International studio (33.1907/1908(1908))

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INTERNATIONAL
STUDIO-
VOL. XXXIII. No. 130 Copyright, 1907, by John Lane Company DECEMBER, 1907

A NATIONAL ART COLLECTION
BY LEILA MECHLIN
Within the last eighteen months a
movement has begun which must affect
the development of art in America. At Washington,
under the guardianship of the Smithsonian Institu-
tion, a National Gallery of Art has come into ex-
istence, and the work of assembling a national art
collection has been started. I say, come into exist-
ence rather than established, for, like many other
great projects, our National Gallery has had no
definite inception but has, instead, been gradually
evolved.
When in 1846 the Smithsonian Institution was
chartered by Congress, it was made the custodian
of all works of art belonging to the nation, but
sixty years were allowed to pass before a National
Gallery was given legal status. Not that the matter
was actually disregarded, for it was from time to
time discussed and considered, but there was no
reason for haste and no special event gave it impetus.
That other things proved more absorbing may, per-
haps, be, after all, an occasion for gratitude, as the
period from 1846 to 1876 is a dark page in America’s
art history, and, as every one knows, it is far easier
to acquire bad paintings than to dispose of them.
At least, it may be said, when the National Gallery
awoke finally to active being it had no past sins
either to repent of or to conceal.
It was in July, 1906, that the Supreme Court of
the District of Columbia declared the Harriet Lane
Johnston collection, which was indirectly be-
queathed to an American National Gallery, the
rightful possession of the nation, and in November
of the same year the lecture-room in the National
Museum was remodeled as an exhibition hall to
afford temporary accommodations. Mr. William H.
Holmes, Chief of the Bureau of American Eth-
nology and ex-president of the Washington Water

Color Club, was designated by Mr. Richard Rath-
bun, acting secretary of the Smithsonian Institution,
as curator, and under his direction not only the
paintings comprised in Mrs. Johnston’s bequest,
but twenty or more loaned by the heirs of the late
Lucius Tuckerman, were installed. At this time
there was no money available for salaries or sup-
port; all services had to be voluntary, and every
provision in the way of exhibition facilities had
to be made by the National Museum out of its
private fund. The work, however, was carried on
energetically and the best was made of existing
conditions. Each month witnessed some advance.
Individual gifts and loans were made; most im-
portant of which, among the latter, was a collection
of works in sculpture by the late Edward Kemeys,
the distinguished American animal sculptor.
Thus matters stood when, in March of the pres-
ent year, Mr. William T. Evans, of Montclair,
New Jersey, offered to the National Gallery a col-
lection of fifty paintings by American artists of
established standing—an offer which was promptly
and gratefully accepted. Munificent as was this
gift it could at no other time have been as far reach-
ing in its influence. Not only must a National Gal-
lery obviously concern itself with native art and set
forth the works of the nation’s foremost painters,
but in no other way could its existence be vindicated
and the support of the people won than through
such a manifestation of confidence as this. None
has done more than Mr. Evans to encourage and
promote American art, so it is not strange that he
should have realized and been quick to take ad-
vantage of this opportunity to further its interests.
Indicative of the spirit of the gift, and worthy of
note, however, is the single stipulation made by the
donor: that if at any time a painting in the collec-
tion should be found to fall below the standard, he
be permitted to withdraw it and substitute a better
work. Thus it will be seen assurance was given of

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