Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Beguiling the Babies: Photographing Children in the 19th Century

This exhibition shows the evolution of photographic portraits of children from the early days of photography to the turn of the century.

July 31, 1986 – August 1, 1987

American History Museum

Contemporary Visual Expressions

Works by visual artists Sam Gilliam, Martha Jackson-Jarvis, and Keith Morrison, all of Washington, D.C., and William T. Williams of New York inaugurate the Anacostia Museum’s new galleries.

May 27, 1987 – July 31, 1987

Anacostia Community Museum

Art Display

View works by young people, ages 9-12, including linoleum block printing, silk screening, and collage construction, created during the Creative Arts Workshop July 6-31.

July 31, 1987 – July 31, 1987

Anacostia Community Museum

See a retrospective of approximately 50 paintings by the artist (1912-1966), a major painter of the Washington Color School, whose large, delicate color abstractions are "poured" rather than brushed onto canvas.

May 21, 1987 – July 26, 1987

Hirshhorn Museum

American Art Deco

See some 180 works including sculpture, furniture, textiles, glass, ceramics, silver, and architectural photographs all representative of Art Deco, the most important decorative style of the late 1920s and 1930s in the U.S.

April 17, 1987 – July 26, 1987

Renwick Gallery

Frank Lloyd Wright and the Johnson Wax Buildings: Creating a Corporate Cathedral

View over 100 pieces including lithographs, drawings, furniture, and decorative arts of one of the most extraordinary works in American architectural history.

May 12, 1987 – July 19, 1987

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Recent Acquisitions: Eastman Johnson

Admire the painting The Girl I Left Behind Me (1870-75), by American painter Eastman Johnson (1824-1906).

May 1, 1987 – July 19, 1987

American Art Museum

Shrimps & Crabs Living in Marine Caves of Oceanic Islands

Featuring the scientific work of Drs. Ray Manning and C. Willard Hart, these fifteen photographs depict research and exploration of submerged caves.

January 16, 1985 – July 14, 1987

Natural History Museum

ZooArk

Discover the reasons so many animals are endangered in this 6-part interactive exhibition located at different places throughout the Zoo.

September 1, 1986 – July 1, 1987

National Zoo

A Victorian Horticultural Extravaganza

Recapture the feeling of "Horticultural Hall" at the Centennial in Philadelphia with this exhibition of plants--live, pressed and dried--as well as ladies' crafts and technology of the floral industry.

July 23, 1980 – June 30, 1987

Arts and Industries Building

Louis Sullivan: The Function of Ornament

See some 180 pieces--including drawings, models, ornament, hardware, books, and photographs--relating to Chicago architect Louis Henry Sullivan (1856-1924), one of the most important and influential figures in late-19th and early 20th-century architecture in America.

March 24, 1987 – June 28, 1987

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Patterned Images: Works on Paper from the Museum's Collection

This exhibition of 20 drawings, watercolors, prints, and collages shows how modern artists have used representational or abstract images to create patterns.

April 1, 1987 – June 28, 1987

Hirshhorn Museum

The Catalan Spirit: Gaudi and His Contemporaries

Visit some 75 objects and 75 works on paper, that examine the work of Antonio Gaudi (1852-1926), the legendary Spanish architect, along with that of his contemporaries and colleagues in Barcelona.

February 17, 1987 – June 9, 1987

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Quilts from the Indiana Amish

See 17 quilts, created between 1875 and 1940 by Amish women in northeastern Indiana, collected by David Pottinger, who became fascinated with the Amish people, moved into their community, and researched the exact dates of many of the quilts and the names of their makers.

March 6, 1987 – June 7, 1987

Renwick Gallery

The Far Side of Science: Cartoons by Gary Larson

Chortle over more than 500 cartoons by Seattle-based cartoonist Gary Larson, that deal with a wide range of natural history topics.

April 9, 1987 – May 31, 1987

Natural History Museum

Folding Fans from the Cooper-Hewitt Collection

Enjoy over 60 folding fans and fan leaves of Europe and America, dating from the 17th century to the present.

February 3, 1987 – May 31, 1987

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Classics of Physiology

See a Smithsonian Institution Library exhibition in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the American Physiological Society.

March 25, 1987 – May 29, 1987

American History Museum

Beyond Visions

See more than 60 historic and scientific photographs, revealing previously imperceptible natural occurrences--images too small, too faint, too quick, or too far beyond our normal vision to be seen.

March 9, 1987 – May 26, 1987

American History Museum

Bridging the Century: Images of Bridges from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Drawn from the museum's permanent collection, this exhibition traces the use of the bridge in contemporary art as a symbol of modern technology and the urban environment.

March 11, 1987 – May 25, 1987

Hirshhorn Museum

Gene Davis, A Memorial Exhibition

See 94 paintings and drawings in the most comprehensive exhibition ever shown of the works of Davis (1920-1985), a major American artist and an innovator in the field of abstraction.

February 27, 1987 – May 17, 1987

American Art Museum

Portraits of Nature: Paintings by Robert Bateman

Visit a major retrospective of wildlife paintings by the noted Canadian realist, featuring 110 paintings.

January 17, 1987 – May 17, 1987

Natural History Museum

Body Adornment

Admire and purchase jewelry and accessories, from scarves, belts, and cufflinks, to more unusual items such as formica bowties, paper and safety pin jewelry, and felted jackets.

April 9, 1987 – May 17, 1987

Renwick Gallery