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Past Exhibitions

Our online archives date back to 1994, starting with Eye for Excellence, our earliest listing. You can revisit and relive some of your favorite Winterthur extraordinary exhibitions any time you’d like.

Winterthur’s Lady of the House, Ruth Wales du Pont
October 1, 2020 – January 2, 2022
Exhibition page

Re-Presenting Black Womanhood
October 1, 2020 – January 10, 2021

Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence
October 1, 2020 – January 10, 2021

Re-Vision 20/20: Through a Woman’s Lens
February 29, 2020–January 10, 2021

Costuming the Crown
March 30, 2019–January 5, 2020

Open for Business: Photography, Trade, and Self-Image, 1870-1950
September 12, 2019–January 5, 2020

Embroidery: The Thread of History
October 5, 2018–January 6, 2019

Unity by Design: Midcentury Modernism at Winterthur
May 4–July 28, 2019

Thomas Chippendale at 300: Treasures from the Collection
July 20, 2018–June 20, 2019

Dining by Design: Nature Displayed on the Dinner Table
April 1, 2018–January 6, 2019

Truths of the Trade: Slavery and the Winterthur Collection
May 5–August 5, 2018
Online exhibition

Eye on the Iconic: Honus Wagner and Sports Memorabilia
March 9–June 17, 2018

Collecting for the Future: Recent Additions to the Winterthur Collection
May 6, 2017–May 5, 2018
Online exhibition

Treasures on Trial: The Art and Science of Detecting Fakes
April 1, 2017–January 7, 2018
Online exhibition

Go to Your Room! Interior Design and the Youthful Imagination
September 9, 2017–January 7, 2018

Royal Splendor: The Coronation Gown from The Crown
October 20, 2017–January 7, 2018

Lasting Impressions: The Artists of Currier & Ives
September 17, 2016 – January 8, 2017
Online exhibition

Made in the Americas: The New World Discovers Asia
March 26, 2016–January 8, 2017

Cultivating Style in a Multiethnic World
March 1, 2015–January 3, 2016

A Colorful Folk: Pennylvania Germans & the Artwork of Everyday Life
March 1, 2015–January 3, 2016

The Diligent Needle: Instrument of Profit, Pleasure, and Ornament
August 23, 2014–January 3, 2016
Online exhibition

Brittle Beauty: Understanding and Conserving Chinese Export Lacquer
Online exhibition

Tiffany: The Color of Luxury
September 5, 2015–January 3, 2016

Tiffany Glass: Painting with Color and Light
September 5, 2015–January 3, 2016

Costumes of Downton Abbey
March 1, 2014–January 4, 2015

The Flowering of American Tinware
May 18, 2013–January 4, 2015
Online exhibition

Common Destinations: Maps in the American Experience
April 20, 2013–January 5, 2014
Online exhibition

The Look of Love: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection
September 21, 2013–January 5, 2014

Boston Furniture at Winterthur
November 3, 2012—October 3, 2013
Online archive           https://youtu.be/rAao2Zjqupo

A Lasting Legacy: Sixty Years of Winterthur Graduate Programs
May 25, 2012–June 16, 2013
Online exhibition

NWAA & Winterthur: A Collaborative Exhibition
April 5–26, 2013

Uncorked! Wine, Objects & Tradition
April 28, 2012–January 6, 2013
Online exhibition           Virtual tour

Painted Rooms: An Artist’s Vision of Winterthur
November 2012–January 6, 2013

Made for the Trade: Native American Objects in the Winterthur Collection
March 2011–September 30, 2012
Online exhibition

Plimoth Jacket
September 3, 2011–January 8, 2012.

With Cunning Needle
September 3, 2011–January 8, 2012

Paint, Pattern & People
April 2, 2011–January 8, 2012

Betsy Ross: The Life Behind the Legend
October 2, 2010–January 2, 2011

Flower Power: Floral Artistry at Winterthur
March 9–October 31, 2010

Lost Gardens of the Brandywine
March 27–July 25, 2010

Faces of a New Nation: American Portraits of the 18th and Early 19th Centuries from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
July 25, 2009–January 31, 2010
Organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Good Tidings to You: Victorian Christmas Ephemera from the John & Carolyn Grossman Collection
October 24, 2009–January 16, 2010

Harbor & Home: Furniture of Southeastern Massachusetts, 1710–1850
March 21–May 25, 2009

Feeding Desire: Design and the Tools of the Table, 1500–2005
November 1, 2008–February 1, 2009
Organized by the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

Who’s Your Daddy: Families in Early American Needlework
October 4, 2008–August 17, 2009
Gallery guide

Silversmiths to the Nation: Thomas Fletcher & Sidney Gardiner, 1808–1842
July 4–September 21, 2008

Vanity and Virtue: Personal Grooming in America
May 3–September 2, 2008

Double Vision: 1930s Design at Winterthur
March 8–May 18, 2008

Pets in America: The Story of Our Lives with Animals at Home
November 1, 2007–January 20, 2008
Organized by the McKissack Museum, Columbia, SC

Gord Peteran: Furniture Meets Its Maker
May 12–August 12, 2007
Organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Chipstone Foundation

Quilts in a Material World: Selections from the Winterthur Collection
March 10–September 16, 2007

Ancient Egypt and the Egyptian Revival
February 3–May 13, 2007

The Winterthur Story
January 30–August 2007

Fashion in Film: Period Costumes for the Screen
September 30, 2006–January 7, 2007
Organized by the Trust for Museum Exhibitions, Washington, D.C., in cooperation with Cosprop Ltd.

Shall We Dance: Three Centuries of Dance in America
September 1–December 29, 2006

The Winterthur Story
March 25–October 1, 2006

Time for Tea! Selections of Teaware from the Winterthur Collection
March 11–July 9, 2006

Kid Stuff: Growing Up at Winterthur
November 19, 2005–July 24, 2006

Needles & Haystacks: Pastoral Imagery in American Needlework
October 8, 2005–July 24, 2006

Paths to Impressionism: French and American Landscape Paintings from the Worcester Art Museum
September 10, 2005–July 24, 2006
Organized by the Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA

Making Fancy: Materials and Methods in Pennsylvania German Fraktur
September 10, 2005–January 8, 2006

Byrdcliffe, an American Arts and Crafts Colony
June 10–September 5, 2005
Organized by the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Progress & Patriotism in Philadelphia: The 1876 Centennial International Exhibition
March 23–July 10, 2005

Made in China: Export Porcelain from the Leo and Doris Hodroff Collection at Winterthur
February 26–May 15, 2005

From Punch Bowls to Puzzle Jugs: Drinking Vessels and Drinking Traditions in Britain and America
September 15, 2004–January 2005

Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Royal House of Stuart, 1688–1788: Works of Art from the Drambuie Collection
September 4, 2004–January 16, 2005
Organized by the Drambuie Liqueur Company, Ltd., Edinburgh, Scotland

Maestros de Plata: William Spratling and the Mexican Silver Renaissance
June 26–September 26, 2004
Organized by the San Antonio Museum of Art

The Winterthur Library Revealed: Five Centuries of Design and Inspiration
May 1–July 25, 2004

A Genius for Place: American Landscapes of the Country Place Era
February 14–April 25, 2004
Organized by the Library of American Landscape History, Inc., Amherst, MA

American Accents, 1670–1845: Masterworks from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, featuring the Rockefeller Collection
October 11, 2003–February 1, 2004
Organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

A Moment in Time: Photographs by the Allen Sisters, 1885–1920
June 7–September 7, 2003
Organized by the Florence Griswold Museum, Deerfield, MA

Naive Charm: English Pottery Figures from the Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Norton Bernard Collection
May 10, 2003–January 11, 2004

The Winterthur Story
April 5, 2003–June 20, 2005

Kid Stuff: Growing Up at Winterthur
March 15–August 27, 2003

The Incredible Elastic Chairs of Samuel Gragg
March 6–June 15, 2003

Am I Not a Man and a Brother? Decorative Arts of the Antislavery Movement
January 11–March 30, 2003

The Grandeur of Viceregal Mexico: Treasures from the Museo Franz Mayer
October 19, 2002–January 12, 2003
Organized by the Museo Franz Mayer, Mexico, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

This Work in Hand: Philadelphia Needlework from the 18th Century
August 31, 2002–January 12, 2003

Myer Myers: Jewish Silversmith in Colonial New York
June 22–September 9, 2002
Organized by the Yale University Art Gallery

Art in Iron: The Collection of Jefferson and Anne Miller
April 26–December 9, 2002

Life at Winterthur: Henry Francis du Pont’s American Country Estate
September 1, 2001–May 5, 2002

Enchanted Pottery: Wedgwood’s Fairyland Lustre
June 17, 2001–February 10, 2002

Currier & Ives: The Sporting Prints
March 30–June 17, 2001

Flights of Fancy: American Silver Bird-Decorated Spoons
October 20, 2000–May 6, 2001

That Classy Classical Style: New York Furniture, 1800–1825
July 2000–May 2001

Longridge Collection
March 30–September 10, 2000
Loan Exhibition, Private Collection

Dave: I Made This Jar
February 5–June 25, 2000
Organized by the McKissack Museum, Columbia, SC

KiDS! 200 Years of Childhood
June 19, 1999–February 19, 2001

Ceramics in Bloom
September 25, 1998–February 28, 2000

China for the Western Market
November 12, 1997–August 19, 1998

Paint in Pennsylvania
October 25, 1997–November 8, 1999

Deceit, Deception, and Discovery
September 27, 1997–January 31, 1999

“Passion for Pottery”: Selections from the Weldon Collection
June–October 1997
Loan Exhibition, Private Collection

“Costly as Well as Ornamental”: The Case for Furniture of Newport
May 1996–September 1997

Campbell Collection of Soup Tureens (Preview Exhibition)
May 1996–April 1997

If Objects Could Talk
April 1996–June 1997

Silver in America: A Century of Splendor
September 9, 1995–January 7, 1996
Organized by the Dallas Museum of Art

Romancing the Land: Portrait of the Winterthur Garden
March–August 1995

Eye for Excellence: Masterworks from Winterthur
September 1994–January 1995