Evening star., 1953-08-30
Art News.
Transformation
In Fine Arts
By Florence S. Berrymon

The National COLLECTION OF
Fine Arts, housed In the Nat
ural History Building at Con-
Stitution avenue and Tenth
street, has undergone q trans
formation which will seem TO
long time Washingtonians.
little short of miraculous. This
ugly-duckling change is due
to the imagination, energy and
industry Of Thomas M. Beggs.
director Of the collection, and
Paul Gardner, curator Of ce-
ramicS.
The long and tedious project
Of remodeling the first-floor
galleries took about two years
before these halls were opened
to the public early last May.
The work is still going on,
however, with. renovation Of
some items of the permanent
collection.
The most startling improve
ment is in the presentation of
the Gellatly gift d,640 objects
of art), which used to be q
great indigestible mass in the
center Of the Collection. These
many fine and interesting OBJ
jects and paintings were juxta-
posed in a Stewed-oySterS-and-
ice-cream arrangement that
undoubtedly caused many yisi-
tors to accelerate their speed
in getting from the Mall to
Constitution avenue or vice
versa. Ut had that effect on
me.)
Plan Explained
At the time of reopening
last spring, Mr.. Beggs explain
ed the general plan Of install
lation. The Harriet Lane
Johnston Collection Is to be
seen Immediately upon enter
ing the large gallery from the
rotunda CMall end). This To-
cation" he said, "is in keeping
with it's historical significance
as the bequest which effected
the establishment of the origi-
nal National Gallery fof Art"
Washingtonians will recall that
the name belonged to this and
later collections until Melons
gift Of art and the magnificent
marble building to house it,
took over that title.
The admirable new arrange
ment affords a wide vista from
Constitution avenue to the
Mall, with the breaking down
of barriers between sections,
and the introduction of inter-
communicable partitions. Each
collection has been placed
against walls tinted with a
particular color by which its
parts are identified and uni
fed. Paintings in the Har-
riet Lane Johnston collection
are hung on walls of dusty
rose, and sculptures flank the
openings.
Beyond it is the Ralph Cross
Johnson collection of Italian
Renaissance. Flemish, Dutch
and English paintings grouped
as schools and hung on pale
lime green walls. On either
side of these main collections
are a few early Americans
from the Coale collection, and
miscellaneous gifts, and the
Ross collection Of British
paintings and related items.
Adroit Moneuvering
Messrs. Beggs and Gardner
had to accomplish some adroit
maneuvering to make sense. !.
out of a Straitjacket condition
accepted with these many
gifts. long before they became
. custodians, that each donors
collection has to hang as an
entity and cannot be broken
up to put schools and artists
from different collections, to-
gether. But whenever posi-
BILE, the Beggs-G Gardner ar
rangement enables the visitor
who has just looked at, say,
Flemish masters in one group,
to pass through a little arch
to another group and find its
examples from the same
school.
The Gellatly collection,
much of which continues to
be displayed in the large CEN
tral gallery as before, is a real
triumph of mind over matter.
Paintings by Thayer. Dewing,
Hassam and others are
grouped on the walls of pale
blue-gray, enabling visitors to
study each artist more easily
than before. Paintings by AL
bert Ryder, romantic member
of a trinity of American "old
masters" of the 10th century,
are featured in a gallery to
themselves, on the central
axis.
-Four cases hold ancient Jew
elry from Egypt, Rome, Pales-
tine and elsewhere. In four
other cases are examples of
ancient glass, iridescent from
long burials one group from
Egypt, three from the Roman
Empire, 1st to 4th centuries
AID. Still other cases hold
mummy masks, figures, Bat
tersea enamels, Renaissance
jewelry, Medieval reliquaries,