Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Recent Acquisitions from the Department of Photographs

View 50 recent acquisitions of the Gallery's new Department of Photographs.

February 1, 1977 – December 31, 1977

A Korean Village in Transition: An Anthropological Field Trip

See more than 150 objects -- handicrafts juxtaposed against their factory-made replacements--that illustrate the effect of modernization on the traditions and techniques in Korea.

November 1, 1977 – December 15, 1977

Natural History Museum

Aaron Burr Acquitted

Examine portraits, documents and memorabilia about the man whose trial for treason opened May 22, 1807.

May 20, 1977 – December 12, 1977

Portrait Gallery

Art of Dynastic Egypt

See a selection of 20 Egyptian objects that includes amulets, a mummy mask, and 5 decorated glass vessels.

February 1, 1977 – November 30, 1977

Asian Art Museum, West Building

Embroideries by Children of Chijnaya

See life in a Quechua Indian village in the Peruvian Andes as seen by children 6-16 years of age.

October 1, 1977 – November 30, 1977

Natural History Museum

A New England Town: A Portrait by Alice Stallknecht

View 3 murals, the result of 14 years' work by Alice Stallknecht (1880-1973), who painted her friends and neighbors in Chatham, Massachusetts.

October 15, 1977 – November 27, 1977

Portrait Gallery

Kenneth Noland: A Retrospective

Survey the work of Noland, who first achieved note while living in Washington, D.C. At the HSSG, view 45 early works, ranging from 'target' paintings of the late 1950s to elliptical and chevron abstractions of the 1960s. At the Corcoran, later works on view include Noland's striped and plaid motif paintings and his current color work.

October 1, 1977 – November 27, 1977

Hirshhorn Museum

Raphael Soyer: Drawings and Watercolors

New York City life and people from the 1920s to the present are the subject of 58 figure studies and portraits by Soyer, now 77 years old.

September 30, 1977 – November 27, 1977

American Art Museum

Andy Warhol by Jamie Wyeth

See a recent gift to the Gallery, a gouache painting of Andy Warhol by Jamie Wyeth.

July 1, 1977 – November 20, 1977

Portrait Gallery

Paint on Wood: Decorated American Furniture Since the 17th Century

Visit about 55 wooden objects--chairs, tables, chests, trunks, cornices, frames, china closets, benches, flour bins, boxes, desks--that rely on paint for their principal decorative effect.

March 18, 1977 – November 6, 1977

Renwick Gallery

Iron, Solid Wrought/USA

Follow the blacksmith as an artist and craftsman from 1776 to 1976 through about 100 objects, including a butcher's block, toaster, spinning wheel, fireplace screen, weathervane, miner's candlestick, bicycle and Conestoga wagon jack.

June 10, 1977 – October 24, 1977

Renwick Gallery

Wrought Iron: Rendering from the Index of American Design

See 16 watercolors of utilitarian wrought iron objects from the Index of American Design. The Index, a 1930s Federal project, is a collection of realistically executed drawings and watercolors of crafts and folk arts.

July 14, 1977 – October 24, 1977

Renwick Gallery

Recent Works in Metal by Albert Paley

View gold and silver jewelry and 10 iron objects created in the past two years by Paley, considered to be one of this country's leading metalsmiths.

June 10, 1977 – October 24, 1977

Renwick Gallery

Living Things: Excerpts from a Sketchbook Diary

View 39 framed works, each containing several drawings, selected from artist Olemara Peters' sketchbook diary of travels in Europe, Africa, and the U.S.

September 21, 1977 – October 10, 1977

Natural History Museum

Homage to Josef Albers: Selections from the MHSG Collection

Visit a selection of 19 works by the influential artist/teacher, including 2 major paintings of 1973, on public view for the first time.

August 1, 1977 – October 9, 1977

Hirshhorn Museum

The Arthur B. Carles Collection of the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

See the HMSG's collection of 14 paintings by Carles (1882-1952), a pioneering American modernist who developed a style of vibrant color from the traditional subjects of figure, still-life, and landscape.

August 18, 1977 – October 9, 1977

Hirshhorn Museum

Palladio

See 16 large wooden models, constructed in Italy, of villas and churches designed by Andrea Palladio (1508-1580).

June 7, 1977 – October 5, 1977

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Summer Sculpture '77: Jules Olitski

Visit HMSG's first outdoor loan exhibition of contemporary sculpture, consisting of 6 large works employing curved or corrugated sheets of oiled steel in horizontal or vertical layers, extending as much as 10 feet in height or width.

July 20, 1977 – October 4, 1977

Hirshhorn Museum

Roots and Visions (Raices y Visiones)

See 48 paintings, prints and sculptures that are works of artists of American hispanic communities--Chicano, Puerto Rican, Latino and Hispano--and concentrate on themes from the artists' Latin American backgrounds.

July 9, 1977 – October 2, 1977

American Art Museum

A Connoisseur's Vision: Selections from Charles Lang Freer's American Art Collection

Enjoy Freer's distinctive taste as show in his choice of paintings, watercolors, pastels and etchings by turn-of-the-century artists.

November 10, 1976 – September 30, 1977

Asian Art Museum, West Building

Germany: Postal History and Postal Issues

See Empire issues, stamps of the Republics, former German colonies and offices and the Saar as well as material related to the House of Thurn and Taxis, which operated the private posts from the 17th to the 19th century.

May 6, 1977 – September 30, 1977

American History Museum

American Banknote Company

View archival material from files and vaults of the American Banknote Company relating to postal issues of Hawaii.

May 6, 1977 – September 30, 1977

American History Museum

Perfect Likenesses

Visit an exhibit of Indian portraits by Charles Bird King, Henry Inman and lithographic artists of the early 19th century featuring 30 paintings, 160 lithographs, and 10 artifacts.

May 15, 1977 – September 19, 1977

American History Museum

25th National Exhibition of Prints

Visit a mixture of realistic and abstract prints, including etchings, serigraphs, lithographs, intaglios, mezzotints and collographs.

May 27, 1977 – September 18, 1977

American Art Museum

Palaces for the People

Capture the qualities of flamboyance, fantastic spaces and extraordinary use of materials used in American resort and motel architecture through photographs, drawings, postcards, slides and models.

July 12, 1977 – September 18, 1977

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum