Fall Arts Preview 2019: Museums & Galleries

The former Corcoran Gallery of Art lives on in exhibitions this season at two local universities, reminiscing on the 30th anniversary of the Robert Mapplethorpe cancellation and held in the same grand old building. Another anniversary getting the nod in exhibitions this fall is the advent, 180 years ago, of photography — although the National Portrait Gallery is rightfully making a bigger deal about the centennial of American women getting the right to vote through the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. If you’re seeking the lighter side of art, look to the holidays in particular. The U.S. Botanic Garden is the place to go to see an extravagantly decorated display, while Del Ray Artisans is the place to go for gifts through the quirky Alexandria gallery’s popular “$100 and Under” show, which supports local artists.

1708 GALLERY

319 West Broad St.
Richmond, Va.
804-643-1708
www.1708gallery.org

• Xavier Mary: Deepwater Horizon — An exhibition of sculpture, video, and appropriated objects from a Belgian artist named after, and inspired by, the catastrophic oil spill (Now-10/20)
• InLight Richmond 2019 – A two-night public exhibition of light-based art installations and performances, with artists invited to develop projects that engage with the social and geographic history of this year’s site in Richmond’s Church Hill neighborhood (11/15-16, Chimborazo Park, 3215 E. Broad St.)

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY MUSEUM

Katzen Arts Center
4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW
202-885-1300
www.american.edu/cas/museum

• Moves Like Walter: New Curators Open the Corcoran Legacy Collection — Named for the late curator and former Corcoran Gallery of Art director Walter Hopps, this student-curated exhibition features 88 paintings, photographs, and works on paper from 63 artists — all of which were part of the Corcoran Gallery’s collection distributed to 22 Washington institutions last year (Now-12/15)

AMERICAN VISIONARY ART MUSEUM

800 Key Highway
Baltimore, Md.
410-244-1900
www.avam.org

• The Secret Life of Earth: Alive! Awake! (and possibly really Angry!) — A celebration of self-taught artists and folk art, this quirky museum’s 25th original thematic mega-exhibition is part visual earth love-fest and part environmental crash course on our blue planet, timed to coincide with next year’s 50th Earth Day (10/5-9/6/20)
• Reverend Albert Lee Wagner: Miracle at Midnight — A one-man show in celebration of one of America’s most prominent visionary artists, curated from 50 masterpieces (Ongoing)
• Jim Rouse Visionary Center — Down the street from the museum’s main building is a three-story gallery and large outdoor space with large-scale sculptures and installations, ranging from an interactive exhibition about the center’s namesake developer, Jim Rouse: Remembering Jim into Our Future, to “Baltimore Painted Screens & Rowhouse Theater” to David Hess’ 38-foot wide Bird’s Nest Balcony on the third floor with views to Federal Hill and the Inner Harbor (Permanent)

ARTECHOUSE – WASHINGTON, D.C.

1238 Maryland Ave. SW
www.dc.artechouse.com

• Infinite Space by Refik Anadol — The digital art gallery offers a retrospective of an L.A.-based Turkish artist creating site-specific, parametric data sculptures and immersive installations, with exhibition-related Augmented Reality cocktails served up during “after-hours” sessions (Closes 9/15)

THE ATHENAEUM

201 Prince St.
Alexandria, Va.
703-548-0035
www.nvfaa.org

• The Athenaeum Invitational: Board out of our minds! — Artists who create a board game or an artwork that takes inspiration from a game or game-playing compete for cash prizes at this year’s competition (Now-11/11)
• Bobbi Pratte: Rescue Me — Virginia-based artist reflects on the sense of wanting to be rescued from the challenges of today (11/14-12/29)

D.A.R. MUSEUM

1776 D St. NW.
202-628-1776
www.dar.org/museum

• A Piece of Her Mind: Culture and Technology in American Quilts — An exhibition of quilts made by middle-class women from 100 and 200 years ago reflecting their makers’ interest in creatively engaging with the world (Now-12/31)
• Period Rooms — The most extensive portion of the museum, these 31 individual rooms tell the story of the American domestic interior, from the 1690s through the 1930s. Reflecting how people furnished their houses, the rooms illustrate a wide range of cultures and regional differences (Permanent)

DEL RAY ARTISANS

Nicholas A. Colasanto Center
2704 Mount Vernon Ave.
Alexandria, Va.
703-838-4827
www.delrayartisans.org

• High Note — Member artists have created works intended to capture the effect that their favorite music has had on them and in their lives (Now-9/29)
• Uncommon Alexandria — One of several “Gallery Without Walls” exhibits this season featuring member artworks on display at a nearby veterinary clinic, this one capturing scenes of local life that “skips the touristy sights to better reflect our neighborhoods, towns, and communities” (Now-9/29, VCA Alexandria Animal Hospital)
• Creature Comforts — A holiday-timed show of artwork focused on how pets and animals provide their humans comfort and joy (9/30-1/26, VCA Alexandria)
• Art Inspired by The Twilight Zone — Through art and photography, member artists explore humanity’s hopes, despairs, and prejudices in metaphoric ways nodding to the classic TV show (10/4-27)
• $100 and Under — The return of a popular holiday-timed show with pieces, chosen by artists as their best works at an affordable price point, available on an “art-to-go basis” (11/1-12/1)
• Local Artisan Showcase (Now-11/10, VCA Alexandria)
• Holiday Market 2019 — The 24th annual market offers pottery, photography, jewelry, cloth, paper crafts, and glass made by local artists (12/6-22)

FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY

201 East Capitol St. SE
202-544-4600
www.folger.edu

• A Monument to Shakespeare: The Architecture of the Folger Shakespeare Library — Highlighting how Henry Clay Folger and his wife Emily Folger set out to create their shrine to the Bard as a gift to the American people (Now-1/5)
• A First Folio of Shakespeare — The first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays, including the only source for 18 of his plays (Permanent)

FREER | SACKLER
SMITHSONIAN’S MUSEUMS OF ASIAN ART

1050 Independence Ave. SW
202-633-1000
www.freersackler.si.edu

• Sacred Dedication: A Korean Buddhist Masterpiece — The oldest surviving gilded wood figure in an informal pose, this beautiful sculpture of Gwaneum, the most popular deity in Korean Buddhism, is exhibited on loan from the National Museum of Korea (9/21-3/22)
• Hokusai: Mad about Painting — A yearlong exploration of the prolific career of Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai as a nod to next year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo (11/23-11/2020)
• Thomas Wilmer Dewing: Contemplation and Connection — An exhibition of works, often depicting aristocratic women in solitary pursuits or as passive onlookers, from an American painter working at the turn of the 20th century (11/27-11/2020)
• Whistler in Watercolor — Museum founder Charles Lang Freer amassed the world’s largest collection of watercolors by James McNeill Whistler, 50 examples of which are part of this collection (Now-11/3)
• The Way of the Kami — Highlighting the rich artistic culture of Shinto, one of Japan’s main belief systems (Now-11/11)
• Encountering the Buddha: Art and Practice Across Asia — Step into a Tibetan Buddhist shrine, visit a Sri Lankan stupa, see the exploits of an eighth century Korean monk and discover multiple Buddhas and bodhisattvas in this look at Buddhist art through the lens of spiritual practice and the perspectives of practitioners (Now-11/29/20)
• Resound: Ancient Bells of China — Composers Hugh Livingston, Norman Lowrey, and Doug Van Nort were commissioned to create soundscapes using the recorded tones of a 2,500-year-old bell set, accompanied by moving images to allow viewers to “see sound” (Now-7/5/21)
• The Peacock Room in Blue and White — The Whistler-designed room is filled with blue-and-white Chinese porcelain in the Kangxi style (Ongoing)
• Feast Your Eyes: A Taste for Luxury in Ancient Iran — Exploring the meaning behind the museums’ extraordinary collection of luxury metalwork, dating from the first millennium BCE to the early Islamic period (Ongoing)

THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY MUSEUM
THE TEXTILE MUSEUM

701 21st St. NW
202-994-5200
www.museum.gwu.edu

• George Washington and His World — Letters, prints, and artifacts from the Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection curated by GW students and presenting a nuanced look at the first president through the places that shaped him (Opens 2/8)
• Woven Interiors: Furnishing Early Medieval Egypt — Bringing together rarely displayed artworks from the 4th to the 12th centuries, revealing how textiles infused warmth and beauty into Egypt’s interior spaces (Now-1/5)
• Best Laid Plans: Designs for a Capital City — Examining unrealized designs for the Washington Monument, Memorial Bridge, and other structures around D.C. through historical prints and paintings from the collection (Now-12/22)
• Textiles 101 — An interactive display allowing museumgoers to enter the mind of an artist and explore the basic elements — fiber, structure and color — that influence textile design (Ongoing)

GWU CORCORAN SCHOOL OF THE ARTS & DESIGN

500 17th St. NW
202-994-1525
www.corcoran.gwu.edu

• 6.13.89: The Cancelling of the Mapplethorpe Exhibition — An examination of the former Corcoran Gallery’s bowing to conservative political pressure by cancelling a Robert Mapplethorpe retrospective 30 years ago as well as the ensuing controversy, impact, and legacy of the decision, told through archival materials never before seen by the public as well as related ephemera (Now-10/6, The Atrium Galleries)
• A Time for Action: Washington Artists circa 1989 — Paintings, drawings, and prints by artists registering their protest of the Mapplethorpe cancellation, plus reminiscences of artists (Now-10/5, Luther W. Brady Gallery)
• Fast Fashion/Slow Art — A group of emerging and established contemporary artists and filmmakers explore issues of waste and consumerism in today’s garment industry through 11 films and video installations (Now-12/15, Luther W. Brady Art Gallery)
• In Fashion: Selections from the GW Collection — A companion to Fast Fashion/Slow Art featuring works of drawing and sculpture as well as numerous photographs, including portraits of designers such as Carolina Herrera and Neiman Marcus (Now-10/27, Gallery Six)
• Kelli Rae Adams: work/study — A mixed-media installation focused on the student debt crisis in the U.S., including a display of kiln-fired ceramic bowls each sufficient to hold the average individual debt load (approximately $37,000) in the form of coins (Now-10/6)

HILLWOOD MUSEUM & GARDENS

4155 Linnean Ave. NW
202-686-5807
www.hillwoodmuseum.org

• Bouke de Vries: War and Pieces — A contemporary response to a tradition dating to the 17th century of creating scenic or architectural centerpieces crafted out of sugar and porcelain, only this Dutch artist depicts an epic battle, seen via seven sculptural vignettes, using thousands of white porcelain fragments, plus sugar and even pieces of plastic toys, all set up on Hillwood’s grand dining table (9/24-4/5)
• Mid-Century Master: The Photography of Alfred Eisenstaedt — Nearly 50 photographs and ephemera from the Life Magazine artist known for capturing larger-than-life personalities, including Hillwood founder Marjorie Merriweather Post (Now-1/12)

HIRSHHORN NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

700 Independence Ave. SW
202-633-1000
www.hirshhorn.si.edu

• Lee Ufan: Open Dimension — Expansive, site-specific installation commissioned by celebrated Korean artist features 10 new sculptures, marking the first time the Hirshhorn’s large outdoor plaza has been devoted, almost entirely, to the work of a single artist (9/27-9/13/20)
• Pat Steir: Color Wheel — The entire perimeter of the museum’s second-floor inner-circle galleries will be transformed into a vibrant spectrum of color via site-specific exhibition featuring 28 large-scale abstract paintings that create an immense color wheel shifting hues with each painting (10/24-9/7/20)
• Marcel Duchamp: The Barbara and Aaron Levine Collection — The first stage of a two-part exhibition on the life and legacy of the conceptual French-American artist, made possible by a recent gift to the museum including more than 35 seminal works (11/9-10/12/20)
• Feel The Sun in Your Mouth: Recent Acquisitions — More than 25 recently acquired works for a show in the lower-level galleries that weaves together global perspectives on critical contemporary issues (Now-2/2020)
• Manifesto: Art x Agency — More than 100 works of art and ephemera, the majority from the Hirshhorn’s collection, focused on artist manifestos and their impact, exploring how artists have used these statements of principles or theories to engage with the political and social issues of their time (Now-1/5)
• Mark Bradford: Pickett’s Charge — Gay artist’s timely, commissioned “cyclorama” of eight large, site-specific painting collages inspired by the Philippoteaux masterpiece depicting the loss of the Confederate Army at the Battle of Gettysburg that still has resonance today (Now-2021)
• What Absence Is Made Of — The unexpected and mind-bending ways that artists express absence or loss and surmount the limits of the material world, as seen in a survey of 70 works spanning 70 years and drawn from the Hirshhorn’s extensive collection, including Annette Lemieux, Constantin Brancusi, Ed Atkins, On Kawara, and John Baldessari (Now-March)

IA&A AT HILLYER

9 Hillyer Court NW
202-338-0325
www.athillyer.org

• Starting from the Island: Contemporary Art from Taiwan — Featuring Yun-Ting Hung, Kuen-Lin Tsai, Don Don Houmwm, and Tai-Chun Chou (Now-9/29)
• Jamila Okubo + Lou Dawson: Dreaming While Woke: Speak of the Future in the Now — A mixed-media artist and a fashion designer/visual artist team up for an Afrofuturism-inspired exhibition with works reflecting on their experiences growing up in D.C. (Now-9/29)
• Zofie King: Secular Relics and Apocryphal Fossils — Polish-born, German-reared, U.S.-based sculptor takes a cabinet of curiosities format for an exhibition reflecting on how both geological and cultural objects connect us to history (Now-9/29)
•  Bundith Phunsombatlert (Oct.)
• Jubee Lee (Oct.)
• Clay Dunklin (Oct.)
• Jana Brike (Nov.-Dec.)
• Women Photojournalists of Washington: 2019 Exhibition (Nov.-Dec.)
• Alessandro Gianni (Nov.-Dec.)

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Thomas Jefferson Building
10 First St. SE
202-707-8000
www.loc.gov/exhibits

• Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote — Telling the story of the largest reform movement in American history, the 72-year campaign for women’s suffrage that culminated in the passage and ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution exactly one century ago (Now-9/2/20, Southwest Gallery)
• Mapping a Growing Nation: From Independence to Statehood — Displaying a rare copy of the first map of the independent United States created in America by an American, Abel Buell’s 18th-Century “New and Correct Map of the United States of North America,” along with other early maps (Ongoing, North Gallery)
• Hope for America: Performers, Politics and Pop Culture — Drawing from the personal papers, joke files, films, radio and television broadcasts and other materials donated by Bob Hope and his family (Ongoing, Bob Hope Gallery of American Entertainment)
• Here to Stay: The Legacy of George and Ira Gershwin — A wealth of materials providing insight into the careers and personalities of the brothers who helped pioneer the American musical artform nearly a century ago (Ongoing, Gershwin Gallery, Ground Floor)

• LONG VIEW GALLERY
  1234 9th St. NW
  202-232-4788
  www.longviewgallerydc.com

• Jason Wright: RISE (Now-9/22)
• The District Creates — A celebration of D.C.-based artists Courtney Kolker, Susan Goldman, and Jordann Wine in their gallery debuts (9/26-10/27)
•  Rebecca Coles — Gallery favorite returns with brand-new paper cuts (11/1-12/31)

MANSION AT STRATHMORE

5301 Tuckerman Lane
Bethesda, Md.
301-581-5109
www.strathmore.org

• Perspective: Hubert Jackson & Carolyn Goodridge — Jackson draws local heroes and sheroes through dynamic color and layering, and Goodridge creates cosmos-inspired paintings whose surfaces are alive with texture and motion (Now-10/20, 1st Floor Galleries)
• Timber — An exhibition of regional and national artists skilled at turning, sculpting, or carving woodworks out of mahogany, ash, and holly, with a focus on the creative and unexpected (Now-10/20)
• Laurie Breen — Abstract painter builds lines, shapes, and colors intuitively, without a plan, trusting that “chaos is the way through each piece” (Now-11/3, Invitational Gallery)
• Drawing for Art — An exhibition and fundraiser in one, in which every participant goes home with one piece of original artwork (10/26-11/3)
• The 86th Annual Exhibition of Fine Art in Miniature — Intricately detailed works of art, painstakingly produced in miniature (11/16-1/5)
• David Shreirer — Whimsical and friendly watercolor illustrations celebrate coastal wildlife from the Eastern Shore to Alaska (11/16-2/23, Invitational Gallery)
• Shades of Pastel — Artists from around the nation are represented in this biennial juried exhibition from the Maryland Pastel Society (11/16-1/5)
• The 29th Annual Strathmore Juried Exhibition: Home — Original artworks inspired by “home” and submitted by artists answering Strathmore’s open call for entries (1/11-2/23)

NATIONAL ARCHIVES MUSEUM

Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery
Constitution Avenue and 9th Streets NW
202-357-5000
www.archivesfoundation.org

• Rightfully Hers: American Women and The Vote — Highlighting the hard-won victories that stemmed from the Women’s Suffrage movement, chief among these the passage 100 years ago of the 19th Amendment, and telling the story of the diversity of American women’s experiences and their impact on history (Now-1/3)

NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM

401 F St. NW
202-272-2448
www.nbm.org

• Alan Karchmere: The Architects’ Photographer — A cross-section of professional photographs as well as personal artifacts shedding light on the celebrated way this late photographer conveyed architects’ ideas and intentions (Opens 11/9)
• Animals, Collected — Imagined as a cabinet of curiosities, a selection of architectural objects depicting animals, both real and mythological, as decorative elements drawn from the museum’s permanent collection but many never before displayed (Now-Spring 2020)
• (Now-Spring)
• Hoops: Community Portraits by Bill Bamberger — A rich and diverse selection of private and community basketball courts around the country and the globe, as seen in 75 large-format prints (Now-1/5)
• Flickering Treasures: Rediscovering Baltimore’s Forgotten Movie Theaters — A survey of Baltimore’s movie-going past from 1896 to the present, using oral histories, architectural fragments, theater ephemera, and of course photography — particularly vivid, contemporary shots from Baltimore Sun staff photographer Amy Davis — to illuminate themes of memory, loss, and preservation (Now-2/17)
•  

• House & Home — Surveying houses both familiar and surprising, through past and present — including one of a same-sex couple — and challenging ideas about what it means to live at home in America (Ongoing)

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART

3rd St. & Constitution Ave. NW
202-737-4215
www.nga.gov

• The Eye of the Sun: 19th Century Photographs from the National Gallery of Art — Some 140 images showcase how photography, now a 180-year-old medium, developed throughout its first 50 years in the 19th century, including several photographs recently acquired from Charles Isaacs and Carol Nigro (Now-12/1)
• Verrocchio: Sculptor and Painter of Renaissance Florence — A first-ever monographic exhibition in the U.S. of the innovative 15th century Florentine artist and teacher whose pupils included da Vinci, Perugino, and Botticelli (9/15-1/12)
• In the Library: Verrocchio, Connoisseurship, and the Photographs of Clarence Kennedy (9/15-1/10)
• The Touch of Color: Pastels at the National Gallery of Art — A display of approximately 70 pastels tracing the history of the colorful and versatile medium from the Renaissance to the 21st century (9/29-1/26)
• Alonso Berruguete: First Sculptor of Renaissance Spain — The first major exhibition held outside of Spain to celebrate the expressive art of the most important sculptor active on the Iberian Peninsula during the first half of the 16th century (10/13-2/17)
• By The Light of the Silvery Moon: A Century of Lunar Photographs from the 1850s to Apollo 11 — An exhibition of some 50 works including a selection of photographs from the unmanned Ranger, Surveyor, and Lunar Orbiter missions that led up to Apollo 11 50 years ago (Now-1/5)

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MUSEUM

1145 17th St. NW
202-857-7700
www.nationalgeographic.org/events

• Women: A Century of Change — A collection of powerful images from famed National Geographic photographers offer a glimpse of both what it means to be a woman in the world today and how that’s changed in the 100 years since American women gained the right to vote; exhibition includes stories and commentary from female luminaries, among them Melinda Gates, Gloria Allred, Jane Goodall, and Christiane Amanpour (10/22-Spring)
•  Becoming Jane: The Evolution of Dr. Jane Goodall — Celebrating the explorer who has helped us understand our closest living relatives, chimpanzees; hands-on, transportive, multimedia exhibition includes a 3D exploration of the park in Tanzania where the groundbreaking chimp research was conducted (11/22-Summer)
•  Exploration Starts Here — A showcase of the greatest hits from the National Geographic Society’s long and storied history of discovery, introducing the many explorers, scientists, storytellers, and artifacts that have made it possible (Permanent)

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY & CULTURE

14th St. & Constitution Ave. NW
844-750-3012
www.nmaahc.si.edu

• Visual Art and the American Experience — “The only permanent art exhibition on the Smithsonian Mall dedicated to illustrating the critical role American artists of African descent played in shaping the history of American art” (Permanent)
• Slavery and Freedom — Highlighting both free and enslaved African Americans’ contributions to the making of America while also exploring the economic and political legacies of the making of modern slavery (Permanent)
• Double Victory: The African-American Military Experience (Ongoing)
• The Power of Place — From the Bronx to Chicago to the American West, 10 “place studies” provide an intimate look into the African-American experience and offer a sweeping view of American history through an African-American lens (Ongoing)
• A Changing America: 1968 and Beyond (Ongoing)

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY

1400 Constitution Ave. NW
202-633-1000
www.americanhistory.si.edu

• Elephants and Us: Considering Extinction — Tied to the 30th anniversary of the historic African Elephants Conservation Act and exploring Americans’ relationship with elephants over time (11/1-9/13)
• ARTIFACT WALL: Illegal to be You: Gay History Beyond Stonewall Objects from the museum’s LGBTQ collections, putting the history of Stonewall within a broader context of being gay in America, on display in a long, central glass-fronted cases (Ongoing)
• American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith (Ongoing)
• Ruby Slippers and American Culture Displays — Dorothy’s slippers from The Wizard of Oz factor into an installation also including jazz and classical instruments, a video game wall, New York Yankee Stadium ticket booth, and a stained-glass window from the Victor Company’s New Jersey headquarters featuring “Nipper,” the iconic dog listening to his master’s recorded voice (Ongoing)
• Everyday Luxury: Silk Quilts from the National Collection — A display of late-19th century “parlor throws,” textiles made to be seen, not used, telling a little-known story about American industry, art, fads, and marketing (Ongoing)
• America’s Listening — Thomas Edison’s phonograph, Alexander Graham Bell’s graphophone, Emile Berliner’s gramophone, Ray Dolby’s noise reduction system, and Apple’s iPod are showcased as five innovations in recorded sound that changed how we consume music and movies (Ongoing)
•  The First Ladies (Ongoing)
• Food: Transforming the American Table 1950-2000 (Ongoing)
• Giving in America — Philanthropy has built many of the nation’s most important and enduring cultural institutions, from museums to libraries to hospitals, and this exhibit offers breakdowns on the who, the what, the where, and the wherefore of charitable giving (Ongoing)

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

10th St. & Constitution Ave. NW
202-633-1000
www.mnh.si.edu

• Nature’s Best Photography — Fine art prints accompanied by video, all winners of the 24th annual Windland Smith Rice International Awards (Opens Oct.)
• Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World (Now-2021)
• Objects of Wonder — Explore the breadth, scope and splendor of the world’s most extensive natural history research collection, including many exceptional objects rarely seen by the public (Now-2021)
• Sea Monsters Unearthed: Life in Angola’s Ancient Seas (Now-2020)
• The Last American Dinosaurs: Discovering a Lost World (Closes Late 2019)
• Narwhal: Revealing an Arctic Legend — Showcasing exciting new scientific discoveries about these animals in the context of a changing arctic climate (Closes Late 2019)
• Eternal Life in Ancient Egypt — Ceramics, tools, and jewelry found in ancient tombs along with four mummies from over 2,000 years ago, uncovered through modern science and technology (Ongoing)

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN

4th St. & Independence Ave. SW
202-633-1000
www.nmai.si.edu

• Section 14: The Other Palm Springs, California — Exposing a land battle at the core of the conflict between Western expansion and Indigenous peoples, in a one-square-mile tract in today’s gay desert mecca (Now-1/20)
• Nation to Nation: Treaties between the United States and American Indian Nations (Now-2021)
• Americans — A showcase of nearly 350 objects and images, from a Tomahawk missile to baking powder cans, all demonstrating that Indian words and images are everywhere in American life, and revealing that Americans have always been fascinated, conflicted, and profoundly shaped by their relationship to American Indians (Now-2022)

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WOMEN IN THE ARTS

1250 New York Ave. NW
202-783-5000
www.nmwa.org

• Judy Chicago-The End: A Meditation on Death and Extinction — Through nearly 40 works of painted porcelain and glass, as well as two large sculptures, the famed artist and feminist icon reflects on her own mortality while appealing for compassion and justice for all earthly creatures affected by human greed (9/19-1/20)
• Live Dangerously — Styled as a kind of complementary contrast to the Judy Chicago exhibition comes this display of fierce, dreamy, and witty images by 12 artists depicting women engaging with nature and the natural environment (9/19-1/20)
• Women Artists of the Dutch Golden Age — Examining the lives and works of several highly successful female artists in the Netherlands during the 17th and early 18th centuries (10/11-1/5)
• New York Avenue Sculpture Project: Betsabeé Romero — Mexico City-based artist’s Totemic structures made out of tires embellished with intricate carvings, metallic paint, and interior lights form the next chapter in the museum’s evolving public art program (Now-9/20)
• Power in My Hand: Women Poets, Women Artists & Social Change — A collection of printed poems, artist’ books, and art objects celebrates the creative and social bonds between women poets and women artists (Now-10/31, Library and Research Center)
• More is More: Multiples — Three-dimensional art objects produced in series of identical editions by Cindy Sherman, Mickalene Thomas, Barbara Kruger, Helen Marten, and Jiha Moon, among others, inviting inquiry into the temptation of retail and the allure of fine art (Now-9/22)

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

8th & F Streets NW
202-633-8300
www.npg.si.edu

• The Outwin 2019: American Portraiture Today — A display of work by the finalists for the 5th triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition (10/26-8/30)
• Recent Acquisitions — An annual showcase of 25 portraits recently added to the museum’s collection (11/15-8/30)
• Portraits of the World: Denmark — Featuring the painting “Kunstdommere” by Michael Ancher (12/13-10/12)
• Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence — Revealing the women and organizations often overlooked in the complex narrative of women’s suffrage in the U.S. (Now-1/5)
• One Life: Marian Anderson — Examining the ways in which artists, concert promoters, and others wielded Anderson’s iconic likeness as a powerful symbol in the pursuit of civil rights (Now-5/17)
• Women of Progress: Early Camera Portraits — An exhibition of daguerreotypes and ambrotypes from the 1840s and 1850s featuring early feminist icons (Now-5/31)
• Storied Women of the Civil War Era — From First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln to the actress and Union spy Pauline Cushman, a focus on women who rose to national prominence during the war (Now-5/8)
• in mid-sentence — Photographs depicting moments of communication, including intimate confessions, public speeches, exchanged jokes, political confrontations, and lectures (Now-3/8) In Memoriam: Toni Morrison, 1931-2019 (Now-1/31)
• Portraits of the World: Yun Suknam’s Korea — Pioneering feminist artist uses portraiture to gain insights into the lives of women, past and present (Now-11/17)

NEWSEUM

555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
202-292-6453
www.newseum.org

• Rise Up: Stonewall and the LGBTQ Rights Movement — Exploring what happened at New York’s Stonewall Inn a half-century ago and how it sparked the civil rights fight of our time, told through artifacts, images, and historic print publications (Now-12/31)
• Seriously Fun: From the Desk of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” — Exploring the impact the satirical news program had on American politics and the press through four presidential campaigns, two wars, and the 9/11 terrorist attacks (Ongoing)
• Pulitzer Prize Photographs Gallery — The most comprehensive collection of award-winning photographs ever assembled, plus interviews with many of the awardees (Permanent)

THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION

1600 21st St. NW
202-387-2151
www.phillipscollection.org

• INTERSECTIONS: Los Carpinteros: Cuba Va! — Two videos and a group of LED sculptural portraits from an internationally acclaimed Cuban artist collective known for subversive artworks that produce a social landscape of Cuba’s modern history, at once utopian and dystopian (10/10-1/12)
• Bonnard to Vuillard: The Intimate Poetry of Everyday Life — Over 60 exquisite, rarely seen works by a leading group of European post-impressionist artists who worked together under the name the Nabi Collection (10/26-1/26)
• Dear Dove, Dear Phillips, Dear Stieglitz — Exploring the decades-long relationship between artist, patron, and gallery dealer as witnessed through correspondence (Now-7/19, Reading Room)
• James McLaughlin Memorial Staff Show: Community Exhibition — A display of works by artists employed at the museum (Now-9/29)
• The Warmth of Other Suns: Stories of Global Displacement — Historical and contemporary works by approximately 100 artists posing urgent questions around the experiences and perceptions of migration and the current refugee crisis (Now-9/22)
• Moving Forward, Looking Back: A Collection Still in the Making — Revealing aspects of the museum’s history through photographs, exhibition announcements, letters, and more drawn from the archives (Now-12/31)

RENWICK GALLERY

1661 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
202-633-7970
www.americanart.si.edu/visit/renwick

• Ginny Ruffner: Reforestation of the Imagination — Glass and sculpture artist has added Augmented Reality technology to her latest series of elegant works to create an interactive experience via digital app (Now-1/5)
• Michael Sherrill Retrospective — Delicately rendered clay, glass, and metal sculptures incorporating new media and technologies to help viewers see the natural world anew (Now-1/5)
• David Best’s Temple — Transforming the Renwick’s Bettie Rubenstein Grand Salon into a glowing sanctuary, offering a quiet place to reflect and pay tribute to lost loved ones (Now-1/5)
• Connections: Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery — A dynamic presentation of the permanent collection, featuring more than 80 objects celebrating craft as a discipline and an approach to living differently in the modern world (Ongoing)

SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM

8th & F Streets NW
202-633-7970
www.americanart.si.edu

• Picturing the American Buffalo: George Catlin and Modern Native American Artists — Examining representations of buffalo and their integration into the lives of Native Americans on the Great Plains in the 1830s and in the 20th century (10/11-4/12)
• Chiura Obata: American Modern — A comprehensive survey of a Japanese-born artist whose varied body of work displays a seemingly effortless synthesis of “East” and “West,” from his bold California landscapes to intimate drawings about the mass Japanese internment during World War II (11/27-5/25)
• Sculpture Down to Scale: Models for Public Art at Federal Buildings, 1974-1985 — Nine models offering windows into the creative process from artists including Jackie Ferrara, Sol LeWitt, Claes Oldenburg, and Beverly Pepper (Now-3/28/21)
• American Myth & Memory: David Levinthal Photographs — Images of everything from toy cowboys to Barbie dolls to baseball players as a way of examining the myths and stereotypes of our pastimes and enduring heroes and the stories we tell about ourselves (Now-10/14)
• Galleries for Folk and Self-Taught Art — The museum’s collection includes pieces by untrained and vernacular artists drawing on tradition, such as quilts, or revealing a more personal vision (Indefinitely)

TOUCHSTONE GALLERY

901 New York Ave. NW
202-347-2787
www.touchstonegallery.com

• Luscious Landscapes by Linda Bankerd — A collection of abstract landscapes inspired by the changing seasons and made within the last three years (Now-9/29)
• A World of Color, My Way by Colleen Sabo — Oil and watercolor paintings reflect what the artist sees when at home as well as while traveling to Europe, Australia, and Africa, observing changes in weather and nature (Now-9/29)
• Minimal Surfaces by Davide Prete — Sculptures and prints exploring aesthetic qualities of minimal surfaces through a combination of traditional metalsmithing techniques and contemporary 3D modeling and print techniques (Now-9/29)

TRANSFORMER

1404 P St. NW
202-483-1102
www.transformerdc.org

• Sascha Appelhoff & Lena Von Goedeke’s Normcore — Two contemporary Berlin-based artists play with the idea of “normcore,” a portmanteau of normal and hardcore, in an exhibition co-sponsored by the German government and the Goethe-Institut Washington (Now-10/10)
• 16th Annual Silent Auction & Benefit Party (10/26, GWU/Corcoran School of the Arts & Design)

UNITED STATES BOTANIC GARDEN

100 Maryland Ave. SW
202-225-8333
www.usbg.gov

• Celebrating New American Gardens — Toasting public gardens created or renovated within the last five years in the U.S. (Now-10/15)
•  Gardening Across America — Spotlighting the diversity and beauty of the more than 600 public gardens in the U.S., with a focus on 20 different gardens (Now-10/1)
• It’s Hip to Be Square: The Mint Family — Members of the mint family, including coleus, sage, and rosemary, are usually aromatic, have square stems, and opposite leaves (Now-11/23)
• Season’s Greetings: All Aboard — Annual holiday show features: model trains journeying along miniature tracks to plant-based recreations of historic railroad stations across the U.S.; one of the largest indoor decorated trees in the area; and a showcase of heirloom and newly developed poinsettia varieties (11/29-1/1)

U.S. NATIONAL ARBORETUM
THE NATIONAL BONSAI & PENJING FOUNDATION

Special Exhibits Wing
3501 New York Ave. NE
202-245-4523
www.usna.usda.gov

• Viewing Stone Exhibit: Spirit of Literati — From tea utensils to root art to rocks, objects originally collected and appreciated by the scholar class of China and Japan, organized by the Potomac Viewing Stone Group (Now-9/29)
• Twisted Genius: The Eccentric Bonsai Artistry of Nick Lenz — Timed for Halloween, an exhibit of bonsai creations with whimsical creatures, playful pots, and spooky trees, from a provocative and pioneering bonsai artist (10/26-11/17)

WASHINGTON PRINTMAKERS GALLERY

1641 Wisconsin Ave. NW
202-669-1497
www.washingtonprintmakers.com

• Cutting Through by Amy Guadagnoli — Abstract woodblock prints, with layers of bold but ambiguous shapes that cross over and cancel out one another, beckoning viewers to find their own answers to the question, “What is this?” (Now-9/29)
• Ron Meick (10/2-27)
• Matina Marki Tillman – Humanography: Shifts and Variations – Direct etchings of charcoal and pencil drawings onto Solarplates presenting individual, self-as-a-subject, double and multiple portrayals of the human, most created and arranged with a sequential character (10/31-11/24)
• Sally Canzoneri (12/4-22)

WASHINGTON PROJECT FOR THE ARTS

2124 8th St. NW
202-234-7103
www.wpadc.org

• Natura Naturans — An artist-driven educational experiment consisting of lectures, workshops, field trips, and an exhibition, held over six weekends, exploring the greater importance of nature in today’s Anthropocene era and of the need for more artistic responses to the developing ecological crisis per climate change (9/13-11/23)

Read more:

Fall Arts Preview 2019: Film

Fall Arts Preview 2019: Music – Pop, Rock, Folk, Blues, Jazz

Fall Arts Preview 2019: Stage

Fall Arts Preview 2019: Dance

Fall Arts Preview 2019: Classical & Choral

Fall Arts Preview 2019: Above & Beyond