Fireworks/Feux d'Artifices

June 10 – September 6, 1976
East Corridor Gallery

This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.

Overview: 43 engravings, drawings, and gouaches illustrated 3 centuries of festival fireworks in conjunction with the bicentennial of the American Revolution, the exhibition The Eye of Thomas Jefferson, and the show of fireworks on the Mall. The exhibition was assembled for the International Exhibitions Foundation by Patrick Bracco, art historian and writer in Paris. The works were borrowed from the Bibliothèque Nationale, the Musée National du Château de Versailles, the Musée Carnavalet, and private collections, as well as the historic fireworks company, the Société Ruggieri.

Catalog: Fireworks/Feux d'Artifices, French Fireworks from the 17th to the 19th Century, by Patrick Bracco in collaboration with Elisabeth Lebovici. Washington, DC: International Exhibitions Foundation, 1976.