Exhibitions
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Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women
May 31, 2024 – January 5, 2025Renwick GalleryLearn how the featured artists mastered and subverted the everyday materials of cotton, felt, and wool to create deeply personal artworks.
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Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900–1939
April 26, 2024 – February 23, 2025Portrait GalleryBrilliant Exiles illuminates the accomplishments of sixty unconventional women who pursued their personal and professional aspirations in Paris.
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Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women
March 28, 2024 – August 26, 2024American Art MuseumExplore the creative practice of Amish quilters in the United States.
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Commissioned Portrait of Oprah Winfrey
December 13, 2023 – October 20, 2024Portrait GalleryChicago-based artist Shawn Michael Warren painted Winfrey in a purple taffeta dress amidst a lush garden at her California home.
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Carrie Mae Weems: Looking Forward, Looking Back
September 22, 2023 – July 7, 2024American Art MuseumThis focused exhibition pairs two projects by Carrie Mae Weems that explore the relationship of memory to history and of memory as it is mediated through performance, photography, or video.
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¡De última hora!: Latinas Report Breaking News
September 15, 2023 – 2025American History MuseumWorking in the fast-paced, ever-changing environment of broadcast news, these women shaped and shape the narrative for major historical events.
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Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas
September 15, 2023 – August 4, 2024American Art MuseumThis exhibition provides an intimate view of Thomas’ evolving artistic practices during her most prolific period from 1959 to her death in 1978.
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From the Deep: In the Wake of Drexciya with Ayana V. Jackson
April 29, 2023 – January 6, 2025African Art MuseumIn this exhibition, Jackson creates a series of haunting, yet profoundly beautiful and empowering encounters that draw upon African water spirits from Senegal to South Africa.
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We Belong Here: Marking the 50th Anniversary of Title IX
June 23, 2022 – IndefinitelyAmerican History MuseumCoinciding with the 50th anniversary of the federal legislation that unintentionally helped bring equality to sports, this 30-foot display case illuminates three athletes’ stories.
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Music HerStory: Women and Music of Social Change
June 22, 2022 – July 21, 2024American History MuseumMusic HerStory explores the countless contributions of women changemakers, groundbreakers, and tradition-bearers through unique media collections from the Smithsonian.
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Picturing Women Inventors
May 21, 2021 – OngoingAmerican History MuseumFeaturing stories of contemporary and historic women, this display of photos and graphics is dominated by lively, larger-than-life images of female inventors.
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The Only One in the Room: Women Achievers in Business and the Cost of Success
November 20, 2020 – TBAAmerican History MuseumThis display features the stories of eight strong women who made it to the top.
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Janet Echelman's 1.8 Renwick
September 18, 2020 – OngoingRenwick GalleryEchelman’s colorful fiber and lighting installation examines the complex interconnections between human beings and our physical world.
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Former First Lady, Michelle Obama by Artist Amy Sherald
February 13, 2018 – IndefinitelyPortrait GalleryView the commissioned portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama, now permanently installed in the museum.
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The Four Justices
October 28, 2013 – IndefinitelyPortrait GallerySee Supreme Court justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan in this life-size portrait.
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The First Ladies
November 19, 2011 – IndefinitelyAmerican History MuseumLearn how first ladies have shaped the role of first lady as the role of women in society evolved.
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The Struggle for Justice
February 12, 2010 – PermanentPortrait GalleryThis exhibition showcases major cultural and political figures who struggled to achieve civil rights for disenfranchised or marginalized groups.