Past Exhibitions

Asian Art Museum, West Building

America as Art

Examine how American art has been identified with the changing concepts and ideals associated with the U.S. over the past 200 years.

April 30, 1976 – November 7, 1976

American Art Museum

Shinto Art

See a variety of Japanese religious objects dating from the Tumulus Period (3rd-6th century) to the Edo Period (18th century).

November 11, 1976 – November 1, 1976

The Arts of Asia at the Time of American Independence

View about 90 objects from China, Japan, India and the Near East that offer the visitor a contrast in modes of expression to those of the New World.

December 15, 1975 – October 31, 1976

Asian Art Museum, West Building

Signs of Life: Symbols in the American City

Examine the symbols and signs in the domestic, commercial and civic sectors of our culture, discussing their origins and evolutions over the last 200 years and suggesting their greater meaning as cultural artifacts.

February 26, 1976 – October 31, 1976

Wedgwood Portraits and the American Revolution

See about 50 Wedgwood portraits in ceramics of important figures of the Revolutionary War period.

July 13, 1976 – October 31, 1976

Keep the Last Bullet for Yourself: The Fight at Little Big Horn

Commemorating the 100th anniversary of Custer's Last Stand at Little Big Horn, see his Army Orders--never before exhibited--his buckskin coat and pants, a battle flag, rifles, maps, photographs, an Indian pictograph and 22 drawings by Red Horse, a participant in the battle.

June 25, 1976 – October 21, 1976

The Golden Door: Artist-Immigrants of America, 1876-1976

Visit 204 works by 67 foreign-born painters, sculptors, architects and photographers celebrating the fact that in the past century, the U.S. offered sanctuary to the world's immigrants and refugees, and that, in turn, the artist-immigrants made major contributions to our cultural heritage.

May 20, 1976 – October 20, 1976

The Coming of Age of American Music

See portraits and memorabilia that document the emergence of 3 20th century composers--Aaron Copeland, George Gershwin and Charles Ives.

August 20, 1976 – October 3, 1976

A Walk in the Woods

View about 20 photographs of spiders, insects, snails, and plants taken by writer/photographer Ann Moreton.

July 1, 1976 – September 26, 1976

Natural History Museum

A Knot of Dreamers: The Brook Farm Community, 1841-1847

Examine the 19th-century agrarian-related idealistic community of Massachusetts through paintings, portraits, furnishings and memorabilia.

August 6, 1976 – September 19, 1976

Christian Gullager: Portrait Painter to Federal America

View about 30 portraits by Danish-born Christian Gullager (1759-1826), who painted many wealthy and distinguished Americans, the most illustrious being President George Washington.

May 12, 1976 – September 6, 1976

Portraits from The Americans: The Democratic Experience

Visit an exhibition, based on Daniel J. Boorstin's Pulitzer Prize-winning book of the same name, that will present the forward-thinking men and women who revolutionized America in the decades following the Civil War.

November 14, 1975 – September 6, 1976

The Sources of Country Music

See a mural completed by Thomas Hart Benton just before his death in 1975, as well as 27 sketches and studies in pencil, ink and oil made by the artist in conjunction with the mural.

June 29, 1976 – September 6, 1976

Homage to Joan Prats

See 11 prints by 8 artists, including Calder and Miro, in tribute to their friend, Joan Prats, a Barcelona hatmaker whose shop was a gathering place for artists and critics until his death in 1970.

June 29, 1976 – September 6, 1976

Behind the Scenes at the National Collection of Fine Arts

Understand the variety and scope of the museum's operations, using the Bicentennial exhibition America as Art as a focus.

April 16, 1976 – September 6, 1976

American Art Museum

Robert Rauschenberg: Stoned Moon Series

In conjunction with the opening of the National Air and Space Museum, see a group of 29 lithographs by the artist. They were created after he watched the launching of Apollo 11 in 1969. The Series' title makes reference to stones used in the lithographic process.

June 29, 1976 – September 6, 1976

Bicentennial Banners

Enjoy 20 bright-colored nylon banners hung outdoors in the HSMG fountain court, in keeping with the custom of flying flags and banners at national celebrations.

March 31, 1976 – September 6, 1976

Boxes and Bowls: Decorated Containers by 19th Century Haida, Tlingit, Bella Bella and Tsimshian Indian Artists

View some 80 containers in the first exhibition in an art museum to single out Northwest Coast Indian work in carving, painting, bone-and-shell inlay of wood containers, and carved boxes and dippers of stone and horn.

November 15, 1973 – August 15, 1976

Arne Jacobsen, Danish Architect and Designer

See photographic panels that illustrate his architectural work, while more than 100 objects present a selection of his product designs.

May 13, 1976 – August 1, 1976

Treasures of London

See outstanding examples of 500 years of British silver work, including modern jewelry and pieces.

June 26, 1976 – July 18, 1976

Smithsonian Castle

Ancient Ecuador: Culture, Clay and Creativity, 3000-300 B.C.

See some 600 objects, among the earliest known ceramics in the Western hemisphere, that reveal much about the life of the early peoples along the coast of Ecuador.

April 14, 1976 – July 15, 1976

Natural History Museum

Ethel Floyd: Birder and Photographer

An enthusiastic interest in birds led this Mississippi resident to obtain a federal bird-banding permit. The close-up color photographs on view were taken by her while engaged in this activity.

April 1, 1976 – June 30, 1976

Natural History Museum

Man Made Mobile: The Western Saddle

See an exhibition of 20 saddles tracing the design evolution of American stock, riding, and cavalry saddles from the first Persian/Moorish combat type brought to the New World by Spanish Conquistadors.

July 19, 1974 – June 27, 1976