22 



Annals of the Smithsonian Institution 1999 



Neal Benezra, the Hirshhorn's Assistant Ditectot fot Aft and 

 Public Programs, with Judith Zilczer, Curator of Paintings, 

 and Valerie Fletcher, Curator of Sculprure. Energized by the 

 new, mosrly smaller spaces, up-to-date halogen lights, and 

 many reframed or newly conserved objects, the curators went 

 far in aiming for thought-provoking, revelatory combina- 

 rions. Mixing Americans and Europeans, the famous and not 

 so famous, and diverse styles and media, "The Hirshhorn 

 Collection at 25" presented a roughly chronological proces- 

 sion of some 135 objects. Some of the more striking 

 juxtapositions included Edward Hopper's lonely urban- 

 dwellers with Elie Nadelman's attenuated carved-wood 

 figures, both projecting a kind of pared-down, stark human- 

 ity for Depression-era America, and sculptures by Henry 

 Moore and Alexander Archipenko employing taut string, re- 

 vealing the influence of technology on modern sculpture 

 despite, in the case of Moore, the influence of narure. Among 

 other artists represented were Anni Albers, Consrantin Bran- 

 cusi, Daniel Baranoff-Rossine, Jean Dubuffet, Alexandra 

 Exter, Man Ray, Clyfford Still, Peter Voulkos, and Charmian 

 von Wiegand. A similar redesign in rhe sculpture ambulato- 

 ries also underscored stylistic affinities and crosscurrents. 



"The Hirshhorn Collection at 25" was well received by 

 the press, prompting a Washington Post critic to write, "The 

 collection has never looked better. . . . Old favorites . . . have 

 begun to sing again, [and diverse arrisrs] seem very much at- 

 tuned here." The reviewer concluded that an installation 

 designed to "prod viewers to look anew at the museum's 

 best-known works, as well as at others rarely seen" could 

 only create a successful experience and the Hirshhorn's new 

 look was proof positive of irs emergence over 25 years as "a 

 vital and respected national museum of modern and contem- 

 porary art." 



Commemorations of the museum's anniversary conrinued 

 in April. First, the Hirshhorn's genesis as a public museum 

 based on private philanthropy was underscored in a small 

 show that ran from April 7 to May 9. Titled "Faces of 

 Friendship: The Art-World Circle of Joseph and Olga Hir- 

 shhorn in Documentary Photographs," rhe show featured 

 5 1 photographs from an archival collection donated to the 

 museum by Olga Hirshhorn, the founding donor's widow. 

 The exhibirion presented a multitude of camera-made im- 

 ages, many personally inscribed to the collector, of such 

 well-known personalities of public life and international 

 art of the 1950s to 1970s as Presidenrs John F. Kennedy 

 and Lyndon Baines Johnson, Chief Justice Abe Fortas, 

 Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley, British art histo- 

 rian and TV host Sir Kenneth Clark, arr dealers Sidney 

 Janis of New York and Daniel Kahnweiler of Paris, painrers 

 Pablo Picasso and Georgia O'Keeffe, sculptors Alberto 

 Giacometti and Alexander Calder, and numerous younger 

 artists. This revealing collection of mementoes started after 

 Olga Hirshhorn, seeking to surprise her husband wirh a 

 holiday gift of an inscribed photo from one artist-friend, 

 expanded the idea and urged virtually all of the benefactor's 

 intimates and associates to pay their respects with images 

 of themselves. 



The month of April was also highlighted by "Hirshhorn 

 Open House: Celebrating 25 Years," featuring a full after- 

 noon on April 25 of hands-on art-making activities for 

 families, several storytelling sessions, musical selections by 

 the Ambassador String Quartet, and a gallery ralk on the 

 ghostly figurative works of Portuguese arrisr Juliao Sar- 

 mento in the Directions Gallery. Director James T 

 Demetnon capped off the day with a lecture reflecting on 

 the quarrer-cenrury evolurion of the Hirshhorn collection. 



Plans proceeded, meanwhile, for October 1999s anniver- 

 sary exhibition, "Regarding Beauty: A View of the Late 

 Twentieth Century," and the fund-raising gala, also that 

 month. The exhibition's co-organizers Neal Benezra and 

 Olga M. Viso, Associate Curator, finalized the loans of 88 

 works to be assembled from more rhan 55 international 

 lenders, and worked painsrakingly wirh the Exhibits Depart- 

 ment's Edward Schiesser ro reconfigure second-floor galleries 

 to accommodate several room-sized installations, a "Media 

 Arts" theater, and orher custom designs to be integrated into 

 the show. 



Financial support received from numerous entities re- 

 flected a general increase in fund-raising iniriarives at the 

 Hirshhorn. A 1999 sampling includes the Luso-Ametican 

 Developmenr Foundarion (in support of the Juliao Sarmento 

 exhibition); Vivian and Elliot I. Pollock (in supporr of the 

 "Young at Arr" programs); and rhe Canadian Embassy, Pro 

 Helvetia Arts Council of Switzerland, and the Institute for 

 Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany (in sup- 

 port of the "Regarding Beauty" exhibition). The Andy 

 Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., Peter Norton 

 Family Foundation, and Lannan Foundation have repeatedly 

 supporred Hirshhorn projects, as have numerous generous 

 individuals both on and off the Board of Trustees. Benefac- 

 tors for the 2 5th-anniversary fund-raising gala included 

 Merrill Lynch, Janine and J. Tomilson Hill, Robert 

 Lehrman, Mary and John Pappajohn, and Mitchell Rales. 



The museum's Board of Trustees experienced renewed en- 

 ergy and vigor following congressional approval, endorsed by 

 the Regents, to expand from ten to up to 25 members. The 

 Board was also saddened by rhe dearhs of cherished longtime 

 members and former Chairmen Sydney Lewis on March 12 

 in Richmond, Virginia, and Jerome Greene on May 27 in 

 New York. Both individuals received broad recognition for 

 their national work as patrons and collectors. John Pappa- 

 john of Des Moines, Iowa, joined the Board in May, and 

 Anrhony T Podesta of Washington, D.C., became a member 

 of the Committee on Collections. 



Acquisitions this year were highlighred by Are Years 

 What? (for Marianne Moore) , 1967, by American arrist Mark 

 di Suvero (b. 1933), adding new strength to the museum's 

 collection of monumental steel sculpture. Rising diagonally 

 some 40 feet from a street-level section of the Sculpture Gar- 

 den, this red composirion of industrial I-beams — with a 

 suspended, moving V element — epitomizes di Suvero 's gift 

 at communicating human fragiliry in intractable, industrial 

 materials. It was installed on the street-level plot of the 

 Sculpture Garden in mid-August. Among other important 



