APPENDIX 3 

 Report on the National Collection of Fine Arts 



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

 of the National Collection of Fine Arts for the fiscal year ended June 

 30, 1953 : 



THE SMITHSONIAN ART COMMISSION 



The 30th annual meeting of the Smithsonian Art Commission was 

 held in the Kegents Koom of the Smithsonian Building on Tuesday, 

 December 2, 1952. The members present were : Paul Manship, chair- 

 man ; Alexander Wetmore, secretary (member, ex officio) ; John Taylor 

 Arms, Kobert Woods Bliss, Gilmore D. Clarke, David E. Finley, 

 Lloyd Goodrich, Walker Hancock, George Hewitt Myers, Archibald 

 Wenley, Lawrence Grant White, Andrew Wyeth, and Mahonri Young. 

 Thomas M. Beggs, Director, and Paul V. Gardner, curator of ceram- 

 ics, National Collection of Fine Arts, were also present. 



The Commission recommended to the Board of Regents the reelec- 

 tion of David E. Finley, Paul Manship, Eugene E. Speicher, and 

 Archibald Wenley for the ensuing 4-year period. 



The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: Paul 

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

 Carmichael, secretary. The following were elected members of the 

 executive committee for the ensuing year : David E. Finley, chairman, 

 Robert Woods Bliss, Gilmore D. Clarke, and George Hewitt Myers. 

 Paul Manship, as chairman of the Commission, and Leonard Car- 

 michael, as secretaiy of the Commission, are ex officio members of tlie 

 executive committee. Dr. Alexander Wetmore, retiring Smithsonian 

 Secretary, was added to the list of emeritus members of the Commis- 

 sion. 



Dr. Wetmore reported to the Commission that a bill (H. R. 8216) 

 had been introduced in the House of Representatives "to establish as 

 a branch of the Smithsonian Institution an American Academy of 

 Music, Drama, and Ballet, for the education of selected pupils in all 

 the various phases of these arts, and for other purposes, as part of a 

 National War Memorial (to include a theater and opera house)." 

 A similar bill was introduced in the Senate (S. J. 105) . 



Mr. Beggs presented his annual report to the Commission, and said 

 that special emphasis had been given to exhibitions during the year. 

 He reported the completion of the renovation of the first-floor galleries, 



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