Report on the National Collection of 

 Fine Arts 



Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report on the ac- 

 tivities of the National Collection of Fine Arts for the fiscal year 

 endedJune 30, 1962 : 



SMITHSONIAN ART COMMISSION 



The 39th annual meeting of the Smithsonian Art Commission was 

 held in Washington on Tuesday, December 5, 1961. Members present 

 were Paul Manship, chairman; Leonard Carmichael, secretary; Gil- 

 more D. Clarke, David E. Finley, Walker Hancock, Bartlett H. Hayes, 

 Ogden M. Pleissner, Charles H. Sawyer, Stow Wengenroth, Archibald 

 G. Wenley, and Andrew Wyeth. James C. Bradley, Assistant Sec- 

 retary ; Theodore W. Taylor, Assistant to the Secretary of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution ; and Thomas M. Beggs, Director, National Collec- 

 tion of Fine Arts, were also present. 



The Commission recommended reappointment of Robert Woods 

 Bliss, Wilmarth Lewis, Henry P. Mcllhenny, and Ogden M. Pleissner 

 for the usual 4-year period. 



The following officers were reelected for the ensuing year: Paul 

 Manship, chairman ; Eobert Woods Bliss, vice chairman ; and Leonard 

 Carmichael, secretary. 



The following were reelected members of the executive committee 

 for the ensuing year : David E. Finley, chairman ; Robert Woods Bliss, 

 Gilmore D. Clarke, Archibald G. Wenley, with Paul Manship and 

 Leonard Carmichael, ex officio. 



Dr. Carmichael announced the gift from Mrs. Laura Dreyfus Barney 

 of Barney Studio House, 2306 Massachusetts Avenue. One of its 

 principal rooms is being redecorated at the suggestion of the donor to 

 be used by the Smithsonian Institution for meetings and cultural 

 events. 



He informed the Commission that Congress had appropriated plan- 

 ning funds to provide detailed plans and specifications for the re- 

 modeling of the Patent Office Building, which is expected to be vacated 

 by the Civil Service Commission in 1963 and ready for occupancy by 

 the National Collection of Fine Arts and the National Portrait Gallery 

 during 1965. Dr. Carmichael stated that bills concerning the National 

 Portrait Gallery had passed the Senate and had been favorably re- 

 ported out of committee in the House. 

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