52 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1921. 



DISTRIBUTIONS. 



Loans have been withdrawn by the owners as follows: Full-length 

 portrait of George Washington, by Wilford S. Conrow, returned to 

 Mr. Conrow on his request. Athena, attributed to Simon De Vos, 

 was withdrawn by Miss May Warner. 



In November, i920, five paintings, the property of the National 

 Gallery, by five living American artists, were lent to the American 

 Federation of Arts to be associated with twelve other notable paint- 

 ings from other sources on an exhibition circuit, which included 

 Davenport, Iowa ; Moline, Mich. ; Syracuse, N. Y. ; Memphis, Tenn. ; 

 Oklahoma City, Okla. ; Jackson, Mich. ; and Ann Arbor, Mich. The 

 five paintings — Caresse Enfantine, by Mary Cassatt; A Family of 

 Birches, by Willard Metcalfe ; The White Parasol, by Robert Reid ; 

 November, by D wight Try on ; and Southwesterly Gale, by Frederick 

 J. Waugh — were returned to the gallery near the close of the fiscal 

 year. 



Mrs. Augusta H. Saint-Gaudens withdrew her bust of Lincoln for 

 a Saint-Gaudens exhibit at the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pa., 

 in the early part of 1921. It was returned to the gallery at the close 

 of the exhibit. 



THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART COMMISSION. 



An important forward step in the development of the gallery was 

 made during the year. On May 27, 1921, the Board of Regents of 

 the Institution, having the future of the gallery in mind, took the 

 initial steps in the establishment of the National Gallery of Art Com- 

 mission, formulating a plan of organization and naming the follow- 

 ing board to take the steps necessary to its elaboration : 



Public men interested in fine arts : W. K. Bixby, Joseph H. Gest, 

 Charles Moore, James Parmelee, Herbert L. Pratt. 



Experts: John E. Lodge, Frank Jewett Mather, jr., Charles A. 

 Piatt, Edward W. Redfield. 



Artists: Herbert Adams, Edwin H. Blashfield, Daniel Chester 

 French, Gari Melchers, William H. Holmes. 



Dr. Charles D. Walcott, secretary of the Institution, was named a 

 member of the commission ex officio. 



The primary functions of the commission are "to promote the 

 administration, development, and utilization of the National Gal- 

 lery of Art, including the acquisition of material of high quality 

 representing the fine arts; and the study of the best methods of 

 exhibiting material to the public and its utilization for instruction." 



At the first meeting of the commission, June 8, the organization 

 was completed and committees were appointed to take charge of 

 the various branches of the work. These are : Executive committee, 



