Twenty Smithsonian Shows to See in 2020

The new decade brings with it scores of new exhibitions at museums across the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. and in New York City. Many continue to mark the centenary of women’s suffrage; others expand views from other cultures and traditions. The 150th anniversary of professional baseball brings a couple of shows examining its cultural impact. And there’s something of a sequel to a blockbuster—Yayoi Kusama’s record-breaking exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Here’s a preview look at 20 of the Smithsonian's new shows opening this year.

Baseball: America’s Homerun, National Postal Museum

At the National Postal Museum, the first of two big Smithsonian exhibitions this year that will embrace the national pastime will feature hundreds of U.S. and international stamps commemorating the sport’s finest players, augmented by dozens of objects loaned by other Smithsonian museums and the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Organized in celebration of the 150th anniversary of professional baseball, this exhibition "Baseball: America's Home Run" features historic objects, some of which have never before been on public display. (June 27, 2020 through January 8, 2023)

Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists, Renwick Gallery

The first major exhibition to explore the artistic achievements of Native women, "Hearts of Our People" includes more than 80 works of textiles and decorative arts to photography, sculpture and time-based media, dating from ancient times to the present, and stressing the collaborative process. Organized by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Washington, D.C. stop at the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery is third on a tour that will also bring the show to Tulsa. (February 21 through May 17, 2020)

John Singer Sargent: Portraits in Charcoal, National Portrait Gallery

The first exhibition in 50 years of John Singer Sargent’s drawings marks the time when he abandoned oil painting at the height of his success in 1907 to explore the possibilities of charcoal. He did so in part because he could more quickly meet the demands on him as a portraitist. Among the faces are the artistic—from William Butler Yeats to actress Ethel Barrymore. But there are also views of heiresses from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and Sybil Sassoon. Billed as a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition, "Portraits in Charcoal" at the National Portrait Gallery in collaboration with the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, includes many works from private collections and those rarely exhibited. (February 28 through May 31, 2020)

Contemporary Muslim Fashions, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco organized the first major exhibition, "Contemporary Muslim Fashions," which lands at the Smithsonian's Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City, to explore the complex worlds of Muslim dress codes across the globe. For those who cover and those who do not, the dress is much more diverse—and colorful—than some may think, reflecting the intersection of global fashion trends with local and regional styles. Among its high-end offerings from designers like Bernard Chandran and Wadha al Hajri are affordable designs from the London-based Sarah Elenany and sportswear such as the burkini. (February 28 through August 23, 2020)

Creating Icons: How We Remember Women’s Suffrage, National Museum of American History

Among the exhibitions celebrating the 100th anniversary of the women’s vote is one that highlights both the celebrated and the lesser known leaders in the struggle. On display at the National Museum of American History in "Creating Icons" are items from Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party and items donated more than a century ago by the National American Woman Suffrage Association—a group now known as the League of Women’s Voters. They range from campaign buttons to Bella Abzug’s famous hat. (March 6, 2020 through March 7, 2021)

Alexander von Humboldt and the United States: Art, Nature and Culture, Smithsonian American Art Museum

The influential Prussian naturalist Alexander von Humboldt visited the young United States for just six weeks in 1804, but his discussions there with artists, cultural leaders and elected officials including President Thomas Jefferson left a lasting legacy in the young county as far as its relation to the environment. It’s reflected in the work of painters from Albert Bierstadt and Karl Bodmer to Frederic Church and George Catlin. In all, more than 100 paintings, sculptures, maps and artifacts are included in the exhibition, "Alexander von Humboldt and the United States: Art, Nature, and Culture" at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. (March 20 through August 16, 2020)

Pleibol! In the Barrios and the Big Leagues, National Museum of American History

Anthony Rendon’s first baseball card, Roberto Clemente’s batting helmet and Pedro Martinez’ jersey are among the more than 60 artifacts in the exhibition, Pleibol! In the Barrios and the Big Leagues, celebrating Latin contributions to the national pastime. “The story we tell shows how Latino communities played, celebrated and changed the game,” says Margaret Salazar-Porzio, curator in the National Museum of American History’s division of cultural and community life. A traveling version of the show is also being planned for 15 other cities. (October 9, 2020 through October 2021.)

Meeting Tessai: Modern Japanese Art from the Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Tomioka Tessai was one of the first Japanese artists to have his works shown in the U.S. following World War II in a show organized by the Smithsonian Institution. Collector and museum founder Charles Lang Freer met the early 20th century painter three times while in Japan. Tessai’s work reflects both traditions of ancient Asian art as well as touches of modernism associated with Impressionists. The first Tessai exhibition in 50 years, "Meeting Tessai" at the Smithsonian's Arthur M. Sackler Galler celebrates a significant gift of early modern Japanese paintings and calligraphy from a renowned collection. (March 28 through August 2, 2020)

Unsettled Nature: Artists Respond to the Age of Humans, National Museum of Natural History

What has been the role of humans in the shaping and change in the world in which we live? An array of works by contemporary artists take up this question in a rare art show at the National Museum of Natural History that is also meant to inspire visitors to create their own visions for a shared future. (March 18, 2020 through April 11, 2021)

One with Eternity: Yoyoi Kusama in the Hirshhorn Collection, The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

This reprise brings back one of the earliest Infinity Mirror Rooms that drew long lines of visitors in 2017 as well as the debut of the most recent rooms crafted by the hugely popular Japanese artist. Both are among the three new acquisitions to the Hirshhorn’s collection of Yayoi Kusama’s work, which will also be on display at "One with Eternity," from early paintings to iconic sculptures like the polka-dotted Pumpkin of 2016. Owing to Kusama’s draw, which doubled museum's average attendance to 1.2 million in 2017, free, same-day timed passes will be distributed throughout the run. (April 4 through September 20, 2020)

Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture and Exchange across Medieval Saharan Africa, National Museum of African Art

The first major exhibition exploring the scope of the Saharan trade and shared history of West Africa, the Middle East, North Africa and Europe over five centuries centers on the element that fueled much of the action—gold. More than 250 artworks from a vast expanse were originally organized by the Block Museum at Northwestern University. Among them will be a number of unprecedented loans from partner institutions in Mali, Morocco and Nigeria, many of which will be seen for the first time at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art in "Caravans of Gold." (April 11, 2020 through November 29, 2020)

Steel and Sky: Views of New York City, Smithsonian American Art Museum

The rise of New York City as a world art capital in the early 20th century coincided with the literal rise of its mighty skyline. The energy of the metropolis in both fields fuels the Smithsonian American Art Museum's new exhibition "Steel and Sky: Views of New York City" of more than 50 prints and drawings chronicling the period, from artists that include John Sloan, Isabel Bishop, Peggy Bacon and William H. Johnson. (May 8 through October 25, 2020)

Suzie Zuzek for Lilly Pulitzer: The Prints that Made the Fashion Brand, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

More than 35 of the excess of 1,500 designs Suzie Zuzek, created for Key West Hand Print Fabrics, many of which were used by fashion brand Lilly Pulitzer, are included in the Cooper Hewitt's exhibition, "Suzie Zuzek for Lilly Pulitzer: The Prints That Made the Fashion Brand," which makes the case for how the prolific watercolor and gouache designs for the Key West Hand Print helped define the Pulitzer brand. The first exhibition of Zuzek, who died in 2011,”will tell the important story of a talented American designer who worked anonymously in support of a larger brand,” says Cooper Hewitt director Caroline Baumann. (May 15 through December 7, 2020)

Picturing Women Inventors, National Museum of American History

The stories and pictures of a dozen historic and contemporary women inventors in "Picturing Women Inventors," by the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center at the National Museum of American History, will highlight their often unknown achievements. The exhibition will feature inventors from Kevlar inventor Stephanie Kwolek, and Folia Water filter creator Theresa Dankovich, to Patricia Bath, who made a cataract removal device in 1981 called the Laserphaco Probe. (May 22, 2020 through June 14, 2021)

Girlhood! (It’s Complicated), National Museum of American History

The splashy murals of illustrator Krystal Quiles will mark this survey of outspoken and inspiring young women from Helen Keller to young Washington D.C. activist Naomi Wadler. Divided into education, wellness, work and fashion, Girlhood! will be one of the longest running of the new 2020 exhibits—longer still when it tours the country as a part of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition through 2025. (June 12, 2020 through January 2, 2022)

Her Story: A Century of Women Writers, National Portrait Gallery

Toni Morrison, Joyce Carol Oates, Anne Tyler, Alice Walker and Lorraine Hansberry are among the two dozen women writers celebrated in this exhibition that grew out of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative, Because of Her Story. Portraits of the authors, who have collectively won every literary award, are drawn from the Portrait Gallery’s collection. (July 10, 2020 through January 10, 2021)

Forces of Nature: Renwick Invitational 2020, Renwick Gallery

The quartet of artists asked by the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery to participate in the ninth invitational, "Forces of Nature," were asked to respond to “being human in a world increasingly chaotic and divorced from our physical landscape.” Of the four, Lauren Fensterstock of Maine, creates installations; Timothy Horn of Provincetown, Massachusetts, works from the traditions of jewelry; Debora Moore of Seattle, devises glass representations of flowering trees; and Rowland Ricketts of Indiana, works in fabric. (July 17, 2020 through February 7, 2021)

One Life: Will Rogers, National Portrait Gallery

Born in Cherokee country, raised as a trick roper who succeeded first in vaudeville, then movies, newspaper writing, books and radio, Will Rogers became emblematic as a wise-cracking early 20th-century social commentator. While his statue continues to stand in the U.S. Capitol, a second Washington honor comes when he is honored with the latest One Life subject at the National Portrait Gallery, in an exhibition of painted portraits, sculpture, caricatures, movie paraphernalia photographs and film of the Oklahoman who said he has never met a man he didn’t like. (July 26, 2020 through May 16, 2021)

¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now, Smithsonian American Art Museum

The rise of activist Chicano artists at a time of many social movements in the 1960s created an innovative printmaking tradition that continues today. The exhibition of more than 120 works from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s collection, ¡Printing the Revolution!, goes beyond prints to installations, augmented reality and digital art, with work from Rupert Garcia, Ester Hernández, David Avalos and René Castro, among others. (September 11, 2020 through January 24, 2021)

Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight, National Museum of the American Indian

Pacific Northwest soundscapes, music and projections accompany a major show at the National Museum of the American Indian by Tlingit glass artist Preston Singletary, who tells the tribal story of Raven and his transformation of the world by bringing light to people from the stars, moon and sun. Organized by the artist with the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington, it’s the latest multimedia show at the museum. (October 9, 2020 through October 3, 2021)

Roger Catlin | | READ MORE

Washington, D.C. freelancer Roger Catlin has written about the arts for AARP The Magazine, The Washington Post and other outlets. He writes mostly about TV on his blog rogercatlin.com.