Past Exhibitions

The Modernist French Garden: Designs by the Vera Brothers

This exhibition unites over 20 striking Art Deco drawings for gardens with the 1912 published treatise Le nouveau jardin (The New Garden).

June 10, 2021 – January 2, 2022

American Indian Museum New York

Stretching the Canvas: Eight Decades of Native Painting

On view are nearly 40 diverse, exciting paintings from the museum's rich permanent collection that transcend, represent, or subvert conventional ideas of authenticity.

November 16, 2019 – January 2, 2022

A Nation Grieves

This display features 24 white plastic flags from the 2020 public art installation designed by artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg to honor and remember the lives lost in the U.S. to COVID-19.

September 17, 2021 – January 2, 2022

From molded tortoiseshell and vulcanized rubber to bioplastic pellets and semi-synthetic yarn, the beauty of natural plastics and design’s achievements with these pliable materials are explored in this fascinating range of objects from Cooper Hewitt’s collection.

June 8, 2019 – January 2, 2022

Creating Icons: How We Remember Women's Suffrage

This exhibition marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment recognizing women’s right to vote.

March 6, 2020 – January 2, 2022

75th Anniversary of D-Day

To mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the museum displays objects from our World War II collections.

June 6, 2019 – December 31, 2021

What Is Feminist Art?

On view are more than 75 vibrant and varied personal statements from artists from 1976 and now that elucidate the contours of feminist art.

November 26, 2019 – December 31, 2021

Archives of American Art

Reckoning with Remembrance: History, Injustice, and the Murder of Emmett Till

This monthlong display of the defaced historical marker preserves the memory of Emmett Till while demonstrating the contested nature of racism’s violent legacy in America.

September 3, 2021 – November 2, 2021

Visionary: The Cumming Family Collection (Part 2)

This exhibition reveals the results of more than 25 years of inspired collecting by Ian and Annette Cumming and installed in two parts. Part two, featured here, includes portraits by American artists Jack Beal, Chuck Close and Nelson Shanks. This exhibition is curated by Chief Curator Emerita Brandon Brame Fortune and will be accompanied by a limited-edition publication.

May 14, 2021 – October 31, 2021

Willi Smith: Street Couture

In the first museum exhibition dedicated to American designer Willi Smith (1948–1987), over 200 works by Smith and collaborators will illuminate how the streetwear pioneer broke down social, cultural, and economic boundaries.

March 13, 2020 – October 24, 2021

Special Olympics at 50

Commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first International Special Olympics Games through the stories of four accomplished athletes who participated in them.

July 10, 2018 – October 17, 2021

American Indian Museum DC

Challenging the Face of Science: The Bearded Lady Project

This project brings into being the missing legacy of female paleontologists to overcome societal stereotypes concerning gender and professional roles.

November 14, 2019 – September 26, 2021

Natural History Museum

Kwel' Hoy: We Draw the Line

On July 29, 2021, a totem pole carved by the House of Tears Carvers of the Lummi Nation will conclude its cross-country journey in Washington, D.C.

July 2, 2021 – September 9, 2021

Men of Change: Taking it to the Streets

Men of Change presents a nation’s story through the profiles of revolutionary African American men.

February 1, 2021 – August 31, 2021

Anacostia Community Museum

Forces of Nature: Renwick Invitational 2020

Forces of Nature: Renwick Invitational 2020 features artists Lauren Fensterstock, Timothy Horn, Debora Moore, and Rowland Ricketts.

October 16, 2020 – August 15, 2021

Renwick Gallery

Contemporary Muslim Fashions

This is the first major museum exhibition to explore the complex and diverse nature of Muslim dress codes worldwide.

February 28, 2020 – July 11, 2021

Illegal to Be You: Gay History Beyond Stonewall

The museum marks this 50th anniversary with a display featuring objects from its collections that put the history of that memorable event within a larger and longer experience of being gay.

June 21, 2019 – July 6, 2021

American Indian Museum DC

The Great Inka Road: Engineering an Empire

Explores the foundations of the Inka Road in earlier Andean cultures and the legacy of the Inka Empire during the colonial period and in the present day.

June 26, 2015 – June 27, 2021

Women of Progress: Early Camera Portraits

This exhibition of daguerreotypes and ambrotypes from the 1840s and 1850s features portraits of early feminist icons.

June 14, 2019 – June 13, 2021

Asian Art Museum, East Building

Power in Southeast Asia

Through a range of local styles, techniques, and materials, the artworks in this exhibition reveal understandings of power in Southeast Asia.

October 21, 2017 – June 1, 2021

Every Eye Is Upon Me: First Ladies of the United States

Every Eye Is Upon Me is the first major exhibition to explore the historical significance of this prominent position through the mode of portraiture.

November 13, 2020 – May 23, 2021

African American History and Culture Museum

Now Showing: Posters from African American Movies

Now Showing features original posters and lobby cards and select ephemera from the Museum’s permanent collection.

November 22, 2019 – April 18, 2021

Why We Serve: Native Americans in the United States Armed Forces

Why We Serve honors the generations of Native Americans who have served in the armed forces of the United States since the American Revolution.

November 11, 2020 – February 28, 2021

American Indian Museum DC

Visionary: The Cumming Family Collection

The exhibition features commissioned portraits of internationally recognized subjects by prominent American artists such as Chuck Close, Robert McCurdy, and Nelson Shanks.

September 18, 2020 – November 22, 2020