Past Exhibitions

November 23, 2021–December 4, 2022 | This exhibition explores individual stories and family histories, the concept of status, developments in popular piety, and the inner workings of the state as shown through the intricate impressions on lead seals.

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Beatrix Farrand’s design of the Dumbarton Oaks landscape, the exhibit includes archival images, as well as newly commissioned photographs, selections from the Rare Book Collection, and a design timeline.

September 21, 2021–January 9, 2022 | Centered on the paintings of botanical artist Margaret Mee, this exhibit explores the traditions of women botanical artists and illustrators primarily using materials from the Rare Book Collection.

April 2, 2019–March 2020 | Drawing from the remaining Chinese artworks in the House Collection, this installation focuses on Song dynasty vessels and luxury domestic objects.

August 31, 2019–January 5, 2020 | This exhibit provides insight into the decoration of interior spaces, inviting the viewer to experience stunning tapestries featuring mythical beings and intriguing iconography alongside household objects and luxurious gold jewelry.

September 10, 2019–January 5, 2020 | This exhibit brings together complete tunics, parts of garments, and contemporary replicas of ancient dress to evoke the fashions of a now lost world.

April–October 2019 | This exhibit explores how the interest in the Holy Land was connected to a longer history of travel to the western Mediterranean and coincided with and contributed to the development of Western tourism as we know it today.

April 2–August 18, 2019 | Long before the arrival of the Spaniards, the people of South America had a system of recorded information that was portable, precise, and so complex that it remains undeciphered today.

April 2–August 18, 2019 | This installation examines the relationship between two components of the Andean woven world: tunics and khipus.

October 16, 2018–March 3, 2019 | See how one tale has transformed over time, captivating medieval and modern audiences alike with its enduring messages. Art is miraculous!

February 20–September 2, 2018 (museum) and March 15–December 16, 2018 (gardens) | This installation of mixed-media sculpture and works on paper, all inspired by natural forms and materials, by noted Washington artist Martha Jackson Jarvis, bridges the institution’s historic gardens and museum collections.

August 2017–July 2018 | This textile rotation features late Roman and early Byzantine hangings and curtains alongside Andean looped and woven garments.

April 25, 2017–August 2018 | This selection of objects explores the taste and acquisitions of Robert and Mildred Bliss when they lived in Paris.

March 14–July 2018 | Drawing from the Rare Book and Ephemera Collections, this exhibit traces the story of cherry blossoms in Japan and the United States and their place in the changing relationship between the two nations over the past century.

May–August 2018 | This exhibit examines the transplantation of Italian gardens in the United States and explores the relationships between popular images, landscape design, and cultural identity

February–April 2018 | This exhibit recounts how outsiders appropriated Machu Picchu for divergent and often contradictory purposes, in the process turning this once-obscure site into a worldwide icon of Inca civilization.

Rare Book Reading Room and Gallery

April 25, 2017–February 8, 2018 | The selection of objects highlights the craft of bronze metallurgy and the use and meaning of ancient works in bronze.

April 27, 2017–February 1, 2018 | This exhibit examines the fashionably dressed urban woman of the late nineteenth century in works collected by the Blisses, who admired the art of the Impressionists.

April–October 2017 | This exhibit features items from popular culture that represent the grandeur of Theodora and her world.