Evening star., 1943-03-28
Bv Leila MechHn.

| Recent announcements by the
! Library of Congress of a print
/ exhibition to be held in May and
by the National Gallery of Art Of
the receipt of valuable accessions
in this field have called special at
tention to the subject of prints
meaning etchings, Autographs, en-
| cravings, etc.-and at the same time
revealed the fact that there are
here in Washington four notable
public print collections.
The exhibition announced by the
/ Library of Congress will be ma
tional in scope and essentially con-
temporary, as only prints made
within the past year will be eligible.
1t will be held under the auspices
of the Pennell fund, administered
| by the division of fine arts of the
Library, and numerous purchase
prizes will be awarded for the dou-
BILE purpose of encouraging tie
printmakers and enriching the per-
manent print collection.
The gift to the National Gallery
of Art, which was from Mr. and
Mrs. J. Watson Webb of New York
in memory of Mrs. Webb's parents,
Mr.. and Mrs. H. o. Havemeyer, con-
sisted of two sets of etchings by
Whistler-the first and second Ven
ice sets of, respectively, 1880 ard
1868 in all-and also a fine i'm
preston of an engraving by Durer
st. jerome in His Study"-all IA
nous and significant.
When the Library of Congress in
1897 moved from the Capitol to the
new building erected for it. a divi-
sion of prints was established with
the late A. J. Parsons, connoisseur
and dilettante as head. On July !
OF that same year through the me-
dlum Of an appropriation act Con-
gress gave recognition to the estab-
lishment of national print collec-
ton under these auspices. Recogni-
ton came also from other sources.
Valuable gifts were received from
private collectors and from foreign
nations: important loans we're made.
Among the former were the Gardi-
ner Greene Hubbard collection COM
prising nearly 5000 prints and espe-
Cially rich in Rembrandts and Du-
rers, the Crosby S. Noyes collection
of drawings and prints by artists
of the Far East and the George
Lathrop Dudley collection which in
cluded an uncommorly fine group
of Turner's. The Chalcographie de
Louvre and the Regia Chalco-
graphic of Rome contributed gen.
erously from their duplicate files,
as did other countries. Most notable
among the loans was the T. Har-
rison Garrett collection, which re-
i manned on deposit for some years,
until in fact it passed into the pos
session of the Baltimore Art Mu-
scum.
F0HozcS Precedent.
The placing of the national print
collection under the charge of the
| Library of Congress follows prece-
dent. The French national collec-
tlon is intrusted to the Bibliotheque
Nationale, the English to the British
Museum with it's extensive library.
Such placement obviously stresses
the near relation between prints and
books. After all, prints and print
making followed close upon the heels
of the invention of printing, and
many of the finest early engravings
and etchings were produced for the
purpose of illustration. The wood
cut, the engraving and other works
in line accord better with the print
ed page than the half-tone or wash
drawings
The growth of the National print
collection has been steady and con-
tinuous. 1t now comprises over
100000 items. OF these the ma
| jority have been derived through
the operation of the copyright law,
but at least 10 per cent-5O,OOO-
are what may be described as Of
| fine-art QUALITY - etchings, aqua