Losing Paradise: Endangered Plants Here and Around the World

National Museum of Natural History
08/14/2010 – 12/12/2010
The vital importance of plant conservation is conveyed in this exhibition, which features 45 compelling botanical illustrations by members of the American Society of Botanical Artists. Our planet's rich diversity of plant life is at risk; more than 20 percent of the world's flora is threatened with extinction. Scientists are racing to gather information on known plants before they disappear forever, with botanical illustrators working alongside them to document plant diversity for future generations.

 

Americans Now

National Portrait Gallery
08/20/2010 – 07/10/2011
Drawn from the Portrait Gallery's permanent collection, this exhibition will feature individuals prominent in sports, entertainment and other fields of endeavor during the last ten years. It will also reflect the variety of media the Portrait Gallery is now collecting and addresses the museum's recently established policy of accepting living subjects into the collection. Individuals represented in this show will include: Chuck Close, Michael Eisner, LL Cool J, Toni Morrison, Cormac McCarthy, Willie Nelson, President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and Martha Stewart.

 

John Gossage: The Pond

Smithsonian American Art Museum
08/27/2010 – 01/17/2011
John Gossage repeatedly photographed a small, unnamed pond between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland, from 1981 to 1985. Although many of the images in The Pond appear unruly or uncared for, Gossage found moments of grace and elegance in even the most mundane of places. In this exhibit, Gossage advocates an all-embracing view of the landscape, exploring the less idealized spaces that border America's cities and suburbs. The complete portfolio of The Pond was acquired by the museum in 2007. This exhibition marks the first time the entire series of 53 gelatin silver prints has been on public display.

 

A Revolution in Wood: The Bresler Collection

Renwick
09/24/2010 – 01/30/2011
This exhibition will feature 66 objects from the Charles and Fleur Bresler Collection to highlight the growing sophistication of contemporary wood turning. The Bresler Collection, which was recently donated to the museum, has a distinct aesthetic that emphasizes sculptural qualities and decorative motifs integrated into the whole form, with exquisite and finely detailed craftsmanship.

 

Fiona Tan: Rise and Fall

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
09/25/2010 – 01/16/2011
In the first major exhibition of this acclaimed artist's work to be shown in the United States, Fiona Tan's photographs and video installations deftly meld the past and the present in profoundly evocative works, which explore the power of images in constructing memories and histories. Whether drawing on old photographs, 17th-century Dutch paintings, or 19th-century Orientalist architecture, her conceptual and aesthetic approach adds a compelling dimension to understanding Asian art and culture in the world today.

 

Cyprus: Crossroads of Civilizations

National Museum of Natural History
09/ 29/2010 – 05/01/2011
The easternmost island of the Mediterranean has been a crossroads of civilizations for a thousand years. Discover the history of Cyprus, its struggles, and achievements through a rich collection of antiquities, many of which will be on view for the first time outside the country.

 

One Life: Katharine Graham

National Portrait Gallery
10/01/2010 – 05/30/2011
The One Life gallery within the museum is devoted to the exploration of the life of one individual. Newspaper publisher Katharine Graham led an extraordinary life in extraordinary times. Born into privilege, she was catapulted onto the international stage as publisher of The Washington Post during the Watergate scandal. The exhibition will include her Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir Personal History and a video of a Living Self-Portrait interview with Graham and former Portrait Gallery director Marc Pachter.

 

Contemporary Argentine Masterworks

S. Dillon Ripley Center, International Gallery
10/04/2010 – 01/10/2011
This bilingual exhibition will present a contextual overview of the artistic movements and trends reflected in the works of 22 of Argentina's best contemporary artists of today. Some of the artists featured are already established in the canon of Latin American art while others represent a new generation of masters. Within the Americas, Argentina is one of the most active producers and consumers of contemporary art.

 

Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef

National Museum of Natural History
10/16/2010 – 04/17/2011
The hyperbolic crochet coral reef has grown from the discovery that cutting-edge hyperbolic geometry could be found in the intricate structures of coral reefs, and represented though the traditional handicraft of crochet. This exhibition will honor the disappearing wonder, beauty, and diversity of living reefs that are threatened by pollution and global warming.

 

Guillermo Kuitca: Everything - Paintings and Works on Paper, 1980-2008

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
10/21/2010 – 01/16/2011
The first comprehensive retrospective of Guillermo Kuitca's art to travel in the United States in more than ten years will examine over two decades of the artist's paintings, and will include approximately 45 canvases and 20 works on paper made between 1980 and 2008. Since his first exhibition at age 13, Kuitca has forged a distinctive path as an artist. On view will be early works inspired by his experience in theater to recent complex abstractions that evoke the history of modern painting.

 

Elvis at 21: Photographs by Alfred Wertheimer

National Portrait Gallery
10/23/2010 – 01/23/2011
On view will be photographs taken in 1956 by 26-year-old Alfred Wertheimer, who was hired by RCA Victor to shoot promotional images of a rising star named Elvis Presley. When Elvis walked on stage that year, he altered the beat of everyday life. Wertheimer captured the singer's transit to superstardom and the cultural transformation he helped launch, offering viewers an intimate look at Elvis's public and private life and documenting classic American life.

 

Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture

National Portrait Gallery
10/30/2010 – 02/13/2011
This will be the first major museum exhibition to focus on sexual difference in the making of modern American portraiture, and will consider such themes as: the role of sexual difference in depicting modern America; how artists explored the fluidity of sexuality and gender; how major themes in modern art—especially abstraction—were influenced by social marginalization; and how art reflected society's evolving and changing attitudes. The exhibition will begin with late 19th-century works by Thomas Eakins and John Singer Sargent and will chart 20th-century portrayal with more than 100 major works by such American masters as Romaine Brooks, Marsden Hartley and Georgia O'Keeffe. It will continue through the post-war period with major pieces by David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Agnes Martin and Andy Warhol. Works through the end of the 20th century include those by Keith Haring, AA Bronson, Glenn Ligon, Nan Goldin, David Wojnarowicz, Catherine Opie and Felix Gonzales-Torres.

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