Evening star., 1942-05-31
Art
Notes
Minnigerode Reaches
Half Century Mark
At CorcOran
By Leila Mechiin.

by Lena ueCHffn.
The Corcoran Gallery of Art, of
which William Wilson Corcoran was
the donor. was chartered by act of
Congress, May "a, 1870. In Novem-
Der, 1873, its organization was COM
pleted by the Board of Trustees and
early in 1874 it was opened to the
public.
This institution was then housed
in the red brick building on the
corner of Pennsylvania avenue and
Seventeenth street, which for some
years has been occupied by the
United States Court of Claims and
will shortly be torn down to make
way for an annex to the State De-
partment. James Renwick was the
architect, and the design of the
building was in accordance with the
monumental style of the day. On
the upper floor, approached by a
grand stair case, were large picture
galleries with high ceilings, sky
lighted, and long walls covered by
many paintings, while on the first
floor were the sculpture galleries,
side lighted, and filled with casts
from the antique. Also here were
the offices, boardroom and door
keepers desk-a grand and awe
inspiring establishment to the young
Of that time.
Just so years ago, on June /, 1892,
went to this building, a lad of Is or
is, wearing his first pair of long
trousers, to take his first job-that
of Office boy to DR.. Barbarin, then
director. This was C. Powell Min
nigerode, and so well did the Job
suit him, and he the Job, that, de-
spite the fat that the Corcoran
Gallery has moved and many
changes come, he Is still with it
no longer as office boy, but since
1918, secretary of the board and
director, succeeding Frederick B
MCGUIRE, to whom in 1904 he hao
been appointed assistant. There is
no one in our American art mu-
seums who has served in this field
30 long, or with greater distinction.
AS Homer Saint Gaudens, director
Of the department of fine arts of
the Carnegie Institute. Pittsburgh,
has said, speaking for American Art
Museum Directors, "Minnigerode Is
the dean Of us alive know it and
hold him In high honor"
Johansen Portrait.
Marking this half century of
efficient and uninterrupted service,
the trustees a month or more ago
commissioned John c. Johansen of
New York to paint portrait of Mr.
Minnigerode for the Corcoran Gal
lery of Art-not that he is retiring
but as fitting mark of the appre-
citation in which he is held by those
most closely associated with him in
his life work. This portrait, which
Will be formally accepted tomorrow
Is a three-Quarter length and shows
Mr. Minnigerode standing, in char
acteristic pose. by table on which
his right hand rests, while the left
is thrust into his trousers pocket,
The expression is thoughtful and
frm: the head and face strongly
but sensitively modelled. It is a
portrait which grows better and
more significant as it becomes more
famihar-a very simple and digni-
11ed presentation.
John G. JohanSen is one Of our
leading American portrait painters.
He was selected to paint the por-
trait of the late Robert W. De Forest
for the Metropolitan Museum of
Art which Mr.. De Forest was then
and for many years president. Born
In Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1876,
Johansen studied first at the Art
Institute of Chicago, then under
Duveneck. presumably in Cincin-
natl, and finally at the Julian
Academy, Paris. He is National
Academician and a member of the
National Institute of Arts and Let
ters. He Is represented in a ma
tority of our leading art museums,
and here, in Washington, by por-
traits in the National Collection of
Fine Arts, Smithsonian, and of THE
Signing of the Peace Treaty at Yer
sailles" The Corcoran Gallery of
Art owns a painting by him of him
self and family in the living room of
their summer home near Stock
bridge, Mass, and while he was here
recently doing the portrait of Mr..
Minnigerode, he painted a charm
ing group picture of Mr.. and Mrs. j.
8. Flannery of this city, with their
three daughters, in their California
avenue house, what would have
once been known as a conversation
piece" Putting personality aside,
such a portrait as this of Mr.. Min
nigerode by John c. Johansen is a
valuable acquisition for any gallery.
So close has Mr.. Minnigerode's
association been with the Corcoran
Gallery of Art, and so long, that it
Is quite impossible to disassociate
one from the other, but when on
the evening of April II of this year
the Washington Society of the Fine
Arts gave at the Cosmos Club a
dinner in his honor it was not
merely because of this connection
with the local art world but be-
cause of the valuable services he has
rendered to the advancement of art
and artists in America. At that
dinner Mr.. G. E. Hamilton. president
OF the board of trustees of the Cor
coran Gallery of Art and principal
speaker said:
From intimate personal and busi-
ness association / know that the
spirit of service has been the COM
pelling factor in Mr.. Minnigerodes
life and action which conclusion
finds convincing support in his we'll
directed 1abors in the field of art
promotion. For so years he has
given literally of his abilities, time
and energy to make come true the
dream of one of the great pioneers
In the promotion of American art
William w. Corcoran-his dream
for the stabilization, perpetuity and
progressive development of the Cor
coran Gallery Of Art, established by
him at the Nations Capital and
dedicated to the encouragement of
American genius in the promotion
and preservation of works OF art"