Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

The Rising of a New Moon: A Century of Tabwa Art

View approximately 80 carved ancestral figures, masks, musical instruments, and utilitarian objects that present the work of the Tabwa people of southeastern Zaire and northeastern Zambia.

January 29, 1986 – March 17, 1986

African Art Museum

Photographs from the Permanent Collection

The 125 works on view demonstrate the range and diversity of NMAA's collection of 20th-century photography.

September 13, 1985 – March 9, 1986

American Art Museum

Advertising America

Examine over 150 print and television advertisements organized into such themes as At Work, At Home, At Leisure, and On the Road in an exhibition that illustrates how advertising influences, and, conversely, reflects social change.

December 17, 1985 – March 9, 1986

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Treasures from the Land: 12 New Zealand Craftsmen and Their Native Materials

See 70 works by New Zealand craftsmen including woven hangings of natural wool, carved and painted gourds, sculptural ceramic vessels, Maori feather capes, a carved ceremonial doorway, and delicate jewelry of inlaid woods, precious metals, and minerals.

November 15, 1985 – March 9, 1986

Renwick Gallery

Music and Dance of Papua New Guinea

View over 65 color photographs taken by photographer Jordan Wright in Papua New Guinea, as well as 28 artifacts, including musical instruments, costumes, necklaces, bracelets, and objects of personal adornment.

January 10, 1986 – March 9, 1986

Natural History Museum

Recent Acquisitions (1985-86)

See a sampling of the portraiture of influential Americans past and present recently acquired by NPG for the permanent collection.

June 8, 1985 – February 24, 1986

Portrait Gallery

The Golden Eye: An International Tribute to the Artisans of India

Take in a major exhibition of crafts and products devised in collaboration between traditional artisans of India and world-famous designers from Europe and America.

November 5, 1985 – February 23, 1986

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

The Naming of America

View a 1507 World map thought to be by Martin Waldseemuller, a German mapmaker, probably the first map to designate the New World continents as America, and supplemented by related materials.

October 26, 1983 – February 17, 1986

American History Museum

Artists on Paper: Prints, Photographs and Drawings from NPG Collection

Portraits and self-portraits of eminent American artists represented in the NPG collection.

November 22, 1985 – February 16, 1986

Portrait Gallery

Gaston Lachaise: Portrait Sculpture

Visit more than 60 portrait sculptures by French-born Gaston Lachaise (1882-1935), most of them executed in the U.S. in the 1920s and 1930s.

November 22, 1985 – February 16, 1986

Portrait Gallery

Meisho-e: Famous Places of Japan

Taking its name from the Japanese word for "pictures of famous places," visit an exhibition that includes some 18 examples of paintings, prints, drawings, and ceramics depicting renowned locations of the archipelago.

October 18, 1985 – February 9, 1986

Asian Art Museum, West Building

Ch'ing Dynasty Calligraphy and Painting

Visit approximately 30 masterpieces of China's Ch'ing Dynasty (1644-1911).

September 6, 1985 – February 2, 1986

Asian Art Museum, West Building

The Old Farmer's Almanacs

See 18 almanacs of Robert B. Thomas's The Old Farmer's Almanac, dating from 1793, recently donated.

November 11, 1985 – January 31, 1986

American History Museum

Contemporary Crafts from the Empire State

Admire and purchase desks and serving accessories, perfume bottles, jewelry, and textiles created by 24 members of the Empire State Crafts Alliance, New York.

October 24, 1985 – January 31, 1986

Renwick Gallery

All Sorts of Painted Stuffs: Indian Chintz & Its Western Counterparts

Featured are Indian painted and dyed textiles along with British and French printed cottons, illustrating the use of Indian fabrics in the West and the impact of their colors and exotic patterns in Europe and America.

October 31, 1985 – January 30, 1986

American History Museum

Art, Design and the Modern Corporation: The Collection of Container Corporation of America, A Gift

Survey 150 works selected from the 311 paintings, sculptures, drawings, and collages donated by the Corporation. The works were commissioned for advertising campaigns, which focused on concepts and ideas rather than on specific products.

October 24, 1985 – January 19, 1986

American Art Museum

The Glazed Ceramic Tradition of Seto and Mino Wares

Follow the evolution of glazed wares in neighboring pottery districts during Japan's medieval period through a number of rare early pieces, as well as by representative Momoyama period (1568-1615) wares.

April 26, 1985 – January 12, 1986

Asian Art Museum, West Building

The Guardianship of Memory: Additions to the Permanent Collection

Visit more than 10 portraits, including images of artist Thomas Hart Benton, musician Duke Ellington, poet Ezra Pound, dancer Ted Shawn, and author Thornton Wilder.

September 14, 1985 – January 12, 1986

Portrait Gallery

Selections from the Collections of Marion and Gustave Ring

View 50 works -- 26 paintings, 12 sculptures, 11 works on paper, and one mixed-media work -- by 38 artists from this private collection.

October 17, 1985 – January 12, 1986

Hirshhorn Museum

American Rectangular Land Survey System

Mark the bicentennial of the 1785 Land Ordinance enacted by the Continental Congress to ensure a fair and rapid settlement of the American wilderness through the 11 artifacts in this exhibition.

December 6, 1985 – January 8, 1986

American History Museum

1985 Trees of Christmas

Enjoy 13 decorated trees with various themes.

December 20, 1985 – January 6, 1986

American History Museum

The Modern Spirit: Glass from Finland

See hundreds of examples in the first U.S. retrospective of 20th-century Finnish glass from 27 designers.

October 1, 1985 – January 5, 1986

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

The Woven and Graphic Art of Anni Albers

Celebrate the creativity of this German-born emigre with 106 works divided almost equally between her textiles and works on paper.

June 12, 1985 – January 5, 1986

Renwick Gallery

A New Romanticism: Sixteen Artists from Italy

On loan are approximately 46 works, primarily paintings, by 16 artists, that focus on an influential direction in Italian art today -- the new mystical or metaphysical painting.

October 3, 1985 – January 5, 1986

Hirshhorn Museum

History, Context and Materials: Objects from the Permanent Collection

See 40 objects that demonstrate three areas of study in the field of African art: some objects were selected because they can be attributed; some objects were chosen for their content and are displayed with field photographs to show them in context; the third group illustrates the various materials and processes used to create traditional African art.

November 12, 1985 – January 5, 1986

African Art Museum