Past Exhibitions

Germans in America: Three Centuries of Tradition and Innovation

This exhibition commemorates the tricentennial of the first German settlement in North America.

October 7, 1983 – January 31, 1984

Mathematical Models

See a variety of geometric models used for education and research.

December 1, 1983 – January 31, 1984

Ban Chiang: Discovery of a Lost Bronze Age (Thailand)

Some 200 objects are presented in this major exhibition on the ancient culture in the area now known as Ban Chiang in northeastern Thailand.

November 2, 1983 – January 31, 1984

Asian Art Museum, West Building

Nastaliq Calligraphy

See 12 examples of elegant Islamic script, developed at the turn of the 15th century and used for all literary imperial manuscripts. Several pieces are signed by the most celebrated artists of the Islamic world.

October 1, 1982 – January 22, 1984

Robert Cornelius: Portraits from the Dawn of Photography

See 37 images by Cornelius and his Philadelphia colleagues, the men who introduced many of the technical and mechanical improvements that made America daguerreotypes so superior. I

October 20, 1983 – January 22, 1984

Direct Carving in Modern Sculpture (1890-1940)

See 38 pieces that focus on a sculptural technique in which a figure is cut or hewn in wood or stone rather than modeled in clay.

October 6, 1983 – January 22, 1984

Hirshhorn Museum

Art of the European Goldsmith: Silver from the Schroder Collection

Visit 79 silver and silver-gilt objects from the notable collection of the Schroder family of Great Britain. Most of the pieces are from the Renaissance and Mannerist periods and include ceremonial and display plates (cups, trays, bowls, platters, and ecclesiastical vessels).

November 1, 1983 – January 22, 1984

The Capital Image: Painters in Washington, 1800-1915

This major exhibition reveals the early cultural life of the city and documents the history of the capital through approximately 200 paintings, 25 prints, 50 photographs, representative sculpture, and a reconstruction of a late 19th-century artist's studio.

October 19, 1983 – January 22, 1984

American Art Museum

Contemporary Continuous Pattern

Admire more than 20 floor-to-ceiling panels of printed and hand-painted fabrics, wallcoverings, and woven fabrics and 21 design drawings in an exhibition of continuous pattern in contemporary styles.

September 20, 1983 – January 15, 1984

Lafayette Square 1963-83: Architecture, Preservation & the Presidency

Trace President John F. Kennedy's intervention to preserve the historic character of the square opposite the White House. The evolution of architect John Carl Warnecke's design is documented as well as the project's influence on architecture that combines old buildings with new construction.

October 21, 1983 – January 15, 1984

Renwick Gallery

Provincetown Printers/A Woodcut Tradition

Examine 75 color woodcuts by artists who used a technique developed in the Massachusetts art colony during the early part of the 20th century.

September 9, 1983 – January 8, 1984

American Art Museum

Masterpieces from Versailles: Three Centuries of Portraiture

On loan from France's national portrait collection are 43 paintings dating from the reign of Louis XIII (1610-1643) to the final years of the monarchy under Emperor Napoleon III (1851-1871).

November 11, 1983 – January 8, 1984

Holiday Tree for the Birds

A large Norway spruce, bedecked with lights and edible treats for birds and squirrels by Friends of the National Zoo, has become an annual holiday attraction for Zoo visitors, both feathered and non-feathered.

December 12, 1983 – January 2, 1984

National Zoo

1983 Trees of Christmas

Twelve trees decorated with handcrafted ornaments reflect our ethnic heritages, crafts of historic periods, and nature.

December 15, 1983 – January 2, 1984

Selections from the First Annual Washington Craft Show

Admire and purchase works created by 18 artists who work in ceramics, fiber, glass, leather, metal, paper, and wood.

October 6, 1983 – January 2, 1984

Renwick Gallery

Mammalia Africana

View sketches and drawings of animals of Africa by Jonathan Kingdon, a scientific illustrator associated with the Department of Zoology, Oxford University.

November 5, 1983 – January 2, 1984

Precious Legacy: Judaic Treasures from Czechoslovak State Collections

On loan from the Czechoslovak State Jewish Collection in Prague, these religious and secular objects were amassed by the Nazis, through confiscation, to show the material culture of the "race" Hitler wished to annihilate.

November 9, 1983 – January 1, 1984

Asian Art Museum, West Building

Hindu and Buddhist Art of India

View approximately 25 paintings and sculpture depicting themes found in the art of India.

April 12, 1982 – December 31, 1983

Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie School

See how Wright worked and how his style developed during the first 40 years of his long and productive career in these original drawings, related prints, photographs, and objects.

August 30, 1983 – December 31, 1983

A Permanent Record of India: The Photographs of Bourne & Shepherd

See 19 photographs selected from a 19th-century catalog by Bourne and Shepherd Co. that include ethnological and scenic subjects and portray the British influence of the 1860s and 1870s in India as well as Afghanistan, Burma, and Nepal.

August 5, 1983 – November 30, 1983

Lewis H. Latimer (1848-1928): The Art of Invention

See a selection of his patent drawings of inventions, a light bulb and light sockets, which he developed while working for the Edison Company.

September 15, 1983 – November 30, 1983

Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney: Artist and Patron (1875-1942)

See a small exhibition that includes photographs, papers, letters and personal notebooks documenting the art patron's support of American artists— support which culminated in the creation of the Whitney Museum of American Art.

July 8, 1983 – November 27, 1983

Blessed Are the Peacemakers

Commemorating the bicentennial of the Treaty of Paris, view portraits of the American, British, French, and Spanish "peacemakers" who were involved in the signing of the treaty, which marked the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War.

September 3, 1983 – November 27, 1983