National Gallery of Art

Last updated
National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art Logo.svg
Washington October 2016-12.jpg
The West Building facade of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Location map Washington DC Cleveland Park to Southwest Waterfront.png
Red pog.svg
Location of the National Gallery Art in Washington, D.C.
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
National Gallery of Art (the United States)
National Gallery of Art
Interactive fullscreen map
Established1937;87 years ago (1937)
Location National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C., U.S.
Coordinates 38°53′29″N77°1′12″W / 38.89139°N 77.02000°W / 38.89139; -77.02000
Collection size75,000 prints
Visitors3,256,433 (2022) – ranked First among U.S. art museums, seventh globally [1]
Director Kaywin Feldman
President Darren Walker
Chairperson Sharon Rockefeller
Public transit access WMATA Metro Logo small.svg Washington Metro:
WMATA Red.svg Judiciary Square
WMATA Yellow.svg WMATA Green.svg Archives
WMATA Blue.svg WMATA Orange.svg WMATA Silver.svg Smithsonian
Virginia Railway Express.svg L'Enfant
Metrobus: 4th Street and 7th Street NW
DC Circulator: 4th Street and Madison Drive; 9th Street and Constitution Avenue NW
Website www.nga.gov OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in 1937 for the American people by a joint resolution of the United States Congress. [a] Andrew W. Mellon donated a substantial art collection and funds for construction. The core collection includes major works of art donated by Paul Mellon, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, Lessing J. Rosenwald, Samuel Henry Kress, Rush Harrison Kress, Peter Arrell Browne Widener, Joseph E. Widener, and Chester Dale. The Gallery's collection of paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculpture, medals, and decorative arts traces the development of Western art from the Middle Ages to the present, including the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the Americas and the largest mobile created by Alexander Calder.

Contents

The Gallery's campus includes the original neoclassical West Building designed by John Russell Pope, which is linked underground to the modernist East Building, designed by I. M. Pei, and is next to the 6.1-acre (25,000 m2) Sculpture Garden. The Gallery often presents temporary special exhibitions spanning the world and the history of art. It is one of the largest museums in North America. Attendance rose to nearly 3.3 million visitors in 2022, making it first among U.S. art museums, and third on the list of most-visited museums in the United States. [1] Of the top three art museums in the United States by annual visitors, it is the only one that has no admission fee.

History

Origins

National Gallery of Art

Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh banker and Treasury Secretary from 1921 until 1932, began gathering a private collection of old master paintings and sculptures during World War I. During the late 1920s, Mellon decided to direct his collecting efforts towards the establishment of a new national gallery for the United States.[ citation needed ]

In 1930, partly for tax reasons, Mellon formed the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, which was to be the legal owner of works intended for the gallery. In 1930–1931, the Trust made its first major acquisition, 21 paintings from the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg as part of the Soviet sale of Hermitage paintings, including such masterpieces as Raphael's Alba Madonna, Titian's Venus with a Mirror , and Jan van Eyck's Annunciation .[ citation needed ]

In 1929 Mellon had initiated contact with the recently appointed Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Charles Greeley Abbot. Mellon was appointed in 1931 as a Commissioner of the Institution's National Gallery of Art. When the director of the Gallery retired, Mellon asked Abbot not to appoint a successor, as he proposed to endow a new building with funds for expansion of the collections.[ citation needed ]

However, Mellon's trial for tax evasion, centering on the Trust and the Hermitage paintings, caused the plan to be modified. In 1935, Mellon announced in The Washington Star his intention to establish a new gallery for old masters, separate from the Smithsonian. When asked by Abbot, he explained that the project was in the hands of the Trust and that its decisions were partly dependent on "the attitude of the Government towards the gift".[ citation needed ]

In January 1937, Mellon formally offered to create the new Gallery. On his birthday, 24 March 1937, an Act of Congress accepted the collection and building funds (provided through the Trust), and approved the construction of a museum on the National Mall.

The new gallery was to be effectively self-governing, not controlled by the Smithsonian, but took the old name "National Gallery of Art" while the Smithsonian's gallery would be renamed the "National Collection of Fine Arts" (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum). [2] [3] [4]

Construction and later history

The museum stands on the former site of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station, where in 1881 a disgruntled office seeker, Charles Guiteau, shot President James Garfield (see James A. Garfield assassination). [5] The station was demolished in 1908 because it did not conform to the McMillan Plan for the Mall. In 1918, temporary war buildings were constructed on the site; these were demolished by 1921 to construct the foundation of the George Washington Memorial Building, which was never completed. The site was then reassigned to the new National Gallery of Art. [6]

Designed by architect John Russell Pope, the new structure was completed and accepted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on behalf of the American people on March 17, 1941. At the time of its inception it was the largest marble structure in the world. Neither Mellon nor Pope lived to see the museum completed; both died in late August 1937, only two months after excavation had begun. [5]

As anticipated by Mellon, the creation of the National Gallery encouraged the donation of other substantial art collections by a number of private donors. Founding benefactors included such individuals as Paul Mellon, Samuel H. Kress, Rush H. Kress, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, Chester Dale, Joseph Widener, Lessing J. Rosenwald and Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch.

The Gallery's East Building was constructed in the 1970s on much of the remaining land left over from the original congressional action. Andrew Mellon's children, Paul Mellon and Ailsa Mellon Bruce, funded the building. Designed by architect I. M. Pei, the contemporary structure was completed in 1978 and was opened on June 1 of that year by President Jimmy Carter. The new building was built to house the Museum's collection of modern paintings, drawings, sculptures, and prints, as well as study and research centers and offices. The design received a National Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects in 1981.

The final addition to the complex is the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. Completed and opened to the public on May 23, 1999, the location provides an outdoor setting for exhibiting a number of large pieces from the Museum's contemporary sculpture collection.

In 2011, an extensive refurbishment and renovation of the French galleries were undertaken. As part of the celebration of the reopening of this wing, organist Alexander Frey performed 4 sold-out recitals of music of France in one weekend in the French Gallery.

Operations

The National Gallery of Art is supported through a private-public partnership. The United States federal government provides funds, through annual appropriations, to support the museum's operations and maintenance. All artwork, as well as special programs, are provided through private donations and funds. [7] The museum is not part of the Smithsonian Institution.

Noted directors of the National Gallery have included David E. Finley, Jr. (1938–1956), John Walker (1956–1968), and J. Carter Brown (1968–1993). Earl A. "Rusty" Powell III was named director in 1993. In March 2019 he was succeeded by Kaywin Feldman, past director and president of the Minneapolis Institute of Art. [8] [9] The museum hired Evelyn Carmen Ramos, the first woman and the first person of color to be the chief curatorial and conservation officer, in 2021. [10]

The president of the museum is billionaire businessman Mitchell Rales and its chairperson is Sharon Rockefeller. [11]

Entry to both buildings of the National Gallery of Art is free of charge. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. It is closed on December 25 and January 1. [12]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Gallery was largely closed to the public. However, visitors were able to schedule appointments to access the west building in small numbers. [13]

Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts

The Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA), the National Gallery of Art's research institute, was founded in 1979. [14] The Center offers visiting professorships, a fellowship program, and undergraduate internship opportunities, as well as a publication program. [15]

The first dean of CASVA, architectural historian Henry A. Millon, was appointed in 1980 . [16] He was succeeded by Elizabeth Cropper in 2000. [17] [18] Steven Nelson became the third dean of CASVA in 2020. [19]

Architecture

The East Building East Building of the National Gallery of Art, 2019.jpg
The East Building
Exhibitions in the West Building National Gallery of Art DC 2007 001.jpg
Exhibitions in the West Building
Exhibitions in the East Building Eastnationalgallerydc.jpg
Exhibitions in the East Building
Underground walkway connecting the East and West buildings Walkway to West Building and Cascade Cafe.jpg
Underground walkway connecting the East and West buildings

The museum comprises two buildings: the West Building (1941) and the East Building (1978), linked by an underground passage. The West Building, composed of pink Tennessee marble, was designed in 1937 by architect John Russell Pope in a neoclassical style (as is Pope's other notable building in Washington, D.C., the Jefferson Memorial). Designed in the form of an elongated H, the building is centered on a domed rotunda modeled on the interior of the Pantheon in Rome. Extending east and west from the rotunda, a pair of skylit sculpture halls provide its main circulation spine. Bright garden courts provide a counterpoint to the long main axis of the building.

Dome of West Building, an entrance to permanent Renaissance Art collections Dome of East building.jpg
Dome of West Building, an entrance to permanent Renaissance Art collections
Indoor garden court with Tuscan columns and symmetrical planting beds. August 2021. Indoorgarden-nationalgallery.jpg
Indoor garden court with Tuscan columns and symmetrical planting beds. August 2021.

The West Building has an extensive collection of paintings and sculptures by European masters from the medieval period through the late 19th century, as well as pre-20th century works by American artists. Highlights of the collection include paintings by Jan Vermeer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, and Leonardo da Vinci.

In contrast, the design of the East Building, by architect I. M. Pei, is geometrical, dividing the trapezoidal shape of the site into two triangles: one contains public galleries, and the other houses a library, offices, and a study center. The triangles establish a motif that is echoed throughout the building, realized in every dimension.

The East Building's central feature is a high atrium designed as an open interior court that is enclosed by a sculptural space spanning 16,000 sq ft (1,500 m2). The atrium is centered on the same axis that forms the circulation spine for the West Building and is constructed in the same Tennessee marble. [20]

However, in 2005 the joints attaching the marble panels to the walls began to show signs of strain, creating a risk that panels might fall onto visitors below. In 2008, NGA officials decided that it had become necessary to remove and reinstall all of the panels. The renovation was completed in 2016. [21]

The East Building focuses on modern and contemporary art, with a collection including works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Alexander Calder, a 1977 mural by Robert Motherwell and works by many other artists. The East Building also contains the main offices of the NGA and a large research facility, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA). Among the highlights of the East Building in 2012 was an exhibition of Barnett Newman's The Stations of the Cross series of 14 black and white paintings (1958–66). [22] Newman painted them after he had recovered from a heart attack; they are usually regarded as the peak of his achievement.[ citation needed ] The series has also been seen as a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. [23]

The two buildings are connected by a walkway beneath 4th street, called "the Concourse" on the museum's map. In 2008, the National Gallery of Art commissioned American artist Leo Villareal to transform the Concourse into an artistic installation.Multiverse is one of Villareal's largest and most complex light sculpture by light count, featuring approximately 41,000 computer-programmed LED nodes that run through channels along the entire 200 ft (61 m)-long space. [24] The concourse also includes the food court and a gift shop.

The final element of the National Gallery of Art complex, the Sculpture Garden was completed in 1999 after more than 30 years of planning. To the west of the West Building, on the opposite side of Seventh Street, the 6.1 acres (2.5 ha) Sculpture Garden was designed by landscape architect Laurie Olin [25] as an outdoor gallery for monumental modern sculpture.

The Sculpture Garden contains plantings of Native American species of canopy and flowering trees, shrubs, ground covers, and perennials. A circular reflecting pool and fountain form the center of its design, which arching pathways of granite and crushed stone complement. (The pool becomes an ice-skating rink during the winter.) The sculptures exhibited in the surrounding landscaped area include pieces by Marc Chagall, David Smith, Mark Di Suvero, Roy Lichtenstein, Sol LeWitt, Tony Smith, Roxy Paine, Joan Miró, Louise Bourgeois, and Hector Guimard. [26]

Taken at the exterior wall of National gallery of Art East Building National Gallery East Building.jpg
Taken at the exterior wall of National gallery of Art East Building

Renovations

The NGA's West Building was renovated from 2007 to 2009. Although some galleries closed for periods of time, others remained open. [27]

After congressional testimony that the East Building suffered from "systematic structural failures", NGA adopted a Master Renovations Plan in 1999. This plan established the timeline for closing the building, and planned for the renovation of the electronic security systems, elevators, and HVAC. [28] Space between the ceilings of existing galleries and the building's skylights (which was never completed when the building was constructed in 1978) [28] would be renovated into two, 23 ft (7.0 m) high, hexagonal Tower Galleries. The galleries would have a combined 12,260 sq ft (1,139 m2) of space and will be lit by skylights. A rooftop sculpture garden would also be added. NGA officials said that the Tower Galleries would probably house modern art, and the creation of a distinct "Rothko Room" was possible.

Beginning in 2011, NGA undertook an $85 million restoration of the East Building's façade. [29] The East Building is clad in 3 in (7.6 cm) thick pink marble panels. The panels are held about 2 in (5.1 cm) away from the wall by stainless steel anchors. Gravity holds the panel in the bottom anchors (which are placed at each corner), while "button head" anchors (stainless steel posts with large, flat heads) at the top corners keep the panel upright. Mortar was used on the gravity anchors to level the stones. Joints of flexible colored neoprene were placed between the panels. This system was designed to allow each panel to hang independent of its neighbors, and NGA officials say they are not aware of any other panel system like it.

However, many panels were accidentally mortared together. Seasonal heating and cooling of the façade, infiltration of moisture, and shrinkage of the building's structural concrete by 2 in (5.1 cm) over time caused extensive damage to the façade. In 2005, regular maintenance showed that some panels were cracked or significantly damaged, while others leaned by more than 1 in (2.5 cm) out from the building (threatening to fall).

The NGA hired the structural engineering firm Robert Silman Associates to determine the cause of the problem. [30] Although the Gallery began raising private funds to fix the issue, [30] eventually federal funding was used to repair the building. [29] In 2012, the NGA chose a joint venture, Balfour Beatty/Smoot, to complete the repairs. Anodized aluminum anchors replaced the stainless steel ones, and the top corner anchors were moved to the center of the top edge of each stone. The neoprene joints were removed and new colored silicone gaskets installed, and leveling screws rather than mortar used to keep the panels square. Work began in November 2011, [30] and originally was scheduled to end in 2014. [29] By February 2012, however, the contractor said work on the façade would end in late 2013, and site restoration would take place in 2014. [30] The East Building remained open throughout the project. [27]

In March 2013, the National Gallery of Art announced a $68.4 million renovation to the East Building. This included $38.4 million to refurbish the interior mechanical plant of the structure, [28] and $30 million to create new exhibition space. [27] Because the angular interior space of the East Building made it impossible to close off galleries, [28] the renovation required all but the atrium and offices to close by December 2013. The structure remained closed for three years. The architectural firm of Hartman-Cox oversaw both aspects of the renovation. [28]

A group of benefactors — which included Victoria and Roger Sant, Mitchell and Emily Rales, and David Rubenstein — privately financed the renovation. The Washington Post reported that the donation was one of the largest the NGA had received in a decade. [27] NGA staff said that they would use the closure to conserve artwork, plan purchases, and develop exhibitions. Plans for renovating conservation, construction, exhibition prep, groundskeeping, office, storage, and other internal facilities were also ready, but would not be implemented for many years. [28] [31]

Buildings

Collection

Gerard van Honthorst's monumental 1623 masterwork, The Concert, was acquired by the NGA in 2013 and went on display for the first time in 218 years. The Concert A22894.jpg
Gerard van Honthorst's monumental 1623 masterwork, The Concert, was acquired by the NGA in 2013 and went on display for the first time in 218 years.

The NGA's collection galleries and Sculpture Garden display European and American paintings, sculpture, works on paper, photographs, and decorative arts. Paintings in the permanent collection date from the Middle Ages to the present. The Italian Renaissance collection includes two panels from Duccio's Maesta , the tondo of the Adoration of the Magi by Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi, a Botticelli work on the same subject, Giorgione's Allendale Nativity , Giovanni Bellini's The Feast of the Gods , Ginevra de' Benci (the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the Americas) and groups of works by Titian and Raphael.

The collections include paintings by many European masters, including a version of Saint Martin and the Beggar, by El Greco, and works by Matthias Grünewald, Cranach the Elder, Rogier van der Weyden, Albrecht Dürer, Frans Hals, Rembrandt, Johannes Vermeer, Francisco Goya, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, and Eugène Delacroix, among others. The collection of sculpture and decorative arts includes such works as the Chalice of Abbot Suger of St-Denis and a collection of work by Auguste Rodin and Edgar Degas. Other highlights of the permanent collection include the second of the two original sets of Thomas Cole's series of paintings titled The Voyage of Life , (the first set is at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in Utica, New York) and the original version of Watson and the Shark by John Singleton Copley (two other versions are in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Detroit Institute of Arts).

The National Gallery's print collection comprises 75,000 prints, in addition to rare illustrated books. It includes collections of works by Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, William Blake, Mary Cassatt, Edvard Munch, Jasper Johns, and Robert Rauschenberg. The collection began with 400 prints donated by five collectors in 1941. In 1942, Joseph E. Widener donated his entire collection of nearly 2,000 works. In 1943, Lessing Rosenwald donated his collection of 8,000 old master and modern prints; between 1943 and 1979, he donated almost 14,000 more works. In 2008, Dave and Reba White Williams donated their collection of more than 5,200 American prints. [32]

In 2013, the NGA purchased from a private French collection Gerard van Honthorst's 1623 painting, The Concert, which had not been publicly viewed since 1795. After initially displaying the 1.23 by 2.06 m (4.0 by 6.8 ft)The Concert in a special installation in the West Building, the NGA moved the painting to a permanent display in the museum's Dutch and Flemish galleries. [33] Art experts estimated the sale price of The Concert at $20 million, though the NGA did not reveal the amount that it had paid. [34]

Highlights of the collection

Leonardo da Vinci, Ginevra de' Benci, c. 1474 Leonardo da Vinci - Ginevra de' Benci - Google Art Project.jpg
Leonardo da Vinci, Ginevra de' Benci,c. 1474
El Greco, Saint Martin and the Beggar, c. 1597-1599 El Greco - San Martin y el mendigo.jpg
El Greco, Saint Martin and the Beggar,c. 1597–1599
Peter Paul Rubens, Germanicus and Agrippina, 1614 0 Agrippine et Germanicus - Washington National Gallery of Art Museum (2).jpg
Peter Paul Rubens, Germanicus and Agrippina, 1614
Jacques-Louis David, The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries, 1812 Jacques-Louis David - The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries - Google Art Project.jpg
Jacques-Louis David, The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries, 1812
Edouard Manet, The Railway, 1872 Edouard Manet - Le Chemin de fer - Google Art Project.jpg
Édouard Manet, The Railway , 1872

Selected highlights from the American collection

Benjamin West, Colonel Guy Johnson and Karonghyontye (Captain David Hill), 1776 Guy Johnson by Benjamin West.jpg
Benjamin West, Colonel Guy Johnson and Karonghyontye (Captain David Hill) , 1776
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl, 1862 Whistler James Symphony in White no 1 (The White Girl) 1862.jpg
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl, 1862
George Bellows, New York, 1911 George Bellows - New York.jpg
George Bellows, New York, 1911

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Founded under a different bequest and legal structure, unlike the other museums on the National Mall, the National Gallery is separate from the Smithsonian Institution.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art museum</span> Building or space for the exhibition of art

An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own collection. It might be in public or private ownership, be accessible to all, or have restrictions in place. Although primarily concerned with visual art, art museums are often used as a venue for other cultural exchanges and artistic activities, such as lectures, jewelry, performance arts, music concerts, or poetry readings. Art museums also frequently host themed temporary exhibitions, which often include items on loan from other collections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur M. Sackler Gallery</span> Museum of Asian art in Washington, D.C.

The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., focusing on Asian art. The Sackler Gallery and the Freer Gallery of Art together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. The Freer and Sackler galleries house the largest Asian art research library in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Portrait Gallery (United States)</span> Art museum in Washington, D.C.

The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is a historic art museum in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded in 1962 and opened in 1968, it is part of the Smithsonian Institution. Its collections focus on images of famous Americans. Along with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the museum is housed in the historic Old Patent Office Building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joslyn Art Museum</span> Art museum in Nebraska, United States

The Joslyn Art Museum is a fine arts museum in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. It opened in 1931 at the initiative of Sarah H. Joslyn, in memory of her husband, businessman George A. Joslyn. Since its opening there have been multiple building expansions to house the museum's growing collection. It is the only museum in Nebraska with a comprehensive permanent collection. Some of the main works in the museum are part of the nineteenth and twentieth-century collections of American and European artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art</span> Art museum in Kansas City, Missouri

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of Asian art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden</span> Art museum in Washington, D.C., U.S.

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft and is part of the Smithsonian Institution. It was conceived as the United States' museum of contemporary and modern art and currently focuses its collection-building and exhibition-planning mainly on the post–World War II period, with particular emphasis on art made during the last 50 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Galleria Borghese</span> Art gallery in Rome, Italy

The Galleria Borghese is an art gallery in Rome, Italy, housed in the former Villa Borghese Pinciana. At the outset, the gallery building was integrated with its gardens, but nowadays the Villa Borghese gardens are considered a separate tourist attraction. The Galleria Borghese houses a substantial part of the Borghese Collection of paintings, sculpture and antiquities, begun by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V. The building was constructed by the architect Flaminio Ponzio, developing sketches by Scipione Borghese himself, who used it as a villa suburbana, a country villa at the edge of Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kunsthistorisches Museum</span> Art museum in Vienna, Austria

The Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal dome. The term Kunsthistorisches Museum applies to both the institution and the main building. It is the largest art museum in the country and one of the most important museums worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smithsonian American Art Museum</span> Museum in Washington, D.C., United States

The Smithsonian American Art Museum is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's largest and most inclusive collections of art, from the colonial period to the present, made in the United States. More than 7,000 artists are represented in the museum's collection. Most exhibitions are held in the museum's main building, the Old Patent Office Building, while craft-focused exhibitions are shown in the Renwick Gallery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carnegie Museum of Art</span> Art museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The Carnegie Museum of Art is an art museum in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The museum was originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was formerly located at what is now the Main Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. The museum's first gallery was opened for public use on November 5, 1895. Over the years, the gallery vastly increased in size, with a new building on Forbes Avenue built in 1907. In 1963, the name was officially changed to Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute. The size of the gallery has tripled over time, and it was officially renamed in 1986 to "Carnegie Museum of Art" to indicate it clearly as one of the four Carnegie Museums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renwick Gallery</span> United States historic place

The Renwick Gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum located in Washington, D.C. that displays American craft and decorative arts from the 19th to 21st century. The gallery is housed in a National Historic Landmark building that was opened in 1859 on Pennsylvania Avenue and originally housed the Corcoran Gallery of Art. When it was built in 1859, it was called "the American Louvre", and is now named for its architect James Renwick Jr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Museum of Fine Arts</span> Art museum in Richmond, VA

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia, United States, which opened in 1936. The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the support of specific programs and all acquisition of artwork, as well as additional general support.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birmingham Museum of Art</span> Municipal art museum in Alabama, US

The Birmingham Museum of Art is a museum in Birmingham, Alabama. Its collection includes more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts representing various cultures, including Asian, European, American, African, Pre-Columbian, and Native American. The museum is also home to some Renaissance and Baroque paintings, sculptures,and decorative arts from the late 13th century to c. 1750.

Renée Stout is an American sculptor and contemporary artist known for assemblage artworks dealing with her personal history and African-American heritage. Born in Kansas, raised in Pittsburgh, living in Washington, D.C., and connected through her art to New Orleans, her art reflects this interest in African diasporic culture throughout the United States. Stout was the first American artist to exhibit in the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum</span> Art museum in St. Louis, Missouri

The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum is an art museum located on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis, within the university's Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. Founded in 1881 as the St. Louis School and Museum of Fine Arts, it was initially located in downtown St. Louis. It is the oldest art museum west of the Mississippi River. The Museum holds 19th-, 20th-, and 21st-century European and American paintings, sculptures, prints, installations, and photographs. The collection also includes some Egyptian and Greek antiquities and Old Master prints.

Anne Julie d'Harnoncourt was an American curator, museum director, and art historian specializing in modern art. She was the director and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA), a post she held from 1982 until her sudden death in 2008. She was also an expert scholar on the works of French artist Marcel Duchamp.

Lowell Blair Nesbitt was an American painter, draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor. He served as the official artist for the NASA Apollo 9, and Apollo 13 space missions; in 1976 the United States Navy commissioned him to paint a mural in the administration building on Treasure Island spanning 26 feet x 251 feet, then the largest mural in the United States; and in 1980 the United States Postal Service honored Lowell Nesbitt by issuing four postage stamps depicting his paintings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert H. Hudson</span> American artist (1938–2024)

Robert H. Hudson was an American visual artist. He is known for his funk art assemblage of metal sculptures, but he has also worked in painting and printmaking.

Leah Dickerman is the director of research programs at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. She was formerly director of editorial & content strategy at MoMA. Serving previously as the museum’s first Marlene Hess Curator of Painting and Sculpture, a post endowed in 2015, Dickerman previously held the positions of curator of painting and sculpture at MoMA (2008–2015), acting head of the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Gallery of Art (NGA), Washington, D.C. (2007), and associate curator in modern and contemporary art at the NGA (2001–2007). Over the course of her career, Dickerman has organized or co-organized a series of exhibitions including One-Way Ticket: Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series and Other Works (2015), Inventing Abstraction, 1910-1925 (2012–2013), Diego Rivera: Murals for the Museum of Modern Art (2011–2012), Bauhaus: Workshops for Modernity (2009–2010), Dada (2005–2006), and Aleksandr Rodchenko (1998).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penelope Curtis</span> British art historian and curator

Penelope Curtis is a British art historian and curator. Fom 2015 to 2020 she was the director of Lisbon's Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, and from 2010 to 2015 director of Tate Britain. She is the author of several monographs on sculpture and has written widely at the invitation of contemporary artists.

References

  1. 1 2 Cheshire, Lee; da Silva, José (27 March 2023). "The 100 most popular art museums in the world—who has recovered and who is still struggling?". The Art Newspaper . Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  2. ↑ Fink, Lois Marie "A History of the Smithsonian American Art Museum", University of Massachusetts Press (2007) ISBN   978-1-55849-616-3, chapter 3
  3. ↑ National Gallery of Art website: general introduction Archived December 8, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ National Gallery of Art website: chronology Archived April 7, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  5. 1 2 "National Gallery of Art, West Building". American Architecture. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. ↑ "Cultural Landscape Inventory: The Mall (Part 2)" (PDF). U.S. National Park Service. 2006. pp. 49, 53, 72. Retrieved 2021-02-22.
  7. ↑ "Major Giving FAQS". www.nga.gov. Retrieved 2022-04-10.
  8. ↑ Kerr, Euan, "Mia's director will leave to head National Gallery", Minnesota Public Radio News , December 11, 2018.
  9. ↑ McGlone, Peggy, "The National Gallery of Art will have a female director for the first time in its history", The Washington Post , December 11, 2018.
  10. ↑ Greenberger, Alex (2021-05-13). "Latinx Art Expert E. Carmen Ramos Named Chief Curator of National Gallery of Art". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  11. ↑ Selvin, Claire (2019-09-27). "National Gallery of Art Names Darren Walker Trustee, Mitchell Rales Appointed President". ARTnews. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
  12. ↑ "National Gallery of Art". Maps and Hours. 2016-01-12. Archived from the original on 2016-01-03.
  13. ↑ "Degas at the Opéra". National Gallery of Art. 2020-08-25.
  14. ↑ United States Congress House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Department of the Interior and Related Agencies (1978). Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1979: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, Ninety-fifth Congress, Second Session. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 1223–1233.
  15. ↑ "National Gallery's Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts Announces 2023–2024 Academic Year Appointments". National Gallery of Art. Retrieved 2024-12-18.
  16. ↑ Anderson, Stanford (1999). "Architectural History in Schools of Architecture". Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 58 (3): 282–290. doi:10.2307/991520. ISSN   0037-9808.
  17. ↑ "Artnet News". Artnet. July 27, 2000. Retrieved 2024-12-18.
  18. ↑ "CASVA Dean Elizabeth Cropper to Retire in 2020". National Gallery of Art. Retrieved 2024-12-18.
  19. ↑ Valentine, Victoria L. (2020-03-11). "Historic Appointment: Steven Nelson Named Dean of Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at National Gallery of Art". Culture Type. Retrieved 2024-12-18.
  20. ↑ NGA.gov Archived October 3, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  21. ↑ Leigh, Catesby (December 8, 2009). "An Ultramodern Building Shows Signs of Age". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on March 11, 2016.
  22. ↑ "In The Tower: Barnett Newman". www.nga.gov. Archived from the original on 1 February 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  23. ↑ Menachem Wecker (August 1, 2012). "His Cross To Bear. Barnett Newman Dealt With Suffering in 'Zips'". The Jewish Daily Forward . Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
  24. ↑ "Leo Villareal: Multiverse". www.nga.gov. 2008.
  25. ↑ "About the Gallery". www.nga.gov. Archived from the original on 22 September 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  26. ↑ "Visit: Sculpture Garden". www.nga.gov. Archived from the original on 26 September 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  27. 1 2 3 4 Boyle, Katherine and Parker, Lonnae O'Neal. "National Gallery of Art Announces $30 Million Renovation to East Building." Washington Post. March 12, 2013. Archived April 21, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Accessed 2013-03-13.
  28. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Boyle, Katherine. "National Gallery Sees Long-Term Benefit in Long Closing of East Building." Washington Post. March 13, 2013. Archived January 6, 2018, at the Wayback Machine Accessed 2013-03-22.
  29. 1 2 3 Kelly, John. "Why National Gallery's East Building Shed Its Pink Marble Skin." Washington Post. February 21, 2012. Archived January 6, 2018, at the Wayback Machine Accessed 2013-03-13.
  30. 1 2 3 4 Dietsch, Deborah K. "National Gallery of Art's Famed East Building Gets a Facelift." Washington Business Journal. February 3, 2012. Archived October 18, 2015, at the Wayback Machine Accessed 2013-03-13.
  31. ↑ "The CIVITAS Chronicles". traditional-building.com. Archived from the original on 2015-03-23.
  32. ↑ "Prints". Nga.gov. 2013-06-19. Archived from the original on 2013-12-21. Retrieved 2013-12-22.
  33. ↑ Boyle, Katherine. "National Gallery Acquires 'The Concert' by Dutch Golden Age Painter Honthorst." Washington Post. November 22, 2013. Archived August 29, 2017, at the Wayback Machine Accessed 2013-11-22.
  34. ↑ Vogel, Carol "National Gallery Acquires a van Honthorst Masterwork." New York Times. November 21, 2013. Archived February 24, 2017, at the Wayback Machine Accessed 2013-11-22.
  35. ↑ "Provenance". Nga.gov. Archived from the original on 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2013-12-22.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.