vieweesincludestaffand trustees including those who have 

 served the museum in the past. 



Collecting 



The Director and Southeast Regional collector, Liza Kirwin 

 traveled to San Antonio, Texas, where they met with artists 

 and arts administrators to pursue the Archives' longstanding 

 activity documenting Mexican American and Latino art. The 

 Archives is currently preparing a guide to Latino holdings. 



In Memorium 



William E. (Bill) Woolfenden, former Director and Director 

 Emeritus of the Archives of American Art died July 19 in 

 New Haven, Connecticut. He was 77. Mr. Woolfenden was 

 Director of the Archives for 19 years and was involved with its 

 programs from its inception in 1954. He was responsible for 

 its growth into the nation's largest repository for documenta- 

 tion of the visual arts and culture of the United States. 



Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Freer 

 Gallery of Art 



Milo C. Beach, Director 



With both the Sackler and Freer buildings open, in full opera- 

 tion and physically linked for more than two years, the galler- 

 ies began two major evaluative efforts. The first, a 12-month 

 visitor study, was aimed at learning more about the galleries' 

 public — who they are and what they hope to gain from their 

 museum experience. Working with the Smithsonian's Institu- 

 tional Studies Office and a four-member gallery steering com- 

 mittee, professional interviewers spoke to a random sampling 

 of visitors over a period of seven days each month from Octo- 

 ber 1994 through September 1995. 



Recognizing a related need to refine the galleries' mis- 

 sion statement and set programmatic priorities in a time of 

 diminishing resources, the administration hired a strategic 

 planning firm to help guide the staff and visiting commit- 

 tees in identifying key issues and operating principles, 

 while helping them to set goals, objectives, and tasks for 

 the next five years. A series of workshops and retreats 

 resulted in a newly drafted mission statement. Staff in 

 individual departments are now engaged in discussions as 

 to how departmental goals can further the achievement of 

 the mission. 



A project to preserve some of the world's great art was initi- 

 ated by the government of Japan and private concerns in 1991, 

 and the Freer Gallery was the first institution in the United 

 States to benefit from this effort. By the time the project is 

 completed early in 1996, 40 of the gallery's masterpieces of 

 Japanese painting, dating from the I2th through the 19th cen- 



tury, will have been stabilized, cleaned, and remounted in the 

 traditional format by specialists in Japan. 



The Sackler Gallery exhibition "A Basketmaker in Rural 

 Japan" presented the complete repertoire of baskets made by 

 Hiroshima Kazuo (b. 1915) for use in the home, field, and 

 stream during his 64-year career as a bamboo craftsman. The 

 exhibition was the first in the United States to focus on 

 Japanese baskets as objects of use. It exemplified the gallery's 

 efforts to identify works of art with their makers and place 

 them within a cultural context. 



The Freer joined the National Gallery of Art and the National 

 Portrait Gallery in presenting a full range of the art of American 

 expatriate James McNeill Whistler. "Whistler and Japan" was 

 the first exhibition at the Freer to focus specifically on the rela- 

 tionship between the Japanese and American painting collec- 

 tions, and it examined Whistler's interest in Japanese art and 

 how it affected his work. The Freer Gallery also cosponsored a 

 Whistler Scholars' Colloquium with the Centre for Whistler 

 Studies, University of Glasgow. The colloquium was held at the 

 Freer, with an opening reception at the British Embassy. 



During a one-day Sackler Gallery symposium, "Saints, 

 Sufis, and Siddhas," six scholars of art history and religion pre- 

 sented papers examining the significance of the holy person- 

 age, an overarching theme in the South Asian artistic idiom. 

 Sessions devoted to Hindu, Islamic, and Buddhist "saints" 

 were followed by an open discussion. The symposium was 

 made possible by the generosity of Mrs. Arthur M. Sackler. 



The Sackler and Freer family program ImaginAsia benefited 

 by the addition of a part-time staff member, who expanded these 

 popular activities to complement current exhibitions and devel- 

 oped a variety of related hands-on activities. The public re- 

 sponded enthusiastically and in great numbers to ImaginAsia's 

 increased frequency and changing themes. 



Since the Freer Gallery of Art reopened following renova- 

 tion in 1993, concerts of Asian music and Western chamber 

 music have drawn audiences of music lovers to the grassy 

 plaza at the gallery's north entrance and to the Eugene and 

 Agnes E. Meyer Auditorium inside. Concerts this year fea- 

 tured the music of Partha Chatteriee on the lute-like sitar, ac- 

 companied by Samir Chatterjee on the tab/a. or drums; the 

 music of Afghanistan, North India, and Pakistan as per- 

 formed by Wali Ahmad Raoufi and Broto Roy; the Gudecha 

 brothers; and Shiv Kumar Sharma with Shafaat Ahmed Khan. 

 The Bill and Mary Meyer Concert Series, now in its third 

 year, included six programs of chamber music by such artists 

 as Musicians from Marlboro, Pamela Frank, and the Takacs 

 Quartet. A highlight of the concert by the Shanghai Quartet 

 was the Washington, DC, premiere of "Song of the Ch'in," 

 by the contemporary Chinese composer Zhou Long. The Bill 

 and Mary Meyer Concert Series has been established in mem- 

 ory of Dr. Eugene Meyer III and Mary Adelaide Bradley 

 Meyer. It is generously supported by The Island Fund in the 

 New York community Trust and Elizabeth E. Meyer. 



The Sackler Gallery sponsored six tree public film series fea- 

 turing recent and classic works from China, Taiwan, Hong 



57 



