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National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national 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. 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.

National Gallery of Art
The Main facade of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Location in Washington, D.C.
National Gallery of Art (the United States)
Interactive fullscreen map
Established1937; 86 years ago (1937)
LocationNational Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C., U.S.
Coordinates38°53′29″N 77°1′12″W / 38.89139°N 77.02000°W / 38.89139; -77.02000Coordinates: 38°53′29″N 77°1′12″W / 38.89139°N 77.02000°W / 38.89139; -77.02000
Collection size75,000 prints
Visitors1,704,606 (2021) – ranked 6th globally[1]
DirectorKaywin Feldman
PresidentMitchell Rales
ChairpersonSharon Rockefeller
Public transit access Washington Metro:
Judiciary Square
Archives
Smithsonian
L'Enfant
Metrobus: 4th Street and 7th Street NW
DC Circulator: 4th Street and Madison Drive; 9th Street and Constitution Avenue NW
Websitewww.nga.gov

The Gallery's campus includes the original neoclassical West Building designed by John Russell Pope, which is linked underground to the modern East Building, designed by I. M. Pei, and 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.

For the breadth, scope, and magnitude of its collections, the National Gallery is widely considered to be one of the greatest museums in the United States of America, often ranking alongside the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. Of the top three art museums in the United States by annual visitors, it is the only one that has no admission fee. In 2021 it attracted 1,704,606 visitors, and ranked fifth on the list of most visited art museums in the world.[2]

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.

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.

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.

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".

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).[3][4][5]

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).[6] 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.[7]

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.[6]

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.[8] 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.[9][10] 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.[11]

The president of the museum is billionaire businessman Mitchell Rales and its chairperson is Sharon Rockefeller.[12]

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.[13]

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.[14]

Architecture

 
The East Building
 
Exhibitions in the West Building
 
Exhibitions in the East Building
 
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
 
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 many 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.[15]

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.[16]

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).[17] 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.[18]

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. Today, Multiverse is the largest and most complex light sculpture by Villareal featuring approximately 41,000 computer-programmed LED nodes that run through channels along the entire 200 ft (61 m)-long space.[19] 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[20] 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.[21]

 
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.[22]

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.[23] Space between the ceilings of existing galleries and the building's skylights (which was never completed when the building was constructed in 1978)[23] 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.[24] 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.[25] Although the Gallery began raising private funds to fix the issue,[25] eventually federal funding was used to repair the building.[24] 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,[25] and originally was scheduled to end in 2014.[24] By February 2012, however, the contractor said work on the façade would end in late 2013, and site restoration would take place in 2014.[25] The East Building remained open throughout the project.[22]

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,[23] and $30 million to create new exhibition space.[22] Because the angular interior space of the East Building made it impossible to close off galleries,[23] 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.[23]

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.[22] 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.[23][26]

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 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.[27]

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.[28] Art experts estimated the sale price of The Concert at $20 million, though the NGA did not reveal the amount that it had paid.[29]

Highlights of the collection

 
Peter Paul Rubens, Germanicus and Agrippina, 1614

Selected highlights from the American collection

 
George Bellows, New York, 1911

See also

References

  1. ^ The Art Newspaper Review, March 28, 2022.
  2. ^ The Art Newspaper annual museum visitor survey, published March 28, 2022.
  3. ^ Fink, Lois Marie "A History of the Smithsonian American Art Museum", University of Massachusetts Press (2007) ISBN 978-1-55849-616-3, chapter 3
  4. ^ National Gallery of Art website: general introduction December 8, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ National Gallery of Art website: chronology April 7, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ a b . American Architecture. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
  7. ^ "Cultural Landscape Inventory: The Mall (Part 2)" (PDF). U.S. National Park Service. 2006. pp. 49, 53, 72. Retrieved 2021-02-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ "Major Giving FAQS". www.nga.gov. Retrieved 2022-04-10.
  9. ^ Kerr, Euan, "Mia's director will leave to head National Gallery", Minnesota Public Radio News, December 11, 2018.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ Selvin, Claire (2019-09-27). "National Gallery of Art Names Darren Walker Trustee, Mitchell Rales Appointed President". ARTnews. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
  13. ^ "National Gallery of Art". Maps and Hours. 2016-01-12. from the original on 2016-01-03.
  14. ^ "Degas at the Opéra". National Gallery of Art. 2020-08-25.
  15. ^ NGA.gov October 3, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ Leigh, Catesby (December 8, 2009). "An Ultramodern Building Shows Signs of Age". The Wall Street Journal. from the original on March 11, 2016.
  17. ^ "In The Tower: Barnett Newman". www.nga.gov. from the original on 1 February 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  18. ^ Menachem Wecker (August 1, 2012). "His Cross To Bear. Barnett Newman Dealt With Suffering in 'Zips'". The Jewish Daily Forward. from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
  19. ^ "Leo Villareal: Multiverse". www.nga.gov. 2008.
  20. ^ "About the Gallery". www.nga.gov. from the original on 22 September 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  21. ^ . www.nga.gov. Archived from the original on 26 September 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  22. ^ a b c d Boyle, Katherine and Parker, Lonnae O'Neal. "National Gallery of Art Announces $30 Million Renovation to East Building." Washington Post. March 12, 2013. April 21, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Accessed 2013-03-13.
  23. ^ a b c d e f Boyle, Katherine. "National Gallery Sees Long-Term Benefit in Long Closing of East Building." Washington Post. March 13, 2013. January 6, 2018, at the Wayback Machine Accessed 2013-03-22.
  24. ^ a b c Kelly, John. "Why National Gallery's East Building Shed Its Pink Marble Skin." Washington Post. February 21, 2012. January 6, 2018, at the Wayback Machine Accessed 2013-03-13.
  25. ^ a b c d Dietsch, Deborah K. "National Gallery of Art's Famed East Building Gets a Facelift." Washington Business Journal. February 3, 2012. October 18, 2015, at the Wayback Machine Accessed 2013-03-13.
  26. ^ "The CIVITAS Chronicles". traditional-building.com. from the original on 2015-03-23.
  27. ^ "Prints". Nga.gov. 2013-06-19. from the original on 2013-12-21. Retrieved 2013-12-22.
  28. ^ Boyle, Katherine. "National Gallery Acquires 'The Concert' by Dutch Golden Age Painter Honthorst." Washington Post. November 22, 2013. August 29, 2017, at the Wayback Machine Accessed 2013-11-22.
  29. ^ Vogel, Carol "National Gallery Acquires a van Honthorst Masterwork." New York Times. November 21, 2013. February 24, 2017, at the Wayback Machine Accessed 2013-11-22.
  30. ^ . Nga.gov. Archived from the original on 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2013-12-22.

Further reading

  • David Cannadine, Mellon: An American Life, Knopf, 2006, ISBN 0-679-45032-7
  • Neil Harris, Capital Culture: J. Carter Brown, the National Gallery of Art, and the Reinvention of the Museum Experience, University of Chicago Press, 2013, ISBN 9780226067704
  • Andrew Kelly, Kentucky by Design: The Decorative Arts, American Culture, and the Index of American Design, University Press of Kentucky, 2015. ISBN 978-0-8131-5567-8
  • National Gallery of Art, Highlights from the National Gallery of Art Washington, National Gallery of Art, 2016, ISBN 9780894683992
  • "The National Gallery of Art, Washington", special number of Connaissance des Arts, Société Français de Promotion Artistique (2000) ISSN 1242-9198

External links

  • Official website  
  • NGA Collection
  • Department of Image Collections, National Gallery of Art Library
  • Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts
  • National Gallery of Art National, YouTube
  • National Gallery of Art Talks, YouTube
  • National Gallery of Art within Google Arts & Culture
  •   Media related to National Gallery of Art at Wikimedia Commons

national, gallery, this, article, about, united, states, museum, other, national, galleries, list, national, galleries, attached, sculpture, garden, national, museum, washington, united, states, located, national, mall, between, streets, constitution, avenue, . This article is about the United States art museum For other national art galleries see List of national galleries The National Gallery of Art and its attached Sculpture Garden is a national 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 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 National Gallery of ArtThe Main facade of the National Gallery of Art in Washington D C Location in Washington D C Show map of Washington D C National Gallery of Art the United States Show map of the United StatesInteractive fullscreen mapEstablished1937 86 years ago 1937 LocationNational Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue N W Washington D C U S Coordinates38 53 29 N 77 1 12 W 38 89139 N 77 02000 W 38 89139 77 02000 Coordinates 38 53 29 N 77 1 12 W 38 89139 N 77 02000 W 38 89139 77 02000Collection size75 000 printsVisitors1 704 606 2021 ranked 6th globally 1 DirectorKaywin FeldmanPresidentMitchell RalesChairpersonSharon RockefellerPublic transit accessWashington Metro Judiciary Square Archives Smithsonian L Enfant Metrobus 4th Street and 7th Street NW DC Circulator 4th Street and Madison Drive 9th Street and Constitution Avenue NWWebsitewww wbr nga wbr govThe Gallery s campus includes the original neoclassical West Building designed by John Russell Pope which is linked underground to the modern East Building designed by I M Pei and 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 For the breadth scope and magnitude of its collections the National Gallery is widely considered to be one of the greatest museums in the United States of America often ranking alongside the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art in New York City the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago Illinois and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston Massachusetts Of the top three art museums in the United States by annual visitors it is the only one that has no admission fee In 2021 it attracted 1 704 606 visitors and ranked fifth on the list of most visited art museums in the world 2 Contents 1 History 1 1 Origins 1 2 Construction and later history 2 Operations 3 Architecture 3 1 Renovations 4 Buildings 5 Collection 6 Highlights of the collection 6 1 Selected highlights from the American collection 7 See also 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External linksHistory EditOrigins Edit source source source source source source source source source source 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 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 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 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 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 3 4 5 Construction and later history Edit 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 6 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 7 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 6 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 EditThe 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 8 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 9 10 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 11 The president of the museum is billionaire businessman Mitchell Rales and its chairperson is Sharon Rockefeller 12 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 13 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 14 Architecture Edit East Building redirects here Not to be confused with Eastern Building The East Building Exhibitions in the West Building Exhibitions in the East Building 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 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 many 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 15 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 16 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 17 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 18 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 Today Multiverse is the largest and most complex light sculpture by Villareal featuring approximately 41 000 computer programmed LED nodes that run through channels along the entire 200 ft 61 m long space 19 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 20 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 Miro Louise Bourgeois and Hector Guimard 21 Taken at the exterior wall of National gallery of Art East Building Renovations Edit The NGA s West Building was renovated from 2007 to 2009 Although some galleries closed for periods of time others remained open 22 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 23 Space between the ceilings of existing galleries and the building s skylights which was never completed when the building was constructed in 1978 23 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 facade 24 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 facade infiltration of moisture and shrinkage of the building s structural concrete by 2 in 5 1 cm over time caused extensive damage to the facade 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 25 Although the Gallery began raising private funds to fix the issue 25 eventually federal funding was used to repair the building 24 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 25 and originally was scheduled to end in 2014 24 By February 2012 however the contractor said work on the facade would end in late 2013 and site restoration would take place in 2014 25 The East Building remained open throughout the project 22 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 23 and 30 million to create new exhibition space 22 Because the angular interior space of the East Building made it impossible to close off galleries 23 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 23 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 22 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 23 26 Buildings Edit The West Building soon after construction looking southeast from the National Mall North face of the West Building with the west side of the East Building and the United States Capitol in background South face of the West Building 2014 Rotunda of the West Building beneath dome 2004 Oculus of the West Building dome 2008 West Building sculpture gallery 2007 West Building garden court 2010 Satellite image of National Gallery of Art grounds and surrounding streets 2002 Moving walkway and light sculpture in concourse beneath 4th Street connecting East and West Buildings 2016 Center of West Building plaza looking west towards West Building 2010 Fountain in West Building plaza 2010 View of fountain from concourse beneath West Building plaza 2013 Center of West Building plaza looking east towards entrance of East Building 2000 South face of East Building looking northwest from southeast corner 2010 Southwest corner of East Building looking east 2007 Southwest corner of East Building during renovation looking northeast 2014 East Building atrium 2007 East Building atrium 2007 Collection EditSee also List of painters in the National Gallery of Art and National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden 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 Grunewald Cranach the Elder Rogier van der Weyden Albrecht Durer Frans Hals Rembrandt Johannes Vermeer Francisco Goya Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres and Eugene 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 Durer 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 27 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 28 Art experts estimated the sale price of The Concert at 20 million though the NGA did not reveal the amount that it had paid 29 Highlights of the collection Edit Leonardo da Vinci Ginevra de Benci c 1474 El Greco Saint Martin and the Beggar c 1597 1599 30 Peter Paul Rubens Germanicus and Agrippina 1614 Jacques Louis David The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries 1812 Edouard Manet The Railway 1872 Annunciation van Eyck c 1434 Rogier van der Weyden Portrait of a Lady c 1460 Giorgione Adoration of the Shepherds c 1500 Raphael Cowper Madonna 1504 05 Saint George and the Dragon by Raphael 1506 Giorgione and Titian Portrait of a Venetian Nobleman c 1507 Alba Madonna by Raphael 1510 Giovanni Bellini and Titian The Feast of the Gods c 1514 Venus with a Mirror by Titian c 1555 El Greco Laocoon 1604 1616 Nicolas Poussin The Assumption of the Virgin c 1626 Rembrandt van Rijn The Mill 1648 Rembrandt van Rijn Self Portrait with Beret and Turned Up Collar 1659 Johannes Vermeer A Lady Writing a Letter 1665 1666 Jean Honore Fragonard A Young Girl Reading c 1776 Thomas Gainsborough Mrs Richard Brinsley Sheridan 1787 Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres Marcotte d Argenteuil 1810 John Constable Wivenhoe Park 1816 Eugene Delacroix Columbus and His Son at La Rabida 1838 Italian The Veiled Nun c 1863 Edouard Manet The Old Musician 1862 Claude Monet Woman with a Parasol Madame Monet and Her Son 1875 Edouard Manet The Plum 1878 Claude Monet The Artist s Garden at Vetheuil 1880 Vincent van Gogh Self portrait August 1889 Paul Gauguin Self Portrait with Halo and Snake 1889 Paul Cezanne Boy in a Red Waistcoat 1888 1890 Vincent van Gogh Girl in White 1890 Claude Monet Rouen Cathedral West Facade Sunlight 1894 Henri Matisse Open Window Collioure 1905 Pablo Picasso Family of Saltimbanques 1905 Henri Rousseau The Equatorial Jungle 1909 Francis Picabia The Procession Seville 1912 Albert Gleizes Les Joueurs de football Football Players 1912 13 Pablo Picasso Still Life 1918Selected highlights from the American collection Edit Benjamin West Colonel Guy Johnson and Karonghyontye Captain David Hill 1776 James Abbott McNeill Whistler Symphony in White No 1 The White Girl 1862 George Bellows New York 1911 John Singleton Copley Watson and the Shark original version 1778 Gilbert Stuart The Skater 1782 Edward Savage The Washington Family 1789 1796 Edward Hicks Peaceable Kingdom c 1834 Thomas Cole The Voyage of Life Childhood Thomas Cole The Voyage of Life Youth Thomas Cole The Voyage of Life Manhood Thomas Cole The Voyage of Life Old Age Thomas Cole A View of the Mountain Pass Called the Notch of the White Mountains Crawford Notch 1839 George Inness The Lackawanna Valley 1855 Thomas Eakins The Biglin Brothers Racing 1873 Winslow Homer Breezing Up A Fair Wind 1873 1876 Frederic Edwin Church Morning in The Tropics 1877 Mary Cassatt The Loge 1882 Mary Cassatt Woman with a Sunflower 1905 John Singer Sargent Street in Venice 1889 Albert Pinkham Ryder Siegfried and the Rhine Maidens 1888 1891 William Merritt Chase A Friendly Call 1895 Robert Henri Snow in New York 1902 George Bellows Both Members of This Club 1909 Childe Hassam Allies Day May 1917 1917See also EditCollections of the National Gallery of Art List of national galleries List of original Hermitage paintings in the National Gallery of Art Architecture of Washington D C References Edit The Art Newspaper Review March 28 2022 The Art Newspaper annual museum visitor survey published March 28 2022 Fink Lois Marie A History of the Smithsonian American Art Museum University of Massachusetts Press 2007 ISBN 978 1 55849 616 3 chapter 3 National Gallery of Art website general introduction Archived December 8 2006 at the Wayback Machine National Gallery of Art website chronology Archived April 7 2010 at the Wayback Machine a b National Gallery of Art West Building American Architecture Archived from the original on 6 October 2011 Retrieved 2 October 2011 Cultural Landscape Inventory The Mall Part 2 PDF U S National Park Service 2006 pp 49 53 72 Retrieved 2021 02 22 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Major Giving FAQS www nga gov Retrieved 2022 04 10 Kerr Euan Mia s director will leave to head National Gallery Minnesota Public Radio News December 11 2018 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 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 Selvin Claire 2019 09 27 National Gallery of Art Names Darren Walker Trustee Mitchell Rales Appointed President ARTnews Retrieved 2019 09 28 National Gallery of Art Maps and Hours 2016 01 12 Archived from the original on 2016 01 03 Degas at the Opera National Gallery of Art 2020 08 25 NGA gov Archived October 3 2009 at the Wayback Machine Leigh Catesby December 8 2009 An Ultramodern Building Shows Signs of Age The Wall Street Journal Archived from the original on March 11 2016 In The Tower Barnett Newman www nga gov Archived from the original on 1 February 2015 Retrieved 22 September 2014 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 Leo Villareal Multiverse www nga gov 2008 About the Gallery www nga gov Archived from the original on 22 September 2014 Retrieved 22 September 2014 Visit Sculpture Garden www nga gov Archived from the original on 26 September 2014 Retrieved 22 September 2014 a b c d 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 a b c d e f 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 a b c 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 a b c d 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 The CIVITAS Chronicles traditional building com Archived from the original on 2015 03 23 Prints Nga gov 2013 06 19 Archived from the original on 2013 12 21 Retrieved 2013 12 22 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 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 Provenance Nga gov Archived from the original on 2009 05 07 Retrieved 2013 12 22 Further reading EditDavid Cannadine Mellon An American Life Knopf 2006 ISBN 0 679 45032 7 Neil Harris Capital Culture J Carter Brown the National Gallery of Art and the Reinvention of the Museum Experience University of Chicago Press 2013 ISBN 9780226067704 Andrew Kelly Kentucky by Design The Decorative Arts American Culture and the Index of American Design University Press of Kentucky 2015 ISBN 978 0 8131 5567 8 National Gallery of Art Highlights from the National Gallery of Art Washington National Gallery of Art 2016 ISBN 9780894683992 The National Gallery of Art Washington special number of Connaissance des Arts Societe Francais de Promotion Artistique 2000 ISSN 1242 9198External links EditOfficial website NGA Collection Department of Image Collections National Gallery of Art Library Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts National Gallery of Art National YouTube National Gallery of Art Talks YouTube National Gallery of Art within Google Arts amp Culture Media related to National Gallery of Art at Wikimedia Commons Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title National Gallery of Art amp oldid 1146494201, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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