Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-08-04
American Paintings
For National Gallery

n My little over year azo an.
~ houhce5nent was made Tat America
mad national gallery Of art. one
| whlch for more than half a century had
| legally existed. but had been overlooked
ana forgotten. once brought 10 light
through the agency OF the Harrie: Lane
| johnston beGuest. this institution has DEM
onstrated splendid vjEor and Developed Wit,
rapidly as encouraging as it s sur
pT'sing, says Miss Leila Mechlln IN an ar
| ucIe IN the North American Review.
When the Smithsonian institution WAS
established. by act OF Congress- io ,>ls II
was made the lawful custodian OF a.. works
| Of art belonging to the rattop ANA sion,
| were taken by thu regents to pro..r, and
maintain gallery. Various conf ~rpces
were held upon the subject. rf.-. I'm.
special exhibitions and FOR IA school were
considered and. In 1919 with rN...t.-,t
Judgment, the sum of 5000 was ,N,.r.l.l
for the purchase OF the Marsh q, ..,...,,
or prints. But that IS about as far .s H..
matter was carried
1t was not strange. therefore. tla+ Vhln
Mrs, Harriet Lane Johnston nadr d p viii
disposing of her collection OF paintings. his
torical documents and so forth. size WAS in
ignorance OF the existence Of national
gallery. and so bequeathed them 10 the
Corcoran Gallery, with the provision that
If such an institution should at any TIM. b,
established by the United States they
should revert to it. Owing to certain other
conditions with which It was impossible, to
comply. the Corcoran Gallery was obliged
to decline the bequest.
1t was this emergency which led Presl-
dent Roosevelt to include in his annual
message to Congress in December, 1904. the
recomme ndation that 1.-The collections Of art
contemplated in section 1856 OF the Revised
Statutes should be designated and estab-
lished as a national gallery OF art and
the Smithsonian institution should be au-
thorized to accept any additions to said
collections that may be received by gift,
bequest or DEVISE" and 1t was this, also.
which opened the way to the discovery of
the mislaId institution.
Mrs. Johnston's heirs were as avcrse TO
the dispersal OF her collection as was the
nation but they had no legal right to inter-
pref her will. Hence an amicable suit was
entered in the Supreme Court of the Dis
trtct Of Columbia, and the quandary was
settled on July II, 1906, by a decree which
not only authorized the Smithsonian Insti-
tuition to receive the gift, but gave legal
standing to a national gallery. In less
than month the works of art etc, COM
posing the Harriet Lane Johnston collection
were given into the custody of the Smith
sonian Institution and temporarily placed
on exhibition in the rooms set aside for
the secretary and regents
Mrs Johnston died in July. 1903. and while
the settlement Of her estate was pending
Mr.. Charles L. Freer Of Detroit, Mich,
made his splendid gift to the nation, plac-
Ing in the hands Of the regents of the
Smithsonian Institution. on May 6. 1909. a
deed to his private collection Of paintings
prints. potteries and other art objects,
valued at 10000, and promising to be-
queath to the institution 100000 for tho
construction of suitable gallery for the
collection.
Almost Immediately after the Harriet
Lane Johnston collection had been received
the heirs of the late Lucius Tuckerman
offered to loan to the gallery, for not less
than year. the collection of paintings
which he had assembled. and shortly after
this Mr. Edward Kemeys. the distinguished
animal sculptor, who died only last May,
placed indefinitely at the disposal OF the
national gallery, for exhibition purposes a
ter casts, numbering more than fifty.
The Harriet Lane Johnston collection
comprises sixteen paintings and as many
| other items, some of which have no special
bearing upon the subject of art: such. for
instance, as an autograph letter OF Queen
Victoria addressed to Mrs. Johnstons
uncle, President Buchanan, during his term
OF office. The paintings are chiefly por-
traits, all by foreign artists. The Tucker
man loan collection was OF the same type,
covering merely later period and ndi-
eating the trend of European art when for
a number of years, 1t usurped the role OF
the writer and devoted itself to narration,
carrying at the same time the painters
craftsmanship TO remarkable perfection.
It was, therefore, all the more interesting
and important that the next addition to
the national gallery should have been the
kemeys collection, which turned the atten-
ton abruptly to American production. We
have pictures of Indians and cowboys ga
lore, paintings of negroes and skyscrapers
in abundance, but we have few sincere
interpretations of everyday themes which
set forth the ideals, the potentiaities and
the hopes of our own great nation. For
lNIS reason MI helleNS Work is the more
significant and the loan OF SO compre-
hensive a collection OF it to the national
gallery soon after its inception must b.
regarded as a felicitous circumstance.
But great impetus was given to the
new institution through another notable
gift In March OF the present year Mr..
William T. Evans OF New York, than whom
none has done more to advance and en-
courage American art, went to Washington
and offered to present to the national gal
lery collection of paintings by American
artists of established reputation-an offer
which was promptly and gratefully ac-
cepted. This collection consisted OF fifty
pictures. There are landscapes by u. w.
Tryon, J. Francis Murphy, Charles b.
Davis, Henry Ranger. Charles Melville
Dewey. Louis Paul Dessar. Ballard VIII
liams and Albert Blakelock, ]. Alden Weir
and Robert Minor And of the figure
painters included in the cataloguh there
are John W. Alexander, r. w. rewing,
John LaFarge. Walter Shirlaw. Lous Loeb,
Sergeant Kendall. Charles G. Curran. J.
Alden Weir and william r. Smedley-some
Of the strongest and best. From FIRST to
-. 1