Skip to Main Content

 Admission is always freeOpen today: 10:00  to 5:00  Directions             Play Artle            

                  -  Visit                      - Visit
                    - Getting Here
                    - Accessibility
                    - Tours, Guides & Maps
                    - Food & Drink
                    - Gallery Shops
                    - Visitor Policies 
                  -  Collection                      - Collection
                    - Highlights
                    - Search the Collection
                    - Artists Search
                    - Acquisition Highlights
                    - Stories
                    - Games 
                  -  Exhibitions                      - Exhibitions
                    - Current
                    - Special Installations
                    - Upcoming
                    - On Tour
                    - Past 
                  -  Calendar                      - Calendar
                    - Films
                    - Performances
                    - Talks
                    - Guided Tours
                    - After Hours
                    - Fun for Kids
                    - Festivals
                    - Workshops 
                  -  Learn                      - Learn
                    - Teachers
                    - Families
                    - Teens
                    - Adults
                    - Learning Resources
                    - Music Programs
                    - Film Programs 
                  -  Conservation                      - Conservation
                    - Projects
                    - Publications
                    - Resources 
                  -  Research                      - Research
                    - The Center
                    - Publications
                    - Make an Appointment
                    - Archives
                    - Library
                    - NGA Online Editions 
                  -  Support                      - Support
                    - Donate Now
                    - National Membership
                    - Circle Membership
                    - Leadership Groups
                    - Planned Giving
                    - Major Giving
                    - Gifts of Art 
                  -  Shop                      - Shop
                    - Books
                    - Jewelry
                    - Apparel & Accessories
                    - Kids
                    - NGA Custom Prints 
                  -  Play Artle

Home>National Gallery of Art Communications Office>2014>Meyerhoff/Becker

Release Date: March 14, 2014

Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker’s Pledge to Transform the National Gallery of Art’s Photography Collection 

Thomas Demand, *Clearing*, 2003, chromogenic print, 75.5 x 195 in., National Gallery of Art, Washington, © Thomas Demand / Artists' Rights Society (ARS), New York / Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery, Collection of Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker

Washington, DC—A pledged gift from the collection of leading art collectors Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker will transform the National Gallery of Art’s holdings of contemporary photographs. The promised gift features 30 large-scale, seminal photographs by Andreas Gursky, Thomas Struth, Thomas Demand, Jeff Wall, Cindy Sherman, and Hiroshi Sugimoto, among others.

“In combination, the scale of the photographs and the brilliance of their color allow for new insights into the traditional divisions between photography and painting,” said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. “This generous pledge from Robert Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker is truly one of our most significant photography donations to date.” 

The donation will give the Gallery its first-ever examples in any medium by critically important artists Marina Abramovic, Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Catherine Opie, Thomas Ruff, Cindy Sherman, and Jeff Wall. The gift will also double the Gallery’s collection of work by Vera Lutter and Vik Muniz, and significantly expand its representation of Thomas Demand and Thomas Struth. The Meyerhoff/Becker collection also includes significant works by other important contemporary photographers as well as artists working in a variety of media, such as John Baldessari and Anselm Kiefer.  

The entire Meyerhoff/Becker collection is to be shown upon the reopening of the East Building in 2016.

**The Düsseldorf School**

The Meyerhoff/Becker collection is particularly rich in photographs by the famed Düsseldorf School, a group that rose to prominence in the 1980s. Their work is characterized by a seemingly objective, straightforward style and the use of large-scale, vibrantly colored prints. Three works by Thomas Demand, two by Andreas Gursky, three by Candida Höfer, two by Thomas Ruff, and six by Thomas Struth, greatly strengthens the Gallery’s representation of this important movement. On average, these photographs measure five-by-seven feet—a scale indebted to radical advances in digital technology that enabled artists from the late 20th century onward to make prints of increasingly larger sizes. Many of the Meyerhoff/Becker photographs are face-mounted to plexiglass, which adds a dazzling luminosity to the pictures.

Among the most outstanding examples of the Düsseldorf School in the Meyerhoff/Becker collection are four pictures from Thomas Struth’s *Museum Photographs*, a series that examines the ways in which viewers of works of art are not merely consumers of the past, but are also active participants in its reinterpretation. *Alte Pinakothek (Self-Portrait), Munich* (2000) depicts the artist standing in front of one of Germany’s most iconic images: Albrecht Dürer’s self-portrait. The result is two German artists examining each other across the span of 500 years.

Equally notable is Thomas Demand’s *Clearing* (2003), a stunning view of light filtering through a forest. To create this work, Demand constructed a handmade forest in a steel frame approximately 50 feet long, 18 feet high, and 32 feet deep, using 270,000 individual pieces of dye-cut paper. He illuminated the construction with intense studio lighting and captured the scene in a photograph that measures 6-by-16 1/2 feet.

**Bernd and Hilla Becher**

The Meyerhoff/Becker Collection also includes a grid of nine photographs by Bernd and Hilla Becher, the professors at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf who inspired the Düsseldorf School of photographers. Drawing their inspiration in part from the American New Topographic photographs of the 1970s, these photographers are known for dispassionate, documentary-like examinations of cityscapes and interiors, as well as portraiture.

**The Meyerhoff Collection and the National Gallery of Art**

In 1987 the National Gallery of Art announced that Robert and Jane Meyerhoff (1924-2004) had signed an agreement with the National Gallery of Art providing the terms for the eventual donation of the entire collection to the Gallery. It includes an unsurpassed holding of art by Jasper Johns, Frank Stella, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Ellsworth Kelly, and Brice Marden, among others.

From March through July 1996, the Gallery displayed a number of these works in an exhibition entitled ***The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection: 1945 to 1995***. The Gallery also exhibited the Meyerhoff collection from October 2009 through May 2010 in the exhibition ***The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection: Selected Works***. The later exhibition was curated by Harry Cooper, curator and head of modern art.

General Information

[email protected]

[email protected]

NEWSLETTERS:The Gallery also offers a broad range of newsletters for various interests. Follow this link to view the complete list.

Order Press Images

To order publicity images: Click on the link above and designate your desired images using the checkbox below each thumbnail. Please include your name and contact information, press affiliation, deadline for receiving images, the date of publication, and a brief description of the kind of press coverage planned.

**Press Release****

*The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection: Selected Works* October 1, 2009—May 2, 2010

Exhibition Pages:*The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection: Selected WorksThe Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection: 1945-1995*

### Stay connected

Learn more about our exhibitions, news, programs, and special offers.

About
          - About the National Gallery
          - Stories
          - Press
          - FAQs
          - Contact Us

Plan a Visit
          - Getting Here
          - Accessibility
          - Today's Tours
          - Food & Drink
          - Calendar
          - Downloadable Map

Get Involved
          - Donate
          - Membership
          - Volunteer
          - Opportunities
          - Shop Online

Resources
          - Search the Collection
          - Conservation
          - Library
          - Archives
          - The Center
          - Film Programs
          - Music Programs
          - Audio/Video
          - Open Access Images

Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily

**West Building**6th St and Constitution Ave NW*Enter or exit from Constitution Avenue, 4th Street, or 7th Street. The Madison Drive entrance is currently closed.*

**East Building**4th St and Constitution Ave NW*Enter and exit from 4th Street.*

**Sculpture Garden**7th St and Constitution Ave NW*Enter and exit from 7th Street, Constitution Avenue, or Madison Drive.*

We are closed on December 25 and January 1.

*The National Gallery of Art serves the nation by welcoming all people to explore and experience art, creativity, and our shared humanity.*

          -  Twitter 
          -  Facebook 
          -  Instagram 
          -  Pinterest 
          -  YouTube 

© 2024 National Gallery of Art   Notices   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy