Evening star., 1923-04-29
FREER ART OPEN
TO PUBLIC MAY 3.
Invited Guests Have Earlier
Views of Gift Collection
Starting Wednesday.

sire to make an intensive study of
the magnificent collections in the
F'reer Gallery of Art, which is to be
opened to the general public May .,
will have every opportunity to do so. 4
While the gallery will be opened
Wednesday to invited guests, this in
vtation week" to extend through May
s. the public will not get its turn at
the gallery until May g.
The gallery. which is located to the
west of the main Smithsonian build
ing in the Mall, will be open each day
of the week. including Sunday. from
am. to 4:30 pm.
For the convenience of those who
desire to pursue work among the OBJ
Jects of the collection, which were
brought together by the late Charles
Lang Freer of Detroit and presented
10 the United States government, ad-
equate provision already has been
made and will be further developed in
the near future.
Provision for Students.
Only a limited proportion of the to-
tai number of objects in the hundreds
which compose the collections will be
placed on view at any one time in the
exhibition galleries, but all will be
available for the use of students daily.
Applications for permission to copy
objects in the galleries. or to see OBJ
jects not on exhibition, should be
made a the administration office sit
nated in the eastern end of the build
ing and reached by the east stairway
downward from the entrance lobby.
The Office of the superintendent may
he reached through the door to the
left of the main south entrance from
Il street
Portable stools for use in the gall
1eries may be had by applying to a
custodian, and wheel chair may be
secured on applications to the door,
keeper. so thoughtful have been off,
Cisls Of the needs of those who may
visit the collections. Umbrellas. canes.
Packages of all kinds, cameras and
baggage must be checked at the en-
trance.
Product Of 85 Years Work.
The collections installed in the
together by Charles Lang Freer of
Detroit. Mich. According to pam
Dhlet. which will be distributed by the
gallery, they represent the results OF
Mr.. Freer's personal study and ac-
Gusition over period of about thirty
five years. the earliest of his pur-
Chases incorporated in the collections
dating from the later eighties. 1t was
not until after 1900 however. when
Al the age of forty-siX he retired
from an active business life. that Mr..
Freer was able to devote the greater
part of his time to the development
Of his collections and of the ideals
which lay behind them. From 1900
until the time of his death in Sep
tember. 1919. he gradually eliminated
from his consideration. all other ac
tivities which might absorb his time
and strength. in order that he might
work with increasing concentration
on the endeavor to establish the be-
ginnings of what he believed to be
a most valuable field of research.
Mr.. Freer was convinced that the
ri, nr,lt D1 h iont of NJ
civilization expresses the underlying
principles Of artistic production in
soundness of thought and workman
ship. the more nearly it takes It's
place with ether objects of equally
high quality produced by any other
civilization; and with that in view,
he was intent upon bringing together
such expressions of western and east
ern cultures az seemed to him to en-
body at their best those characteris-
tics which he believed to be inherent
in all works of art
From West and East.
From the west he acquired prin
cipally American paintings. by men
who were inheritors of European
traditions. in whose work he found
qualities and tendencies sympathetic
with earlier painters in China and
Japan. Most important in the west
Arn field. as represented in these col
1ections. is section devoted to the
work of James McNeill Whistler. in
Guiding oil paintings. water colors.
pastels. etchings. lithographs, engrav-
ings. drawings and also the Peacock
Room. which has been removed from
the house in London where it was
decorated by Whistler for f r. Ley
land. In the American field there
are also representative groups OF
paintings by Thomas W. Dewing. Alb
bott II. Thayer and Dwight w. Tryon
ard examples of the work of George
De Forest Brush. Childe Hassam.
Winslow Homer. Carl Melchers. Will
lard Metcalf. John Francis Murphy,
John Singer Sargent and John II.
Twachtman
From the east he gathered paint
ing. potteries. sculptures in stone.
and objects of various other mate
rials. The Chinese field is represent
ed by the largest number of objects
covering the longest period of time.
duced as early is the Chou dynasty
'B.CD 1122-255) and some of them
were made as recently as the Ching
dynasty CAD. 1644-1912). The Chi
Guiding panels. scrolls and albums:
and the Japanese paintings. about
500. including also screens. The pot
tories from the Far East-China,
1.500; the stone and wood sculpture,
2I3. and the bronzes including sew
erai specimens from Siam, about 900.
From the nearer east. Mr.. Freer
purchased miniature paintings and
illustrated hooks of Persian orig sin,
Persian and West Asian potteries.
many of them of Rakka type and a
few specimens of bronze and silver.
Nohammedan art is further exem
plifed by a number of East Indian
paintings
Dynaetic Egypt is more slightly
represented by collection of small
pieces and fragments of glass and
pottery and by few objects in metal,
wood and stone.
The most significant Byzantine oh
jacts appearing in the Freer collec-
tion are the Greek biblical manu-
scripts. are Deuteronomy and Joshua,
The more important of these. now
known as the Washington manu-
scripts. are Deuteronomy and Jushua.
the Psalms and the four Gospels, all
of which date from the fifth century,
and a fragmentary manuscript Of the
epistles Of Paul, which date from the
sixth century.
Building Also Presented.
The building in which the collec-
tions are now installed was given
also by Mr.. Freer. who requested that
il be used exclusively for his collec-
not preclude the possibility of in
6reasing the collections either by
gifts from specified people or by pur-
chase with funds bequeathed for the
purpose.
Charles A. Platt of New York was
the architect chosen by Mr.. Freer to
take full charge of the design and
construction of the building. 1t Is in
the style of the Florentine Rennais-
sance. and provides one main exhibit
leries and the Peacock room, sur
rounding an open court or garden.