Past Exhibitions

  • Oragami paper silhouettes on a white background

    Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now

    May 11, 2018 - March 17, 2019

    With both historical and contemporary explorations into the silhouette, Black Out reveals new pathways between our past and present.

    Tour Schedule:
    Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS / April 27 to August 25, 2019
    Birmingham Museum of Art, AL / September 28, 2019 to January 12, 2020

  • Model of the POB see from above

    Celebrating Fifty Years

    August 11, 2017 - January 6, 2019
    Second floor

    In 1968, following major renovations, the Old Patent Office Building opened as the permanent home for two Smithsonian museums, the National Collection of Fine Arts (since renamed the Smithsonian American Art Museum) and the National Portrait Gallery. This exhibition marks the fiftieth anniversary of that grand event.

  • Marble sculpture of an African American woman and an older white woman facing each other

    UnSeen: Our Past in a New Light, Ken Gonzales-Day and Titus Kaphar

    May 31, 2018 - January 6, 2019

    The exhibition highlights the work of two leading contemporary artists who grapple with the under- and misrepresentation of certain minorities in portraiture and American history.

  • George H.W. Bush amidst a crown of soldiers in Saudi Arabia

    In Memoriam: George Herbert Walker Bush

    December 1, 2018 - January 2, 2019

    In memory of George Herbert Walker Bush, the National Portrait Gallery has added a drape to his portrait in the America's Presidents gallery.  Visitors may pay their respects and record their thoughts in a journal next to the portrait.

  • Woman with long black hair in a red dress against a yellow background

    Portraits of the World: Switzerland

    December 15, 2017 - November 12, 2018

    “Portraits of the World: Switzerland” is the inaugural exhibition of a series that will highlight the global context of American portraiture.

  • Man standing in front of the columns of the Capitol

    In Memoriam: John McCain

    August 27, 2018 - September 9, 2018

    The National Portrait Gallery recognized the life and legacy of late Senator and former presidential nominee John S. McCain III with a photograph by the British-born photographer Steve Pyke.

  • (Lathe operator—woman in yellow hat)

    The Sweat of Their Face: Portraying American Workers

    November 3, 2017 - September 3, 2018

    “The Sweat of Their Face” combines art and social history with representations of American laborers across genres and centuries of art.

     

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