SECRETARY'S REPORT 191 



Mr. Christensen contributed two articles to historical bulletins and 

 delivered seven lectures to art and museum groups throughout the 

 country. 



MAINTENANCE OF BUILDING AND GROUNDS 



The building, its mechanical equipment, and the grounds were main- 

 tained at the established standard throughout the year. 



Rolling screens in art storage room G-35 were installed by contract 

 in June 1956. A cold house was constructed by the Gallery staff in 

 the southwest moat area to control the development of plants propa- 

 gated in the greenhouse, thereby making available a wider variety of 

 flower and plant decorations for the Garden Courts and special events. 



Gallery 25 was altered so that the Titian painting "Saint John on 

 Patmos" could be exhibited on the ceiling with special lighting. 



Two additional gallery rooms, galleries 49 and 50, were completed 

 in March 1956. 



A portion of the Library area was remodeled, and the space divided 

 into three rooms in which the Samuel H. Kress collection of Renais- 

 sance bronzes has been installed. 



OTHER ACTIVITIES 



Forty Sunday evening concerts were given during the fiscal year 

 1956 in the East Garden Court. The National Gallery Orchestra, 

 conducted by Richard Bales, played 11 concerts at the Gallery. Two 

 of the orchestral concerts were made possible by the Music Perform- 

 ance Trust Fund of the American Federation of Musicians. Between 

 May 13 and June 10, 1956, five Sunday evenings were devoted to the 

 Gallery's Thirteenth American Music Festival. All the concerts were 

 broadcast in their entirety by Station WGMS-AM and FM, Wash- 

 ington, and the Good Music Network. The National Gallery concert 

 on June 10, 1956, featured the premiere performance of Richard Bales' 

 "The Union," a cantata on music of the North during the years 1861- 

 1865. During the fiscal year 16 works by American composers were 

 given their first Washington performance; and 4 were given world 

 premieres. 



The Photographic Laboratory of the Gallery produced 11,148 prints, 

 300 black-and-white slides, 1,131 color slides, 170 color transparencies, 

 in addition to 1,868 negatives, color-separation negatives, infrared 

 and ultraviolet photographs, and X-ray shadowgraphs; also 1,705 

 lantern slides were bound. 



During the fiscal year 4,246 copies of 16 press releases were issued 

 in connection with Gallery activities, while 190 permits to copy, and 

 171 permits to photograph in the Gallery were also issued. 



