Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Teabowls for the New Year

View 3 examples of Japanese ceramic bowls used at the first tea gathering of the New Year--an occasion of great auspiciousness for which the host chooses teabowls whose design conveys wishes for good fortune and longevity.

January 1, 1983 – January 31, 1983

Asian Art Museum, West Building

Presidential Greeting Cards

See cards designed between 1953 and 1981 for seven presidents and their families. Although most are holiday greeting cards, other cards are included.

November 18, 1982 – January 31, 1983

American History Museum

Fashion Prints: 125 Years of Style

View more than 200 fashion prints drawn from the Cooper-Hewitt collection, mainly from the group of more than 9,000 assembled by Vyvyan Holland, the son of Oscar Wilde.

August 31, 1982 – January 30, 1983

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Prints and Collages

See some 30 examples from the HMSG collection.

November 11, 1982 – January 23, 1983

Hirshhorn Museum

John Stevens & Sons: A Family of Inventors

Celebrate the contributions to the development of steam transportation on land and sea by John Stevens and his sons, Robert Livingston and Edwin Augustus.

August 6, 1982 – January 20, 1983

Portrait Gallery

From the Life of the Artist: A Documentary View of David Smith

This exhibition, organized by the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, includes photographs, sketches, and letters from the David Smith Papers of the Archives.

November 4, 1982 – January 16, 1983

Hirshhorn Museum

David Smith: Painter, Sculptor, Draftsman

See 163 works including sculpture, paintings, drawings, etchings, photographs, and ceramics spanning Smith's 35-year career.

November 4, 1982 – January 16, 1983

Hirshhorn Museum

G. Washington: A Figure Upon the Stage

In honor of the 250th birthday of the first U.S. president, the first major exhibition on Washington in this century features more than 650 outstanding objects relating to Washington.

February 23, 1982 – January 9, 1983

American History Museum

Contemporary North American Indian Art

View some 100 paintings and sculptures by leading contemporary American Indian artists. The works are largely Indian in theme but Euro-American in style.

March 13, 1982 – January 3, 1983

Natural History Museum

1982 Trees of Christmas

Mark the 6th anniversary of this popular holiday display with 12 trees decorated in various styles.

December 16, 1982 – January 2, 1983

American History Museum

Rochester Folk Art

Admire and purchase objects created by members of the Rochester Folk Art Guild of New York, including musical instruments, turned bowls, toys and games, hats and vests, scarves, porcelain and stoneware teapots and containers, and one-of-a-kind glass bowls, vases, and paperweights.

November 1, 1982 – January 2, 1983

Renwick Gallery

Contemporary Paintings from Pakistan

View 43 paintings, mostly oil on canvas, by 9 women and 14 men, a cross-section of Pakistani art.

November 1, 1982 – January 2, 1983

Hirshhorn Museum

Needlework by Ethel Mohamed

Enjoy an elaborately stitched scene by Ethel Mohamed of Belzoni, Mississippi, entitled Me at the Renwick, a reference to the Gallery's 1976 exhibition of her colorful, storytelling needlework pictures.

December 3, 1982 – January 2, 1983

Renwick Gallery

Inua: Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo

Intricately carved and incised ivories, masks, a kayak, and wood carvings are among the highlights of a major exhibit (some 500 objects) to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the pioneering Alaskan fieldwork of naturalist Edward Nelson (1855-1934).

June 18, 1982 – January 2, 1983

Natural History Museum

Charles Willson Peale and His World

Celebrate the achievements of this 18th-century Renaissance man, as artist, natural scientist, and inventor through paintings, natural history specimens, and inventions.

October 29, 1982 – January 2, 1983

Portrait Gallery

Scandinavian Modern 1880-1980

Discover more than 350 works—furniture, ceramics, glass, metal work, and textiles—from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden that present a retrospective view of the history of Scandinavian design during the last century.

September 14, 1982 – January 2, 1983

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Holiday Tree for the Birds

Enjoy a large evergreen, bedecked with lights, seed ornaments, and other treats for birds by Friends of the National Zoo, that is an annual holiday attraction for Zoo visitors, both feathered and non-feathered.

December 13, 1982 – January 2, 1983

National Zoo

Telltale Tools, 1750-1850 (Tools As Artifacts)

See 18th- and 19th-century tools from America's "Age of Wood," accompanied by two distinct sets of labels discussing the objects both technically and according to their social and cultural importance.

February 1, 1982 – December 31, 1982

American History Museum

The Gossamer Condor

See the 1st successfully human-powered aircraft, the 70-pound Gossamer Condor.

February 28, 1978 – December 31, 1982

Air and Space Museum

Patterns: Eleanor Roosevelt

Photographs and objects are used to contrast Eleanor Roosevelt's life at the Roosevelt home in Hyde Park with her later life of growing independence at the stone cottage of Val-Kill.

November 1, 1982 – December 31, 1982

American History Museum

Use of Radio-Telemetry in Wildlife Biology at Front Royal Conservation and Research Center

Learn from a 4-panel exhibition of photographs and graphics illustrating how animals are caught and fitted with miniature radio transmitters so their activities can be monitored by scientists at the Center in Front Royal, Virginia.

February 1, 1982 – December 31, 1982

National Zoo

Burrow of Manhattan (sic)

Follow nearly 30 photographs illustrating the history of the construction of the Pennsylvania Railroad under the East River and the Hudson River, culminating in the construction of Penn Station in New York City.

August 28, 1982 – December 31, 1982

American History Museum

From the New World and Other Images (Caroline Thorington)

Visit approximately 50 etchings and lithographs by Caroline Thorington of Washington, D.C., including mammals, birds, and plants of the U.S., Panama, and Venezuela, as well as other parts of the world.

October 23, 1982 – December 19, 1982

Natural History Museum

Familiar But Unique: The Monoprints of Joseph Goldyne

Follow an in-depth survey of the work of the San Francisco artist who, for the past 10 years, has utilized the monotype and uniquely colored print as the vehicle for his intimate, painterly images.

September 24, 1982 – December 5, 1982

American Art Museum

In Honor of Hispanics/en Honor a Los Hispanos

To commemorate the first National Hispanic Heritage Week beginning Sept 12, 1982, this exhibition features aspects of Hispanic culture in New Mexico, seat of the oldest continuous Hispanic settlement in the U.S.

September 1, 1982 – November 30, 1982

American History Museum