Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Christmas Tree Decorated by Associates

See a Christmas tree, decorated by the National Associates Travel Program's Washington Anytime Weekend participants, that features handcrafted ornaments from the U.S. and abroad.

December 6, 1987 – January 8, 1988

Arts and Industries Building

1987 Trees of Christmas

This year's 10 trees feature ornaments reflecting America's history, cultural heritage, and craft traditions.

December 18, 1987 – January 6, 1988

American History Museum

Art and Archaeology of Ancient Syria: Ebla to Damacus

See some 280 examples of statuary, pottery, mosaics, jewelry, ivory carvings, wall paintings, and other artifacts, illustrating the cultural history of Syria from 8000 B.C. to the flourishing of medieval Islamic civilization.

July 10, 1987 – January 3, 1988

Natural History Museum

G.A. 100: The Centenary of the Division of Graphic Arts

The history of the Division of Graphic Arts at the Smithsonian is examined.

May 16, 1986 – January 1, 1988

American History Museum

The Postal Service of the Confederate States

Trace the development and demise of the Confederate postal service.

July 1, 1984 – December 31, 1987

American History Museum

Recent Acquisitions "Bringing Home the Newborn Lamb" (painting by Elliott Daingerfield, 1890)

The artist, whose work was modeled after the Barbizon school, spread through his work a "gospel" of the superiority of a rural life, as demonstrated in this painting.

December 1, 1987 – December 31, 1987

American Art Museum

Art in the Parks Contest Entries

View 100 entries, including 6 finalists, in the recent Art in the Parks contest, sponsored by the National Park Foundation and the National Park Academy of the Arts.

December 1, 1987 – December 18, 1987

Smithsonian Castle

Landscapes and Famous Places

See a dozen Japanese screens, made between the 17th and 19th centuries, that depict landscapes and places in Japan that are well-known for their scenic, literary, religious, or historical significance.

February 1, 1986 – November 30, 1987

Asian Art Museum, West Building

Recent Acquisition: Composition (a painting by Lee Krasner)

One of Lee Krasner's strongest early paintings is among the few to survive, since she often scraped canvases down for reuse by herself and her spouse Jackson Pollock.

November 1, 1987 – November 30, 1987

American Art Museum

Lucian Freud Paintings

See 70 paintings and 14 drawings, chosen by the artist to emphasize certain themes, such as the use of particular models in nudes, portraits, and figure studies.

September 15, 1987 – November 29, 1987

Hirshhorn Museum

American Traditions in Watercolor: The Worcester Art Museum Collection

The Worcester Art Museum possesses one of the foremost public collections of watercolors in the U.S. On view are 75 selections from their collection, including works by John La Farge, Andrew Wyeth, Childe Hassam, Edward Hopper, and Maurice Prendergast.

September 17, 1987 – November 22, 1987

American Art Museum

Lollipops and Launch Pads: Children's Space Art

See how kindergarten children from Orange County, California schools view space exploration through drawings and paintings.

July 2, 1987 – November 22, 1987

Air and Space Museum

Chinese Porcelain at Drakes Bay Before 1600: Archaeology, World Trade, and Native Americans

Displayed are archaeological finds from the Drakes Bay area of California, demonstrating early contact between Native Americans and Europeans that resulted from the expansion of Asian trade following Columbus's voyages.

August 25, 1987 – November 16, 1987

American History Museum

On China: Photographs by Hiroji Kubota

View 100 color photographs--some mural-sized--of the people and landscapes of the People's Republic of China.

September 11, 1987 – November 13, 1987

Natural History Museum

Underground Images: School of Visual Arts Subway Posters, 1947-1987 (SVA)

View approximately 40 posters commemorating the 40th anniversary of the School of Visual Arts (SVA), the country's largest art school.

July 28, 1987 – November 8, 1987

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Sojourners and Settlers: Yemeni Workers at Home and Abroad

View 110 photographs taken by five American scholars and photographers who traveled in the Arabian peninsula nation of Yemen and in the industrial and agricultural regions of the U.S. where thousands of Yemenis have come in search of work.

October 1, 1987 – October 30, 1987

Ripley Center

Recent Acquisitions: "Family," "Seedling," and "Jungle Palm"

Leo Amino (b. 1911) began carving in ebony. His interest in sculpture grew rapidly. By the mid-1940s he began to experiment with the materials for these works--plastic and cast polyester resin.

October 1, 1987 – October 30, 1987

American Art Museum

Dan Dailey: Glass, 1972-1987

Admire 42 vases, sculptures, lamps, wall reliefs, tripod assemblies, and distorted vessels as well as 9 related drawings by the artist, who works with hardened plate glass and blown glass.

June 26, 1987 – October 25, 1987

Renwick Gallery

Treasures from the National Museum of American Art

Visit 81 masterworks of American painting and sculpture, demonstrating the diverse traditions of American visual creativity from Colonial to contemporary times.

May 7, 1987 – October 18, 1987

American Art Museum

Roger Brown

This retrospective of approximately 50 paintings and 4 painted constructions--from the late 1960s to the present--reviews the achievements of this Chicago "imagist."

August 12, 1987 – October 18, 1987

Hirshhorn Museum

Safe and Secure: Keys and Locks

Discover some 225 pieces, including embellished locks and keys, and a chronology of key and lock development and use, styles and symbolism.

June 9, 1987 – October 18, 1987

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

John La Farge

This major retrospective offers 111 works of painting, graphics, and stained glass, which document American John La Farge's interest in many of the most forward-looking aspects of French art.

July 10, 1987 – October 12, 1987

American Art Museum

Video Interview of Artists from Contemporary Visual Expressions

View a videotape showing artists from the Contemporary Visual Expressions exhibition (recently closed), speaking about their art and themselves.

August 1, 1987 – October 11, 1987

Anacostia Community Museum

Art Nouveau Bing: The Paris Style 1900

See some 200 prints, posters, decorative art objects, and furniture are used to explore the international influence of Siegfried Bing (1838-1905), one of the earliest supporters of Art Nouveau.

July 21, 1987 – October 11, 1987

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Ikebana Display

View some half-dozen floral arrangements demonstrating the work of schools of Ikebana design.

October 1, 1987 – October 3, 1987

Ripley Center