REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 43 



crease of art works by means of gifts and bequests to the Institu- 

 tion for the 10 years since appropriate exhibition space became 

 available in the new Natural History Building, ending June 30, 1921, 

 and aside from the rich accessions of the Freer gift, has averaged 

 in estimated money value upward of $500,000 per j^ear. The year 

 just closed has fallen far short of that valuation, not exceeding 

 $10,000, a result due in part, at least, to a knowledge of the real con- 

 ditions on the part of such owners of collections as have reached the 

 stage where the future of their accumulations has become a matter 

 of great concern. 



The urgent need of a gallery building is thus strongly emphasized, 

 for it is apparent that should 10 years elapse before a building for 

 this purpose is erected, the loss due to delay will amount to several 

 times the cost of a building. Another consideration of great im- 

 portance is that the National Gallery is not limited in scope to paint- 

 ing and sculpture, but has confined its activities mainly to this nar- 

 row field because no space is available for assembling and displaying 

 the full range of art products. It is thus most important that Amer- 

 icans should begin to realize, as have all other civilized nations, the 

 great importance, the inestimable value, of art as an agency in the 

 advancement to higher accomplishment in each and every branch of 

 activity in which taste is an essential feature. We are the only civil- 

 ized nation that has not risen to a realization of the real value of art 

 and of the important functions of a National Gallery and that has 

 not, save in the limited appropriations granted in 1921 and 1922 to 

 the gallery fostered by the Smithsonian Institution, recognized art 

 save as the handmaid of history or as an essential of architectural 

 embellishment or landscape gardening. No important art work has, 

 for art's sake pure and simple, ever been purchased with the approval 

 of the United States Government. The Nation has received as gifts 

 and bequests, art works amounting to more than ten millions in 

 monej^ value, and has expended on their acquirement and care possi- 

 bly one two-hundredth part of that amount. The American people 

 should at once arise to a realization of the fact that unless gallery 

 space is provided for the accommodation of prospective additions, 

 this inflow of art works must practically cease. This would be a 

 national misfortune and a disaster to the Capital of the Nation. 



ART WORKS ACQUIRED DURING THE YEAR. 

 GIFTS AND BEQUESTS. 



Portrait of President Ulj^sses S. Grant (three-quarter length) by 

 Thomas Le Clear, N. A. (1818-1882), painted in 1880 or 1881. Gift 

 of Mrs. U. S. Grant, jr., of San Diego, Calif. 



