September 3, 1990

Renwick Gallery

Icons: Ideals and Power in the Art of Africa

See 100 works focusing on 5 themes in African art--the male and female couple, the woman-and-child, the forceful male with weapon, the rider of horses and other animals, and the outsider/stranger.

October 25, 1989 – September 3, 1990

African Art Museum