Past Exhibitions

Native American Art: Lost and Found Traditions Sales Exhibition

Admire and purchase rugs, drums, masks, jewelry, pottery, baskets, kachinas, boots, beaded accessories, and miniature totem poles--some created by artists whose work is included in the Renwick exhibition.

October 10, 1987 – March 6, 1988

Vienna/New York, the Work of Joseph Urban, 1872-1933

See approximately 80 objects of the work of architect and designer Joseph Urban, including original architectural drawings, set models, photographs, and furniture.

November 17, 1987 – March 6, 1988

Renwick Featured Object: Listening to the East Wind

View a ceramic sculpture by Rudy Autio that features robust female nudes and a pair of galloping horses.

December 1, 1987 – March 6, 1988

Asian Art Museum, East Building

Persian and Indian Paintings: Selections from a Recent Acquisition (The Vever Collection)

See 15 examples of painting and calligraphy from the Vever collection that offer a sampling of the collection of nearly 500 Islamic paintings and manuscripts that disappeared in the 1940s and remained unaccounted for until it was purchased by the museum.

September 28, 1987 – February 29, 1988

Patterns of Life: West African Stripweaving Traditions

Trace the stylistic and technical development of West Africa's weaving traditions among the Fulbe, Soninke, Dyula, Ewe, and Yoruba people in this exhibition of 36 textiles.

September 28, 1987 – February 29, 1988

African Art Museum

Sol Lewitt Works

For this first in a series of Works exhibition, displayed is a wall drawing by the Conceptual artist (b. 1928), known for his use of grids and other geometric forms.

December 2, 1987 – February 28, 1988

Hirshhorn Museum

Royal Benin Art in the Collection of the National Museum of African Art

View 21 objects from the permanent collection, ranging in date from the 16th to the 19th centuries, including wall plaques, altar pieces, and regalia.

September 28, 1987 – February 28, 1988

African Art Museum

Directions: Joel Shapiro, Painted Wood

Featured in this review are 12 painted wood sculptures by the artist, known for his sharply geometric, Minimalist style.

December 2, 1987 – February 28, 1988

Hirshhorn Museum

Recent Acquisition: Brownstone (by Harvey Dinnerstein)

Dinnerstein's traditional realist style utilizes the focused light that recalls the works of Caravaggio, Watteau, and Manet. This painting, portraying neighborhood activities around a brownstone's doorway, represents a conscious rebuttal to abstract art.

February 2, 1988 – February 28, 1988

Plains Indian Arts, Continuity and Change

See 12 sets of objects, including cradles, courting blankets, dance sticks, and beaded dresses, that show the evolution of Native American craftsmanship from the 19th century to the present.

October 9, 1987 – February 22, 1988

Natural History Museum

Surprise! Surprise! Pop-up and Movable Books

Visit a selection of pop-up books representing subjects ranging from medicine to children's fairy tales, including examples by Lothar Meggendorfer and others.

October 27, 1987 – February 21, 1988

Cynthia Schira: New Work (Weavings)

See 10 recent large-scale weavings, as well as Schira's work Reflections, from the Renwick's permanent collection.

November 13, 1987 – February 14, 1988

Recent Acquisitions (1987-88)

Admire paintings, sculptures, prints, photographs, and drawings recently acquired by the NPG.

August 15, 1987 – February 14, 1988

Portrait Gallery

Official Images: New Deal Photographs

This exhibition explores the U.S. government's use of documentary photographs in the 1930s to inform people about government programs.

July 1, 1987 – February 11, 1988

American History Museum

Studies from Life: Portrait Photographs by Julia Margaret Cameron from the J. Paul Getty Museum

See photographs of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Thomas Carlyle, William Rosetti, and others.

November 25, 1987 – February 7, 1988

Portrait Gallery

Early American Cultures: Illustrations from the Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art

View a bilingual, English-Spanish exhibition that features 12 original drawings by artist-researcher Jose Perez de Arce, which portray aspects of life in the Andean cultural area before the European conquest.

December 1, 1987 – February 1, 1988

Ripley Center

Supreme Instants: The Photography of Edward Weston

See 237 photographs by one of the most important figures in 20th-century photography.

December 1, 1987 – January 31, 1988

Recent Acquisitions Night Ship/Submerged Channel/The Frozen Sea

John Roloff, the artist, experiments with clay formulas and unorthodox materials for glazes to achieve, in this case, a magic aqueous winter garden in miniature, suggesting ancient underwater wrecks, ghostly ships that have sunk to abyssal depths.

January 1, 1988 – January 31, 1988

1988 Staff Art Show

This 2-week exhibition features the works of 30 artists who create art in their "time off" from working at a variety of careers at the museum. Included are works on canvas and other media.

January 1, 1988 – January 31, 1988

Into the Sunlit Splendor: The Art of William S. Phillips

See 40 paintings and drawings by the contemporary artist, from WWII airplanes to the Space Shuttle, and the landscapes surrounding them.

June 19, 1987 – January 31, 1988

Air and Space Museum

Honor and Glory: Monumental Arches

Examine the history of monumental arches, through some 60 drawings, prints, photographs, rare books, textiles, and models of a variety of arches from the Cooper-Hewitt collection.

October 13, 1987 – January 31, 1988

Arches for Galveston

Study the Galveston Arches, seven high fantasy arches constructed for the Mardi Gras in Galveston in 1986, including one re-erected for the exhibition.

October 13, 1987 – January 31, 1988