REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 192ft. 37 



excellence permitting their assignment to the gallery as works of art. 

 The preparation of a catalogue of the gallery bringing the record up 

 to date was carried to practical completion. The last issue of the 

 catalogue, prepared by Assistant Secretary Rathbun, is dated 1916, 

 and it is regarded as important that a new edition be printed as soon 

 as practicable. The present catalogue embodies, with an appro- 

 priate introduction, a simple list of the works now in the gallery and 

 a reference list of artists with brief biographies. 



The membership of the Advisory Committee on the National Gal- 

 lery of Art remains the same as heretofore : Dr. W. II. Holmes, 

 chairman; and Messrs. Edwin H. Blashfield, Herbert Adams, Doug- 

 las Volk, and Edmund C. Tarbell. 



The National Art Committee, a voluntary organization formed for 

 the purpose of securing portraits by American artists of all indi- 

 viduals prominently connected with the World War and the Peace 

 Conference, reports that work on the project has proceeded vigor- 

 ously. At the present time portraits have been painted of quite a 

 number of the leading officers of the various armies and of the lead- 

 ing civilians connected with the peace negotiations. It is expected 

 that all will soon be completed. AVhen finished the paintings will 

 be exhibited in some of the larger cities of the country and then be 

 turned over to the National Gallery of Art for a National Portrait 

 Gallery. It will be the finest historical series of its kind that can 

 possibly be obtained, and all the expense is provided for by subscrip- 

 tions of people interested in the movement. Mr. Henry White of 

 Washington, a Regent of the Smithsonian Institution and one of 

 the United States Commissioners to the Peace Conference, is hon- 

 orary chairman of the committee, Mr. Herbert L. Pratt of New York 

 City its secretary and treasurer, and the members are scattered in 

 all parts of the United States. 



Doctor Holmes attended the Eleventh Annual Convention of the 

 American Federation of Arts, held in the Metropolitan Museum of 

 Art, as the representative of the National Gallery, May 19-21, 1920. 

 The meetings were well attended, and the discussions covered a wide 

 range of important subjects. He also had the opportunity of at- 

 tending the celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the founda- 

 tion of the Metropolitan Museum, which comprised a session during 

 Tuesday devoted to memorial exercises, and a banquet in the evening. 



It is a matter of particular felicitation that in June Congress 

 granted a fund sufficient to permit the organization of the Gallery 

 as a separate unit of the Smithsonian foundation and to provide- a 

 modest curatorial staff, thus relieving the Museum of a rapidly 

 growing burden and at the same time affording the long delayed 

 opportunity of laying the foundation requisite to a reasonable and 

 symmetric development of the nation's Gallery of Art. 



