Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Mission to Japan

See a recently acquired daguerrotype of Matthew Perry, a portrait by a Japanese artist, and 5 watercolors.

January 15, 1978 – December 31, 1978

Climbers in an Indian Garden

Enjoy 60 watercolors of the vines of India, some of the most botanically interesting plants in the world, bu O.T. Ravindran.

November 1, 1978 – December 31, 1978

Natural History Museum

Visit a 12-foot spruce tree decorated by the Renwick's volunteer docents with cornucopias, angels, candles, small presents, recycled Christmas cards, natural and painted evergreen pods and pine cones.

December 12, 1978 – December 31, 1978

Renwick Gallery

Sales Exhibition: Christmas for Men

Admire and purchase handcrafted objects from across the U.S. including leather briefcases and boxes, weathervanes, kaftans, pottery casseroles and bowls, walking sticks, umbrella stands, sweaters, deco boxes, backpacks, leather vests, cuff links and belt buckles.

November 3, 1978 – December 30, 1978

Renwick Gallery

Sales Exhibition: Not for Children Only: Toys and Other Pastimes

Admire and purchase crafts for all ages--wooden and soft sculpture toys, adult games, puppets, dolls for children and doll caricatures for adults.

November 8, 1979 – December 15, 1978

Renwick Gallery

Saul Steinberg

Visit a major retrospective which includes 178 drawings, watercolors, collages, masks and tables, dating from 1945 to the present.

October 4, 1978 – November 26, 1978

Hirshhorn Museum

Washington Print Club: Member's Exhibition

Enjoy 58 prints selected from members' collections: woodcuts range from 16th century chiaroscuros to 20th century works by Edward Munch and Carol Summers and monotypes by Edgar Degas and Everett Shinn.

September 15, 1978 – November 19, 1978

American Art Museum

D.C. Art Association | Exhibition '78

Members of the District of Columbia Art Association display artwork, including sculptures and paintings in oil, watercolor, and acrylic. Student work from Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Wilkinson Elementary School is also on display.

September 15, 1978 – November 12, 1978

Anacostia Community Museum

Murals in the Round: Painted Tipis of the Kiowa and Kiowa-Apache Indians

Imagine Kiowa and Kiowa-Apache life with 15 richly decorated deerskin model tipis created by Indian artists from 1891 to 1904 to document the tribes' full-sized homes.

December 2, 1977 – November 12, 1978

Renwick Gallery

Cross Currents

See 135 Neo-classical prints and drawings from the Cooper-Hewitt collections.

September 19, 1978 – November 5, 1978

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Sales Exhibition: Appalachian Crafts

Admire and purchase quilts, pine needle baskets, cornshuck dolls, brooms, wooden cradles and wooden trains, all made by craftsmen/members of the Southern Highland Handicraft Guild.

September 8, 1978 – October 31, 1978

Renwick Gallery

William Harvey and the Study of the Heart

A 1628 edition of the book from the Dibner Library as well as 19th century instruments used in bloodletting and 20th century pacemakers are on view marking the 400th anniversary of William Harvey's birth.

October 1, 1978 – October 31, 1978

American History Museum

The Animal in Art

See the work of local artists, involved in assisting with the three Sunday "Sketch-Ins" at the zoo.

November 20, 1977 – October 31, 1978

National Zoo

William Cullen Bryant

Mark the 100th anniversary of Bryant's death with a small exhibition including a silver Tiffany vase commissioned by friends for his 80th birthday; an edition of the New York Evening Post, which he edited for 50 years; a bust by Henry Kirke Brown; and an oil portrait by Daniel Huntington.

June 12, 1978 – October 27, 1978

Portrait Gallery

Printed, Painted and Dyed: The New Fabric Surface

Enjoy 42 works by 31 craftsmen concerned with the embellishment of preconstructed fabric surfaces through photo-silkscreen and color xerography as well as batik, fold-dye, ikat, direct and resist dye.

July 4, 1978 – October 15, 1978

Renwick Gallery

Ronald Pearson: Silver and Gold

Take in a selection of Pearson's jewelry as well as a complete place-setting of a newly-designed flatware inspired by pieces from a John Quincy Adams service

April 28, 1978 – October 15, 1978

Renwick Gallery

Philip Evergood (1901-73): Selections from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Visit 42 paintings, drawings and watercolors taken from the HMSG collection of 68 works by the American artist.

August 11, 1978 – October 8, 1978

Hirshhorn Museum

Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan Macy

During Better Hearing Month, explore the relationship between Helen Keller and her teacher, Annie Sullivan, through life masks, photographs, books and other memorabilia.

May 15, 1978 – October 8, 1978

Portrait Gallery

Form Follows Film

Visit a photographic exhibit, including stills of movie sets, which shows the movies as arbiter of taste in architecture and interior design.

August 15, 1978 – October 7, 1978

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Tropical Blossoms

See close-ups of unusual flowers from the world's jungles.

July 5, 1978 – September 30, 1978

Natural History Museum

Storrs L. Olson: Studies in Fossil Birds

See photographs of Dr. Olson at work in sites around the world -- Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Wyoming -- that serve as documentation for specimens in the exhibit.

July 15, 1978 – September 30, 1978

Natural History Museum

Henry Moore: The HMSG Collection

In celebration of Henry Moore's 80th birthday, HMSG presents a show of his works from its collection.

July 30, 1978 – September 22, 1978

Hirshhorn Museum

Instrument of the Lord (Harriet Beecher Stowe and her Great Novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin)

Visit an in-depth study of the Civil War novelists and her greatest work, Uncle Tom's Cabin, including portraits, documents, the first American edition, artist's proofs and gifts to Stowe.

October 7, 1977 – September 17, 1978

Portrait Gallery

Looking at L.A., An Exhibition Organized by Environmental Communications

Visit a slide and video presentation of Los Angeles' life style.

July 18, 1978 – September 17, 1978

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Contemporary Art from Alaska

Enjoy the first survey of contemporary Alaskan art in the 'lower 48' with 57 paintings, watercolors, prints, drawings and sculpture

June 23, 1978 – September 17, 1978

American Art Museum