32 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1910. 



ters of European art, and we hope that this feature will be strength- 

 ened from time to time as the years go on. 



The Charles L. Freer collection contains many beautiful paintings 

 by Try on, Dewing, Thayer, and the unexcelled series of Whistler 

 paintings, pastels, drawings, and sketches; also the beautiful Pea- 

 cock room. In oriental art the collection representing Japanese and 

 Chinese paintings from the tenth to the nineteenth century can not be 

 duplicated in any single gallery in the world, and the bronzes and 

 pottery are beautiful, and to a large extent unique and of great histor- 

 ical and artistic value. 



The question of a suitable building for the great Freer collection 

 has been happily settled by Mr. Freer, but we still have to consider 

 the problem of properly housing and exhibiting the collections now 

 in the new natural history museum building, as their present instal- 

 lation is of a temporary character. 



I have hope that some of our strong men or women who have the 

 means will see the great opportunity that is now offered to present to 

 the nation a suitable building that will be an epoch-making incident 

 in the development of national art and a monument to the culture 

 and patriotism of the one so wise as to take advantage of the oppor- 

 tunity. 



The American people, as represented by Congress, have just pro- 

 vided a large and beautiful building for the collections of natural 

 history, and in due time it is expected that sufficient interest will be 

 taken in the art collections of the Government to provide a suitable 

 home for them. This, however, is not to be anticipated in the imme- 

 diate future, although the collections now in hand and what will be 

 inevitably received if accommodations are provided for them will 

 make a most creditable showing. 



I have been frequently asked what effect the development of a 

 national art gallery would have upon the Corcoran Gallery of Art at 

 Washington, and in response I have quoted the effect of the estab- 

 lishment of the Leland Stanford University, in California, upon the 

 State University of California. Prior to the establishment of the 

 Leland Stanford University the State University was a relatively 

 small affair. Its friends, realizing that they must approach the 

 standard set by the proposed new university, at once cast about for 

 strong leaders and strong men for their faculty, and the result in a 

 few years was that California had one of the great research universi- 

 ties of the country in the Leland Stanford and one of the great state 

 universities, with thousands of students. The Corcoran Gallery, 

 with its splendid history, fine building, and beautiful collection of 

 paintings and statuary, has an international fame, and will grow 

 stronger and more rapidly under the stimulus of a greater art inter- 

 est, caused by the development of the national gallery. One will 



