4 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITTJTION, 1940 



logs, handbooks, color reproductions, post cards, and similar 

 material for the benefit of the public when the Gallery is opened. 

 It is hoped that construction of the Gallery building will be com- 

 pleted in November of 1940. Several months will be required for 

 decorating the exhibition rooms and installing the collections, so 

 that formal opening of the Gallery to the public is expected to take 

 place about March of 1941. It is estimated that the total cost of 

 the building and landscaping will exceed $15,000,000. 



National Collection of Fine Arts. — ^The complete renovation of the 

 exhibition galleries, begim during the previous fiscal year, was fin- 

 ished in October 1939 and the galleries were reopened to the public 

 on the 4th of that month. New backgrounds of monk's cloth, repaint- 

 ing of all woodwork and reflectors to match the backgrounds, and 

 renovation and backing of all pictures combined to put the entire 

 National Collection in excellent condition. The nineteenth annual 

 meeting of the Smithsonian Art Commission was held on December 

 5, 1939. One painting. Young Girl with Dog, by Edward Percy 

 Moran, a bequest of Alfred Duane Pell, was accepted for the National 

 Collection. Three miniatures were acquired through the Catherine 

 Walden Myer Fund. Several art works were lent upon request to other 

 museums and organizations. The following seven special exhibitions 

 were held: The Fifth Annual Metropolitan State Art Contest, 1939, 

 comprising 272 exhibits of paintings, sculpture, and prints ; 29 pastel 

 and oil paintings by Esteban Valderrama; a miniature by Juan 

 de Dios Hoyos ; 83 pieces of wood turnings by James L. Prestini ; 24 

 portraits and 5 drawings by John Slavin; 153 paintings by 31 mem- 

 bers of the Landscape Club of Washington, D. C. ; and 103 miniatures 

 by 61 members of the Pennsjdvania Society of Miniature Painters. 



Freer Gallery of Art. — Additions to the collections included Chi- 

 nese bamboo, bronze, jade, marble, painting, and pottery; East Indian 

 and Arabic manuscripts; Iranian (Persian) and Syro-Egyptian metal 

 work; and Indian and Persian painting. Curatorial work was 

 devoted to the study and recording of these new acquisitions and of 

 other material already in the collection. In addition, 1,093 objects 

 of similar character and 263 photographs of others were brought or 

 sent to the Director for information concerning them, and written or 

 oral reports upon them were made to the owners. Changes in exhi- 

 bition involved 40 individual objects. Visitors for the year numbered 

 108,770. Eight illustrated lectures were given in the auditorium by 

 members of the staff. Eleven groups were given instruction in the 

 study rooms, and seven groups were given docent service in the 

 exhibition galleries. John Bundy, Superintendent of the Gallery 

 for more than 21 years, died August 18, 1939; he was succeeded by 

 Weldon N. Rawley. 



