APPENDIX 2 

 REPORT ON THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 



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

 affairs of the National Gallery of Art for the year ending June 

 30, 1925. 



The activities of the gallery for the fifth year of its status as a 

 separate administrative unit of the Smithsonian Institution cor- 

 respond closely with those of previous years. The staff, which is 

 limited to the director and the recorder, has been occupied during 

 the year with the current work of the gallery; with the receipt, 

 record, installation, and care of the collections, permanent and tem- 

 porary; with the affairs of the gallery commission; with the devel- 

 opment of an art library ; and with promotion of the gallery's diver- 

 sified interests. Other cmplo3'^ees are : a stenographer, a gallery at- 

 tendant, three watchmen, two laborers, two charwomen, and a 

 carpenter who is assigned to the gallery by the National Museum 

 when his services are required. 



Additions to the gallery collections have fallen short of the aver- 

 age of previous years, the art works received by the Institution and 

 awaiting approval by the advisor}'^ committee of the gallery com- 

 mission not greatly exceeding a hundred thousand dollars in esti- 

 mated value. This falling off is due, at least in part, to the shortage 

 of exhibition space. Further important enrichment of the collec- 

 tions must thus await the erection of a gallery building, since collec- 

 tors seeking a final resting place for their treasures consider ver}- 

 carefully their prospective installation and care. Mention may be 

 made here of the fact that during the period between 1904 and 1924, 

 the period during wdiich suitable exhibition space happened to be 

 available in the museum buildings, accessions by gift and bequest 

 averaged in value approximately half a million dollars per year. 

 With a gallery building such as the nation should have, it is believed 

 that a million or millions annually would be within reasonable ex- 

 pectation. It is hardly within the range of possibility that a 

 second benefactor will appear who is willing to present the Govern- 

 ment with a building for his gift as did Mr. Freer, in order that the 

 gift might be accepted. 



During the year much attention has been given to the prepara- 

 tion of preliminary plans for a gallery building. Although Con- 

 gress in 1921 set aside an appropriate site for a building, it was left 

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