December 



Dedication: A tree was planted in front of the Arts and Industries Building and 

 dedicated in memory of Joseph Coudon VII, special assistant to the secretary of 

 the Smithsonian. 



December 



Exhibition: The Smithsonian held its twelfth annual "Trees of Christmas" 

 exhibition. 



December 2 



Exhibition and Symposium: "Perpetual Motif: The Art of Man Ray" opened at the 

 National Museum of American Art. This major retrospective of the works of one of 

 the founding fathers of modernism, a pioneer of both dada and surrealism, 

 included 268 paintings, works on paper, photographs, films, and objects. In an 

 all-day symposium, an international panel of scholars, artists, and critics 

 discussed the importance of these avant-garde movements. 



December 5 



Endangered Species: Survey findings were released by the Center for Plant 

 Conservation indicating that more than 250 species of America's plants may become 

 extinct in the next one to five years. The announcement was made at a news 

 conference at the Smithsonian, which conducted the first such survey in 1973. 



December 12 



Designation: In a small ceremony, the 280-seat Hirshhorn auditorium was named 

 the Marion and Gustave Ring Auditorium, in acknowlegement of a recent significant 

 donation of art from the collection of this late Washington, D.C, couple. 



December 14 



Exhibition: "Gerhard Richter," a major retrospective honoring one of Europe's 

 leading avant-garde artists, opened at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden 

 in its only East Coast showing. The exhibition was co-organized by the Art 

 Gallery of Ontario in Toronto and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. 



December 17 



Special Event: As a special winter holiday event, Camille Saint-Saens' "Carnival 

 of Animals" was performed in the National Zoo's Education Building Auditorium by 

 pianists Ann Joseph and Natalie Ross. 



December 21 



Acquisition: The USSR donated an eight-foot model of a Proton launch vehicle to 

 the National Air and Space Museum. The Proton rocket has launched all the Soviet 

 space stations and planetary probes since 1965. 



