Lives: The Ashcan Artists and Their New York," which fea- 

 tured paintings capturing the unbridled energy of New York 

 City at the turn of the century. Elihu Vedder's stunning 

 original illustrations for Omar Khayyam's Rubdiydt from the 

 museum's permanent collection were shown in "Elihu 

 Vedder's Drawings for the Rubdiydt." The museum's newly ac- 

 quired and restored sculpture was the centerpiece of "Lost and 

 Found: Edmonia Lewis's 'Cleopatra.'" Lost for more than a cen- 

 tury, this masterwork by an important 19th-century sculptor 

 of African American and Native American descent, was 

 recently discovered in a salvage yard in Chicago, rescued from 

 continued deterioration by the Historical Society of Forest 

 Park, Illinois, and given to the museum in 1994. A special 

 Web site developed for the exhibition allowed visitors to take 

 a virtual tour of the installation, which included four other 

 works by Lewis. The museum was the largest single lender to 

 "The Art of Thomas Wilmer Dewing" which was organized 

 by The Brooklyn Museum and shown at NMAA from July 19 

 through October 14. This was the first comprehensive exhibi- 

 tion devoted to Dewing, who was widely collected by the 

 museum's major benefactor, John Gellady. "Calico and 

 Chintz: Antique Quilts from the Collection of Patricia S. 

 Smith" showcased 26 rare and never-before-exhibited quilts 

 made before 1840. 



During FY96, the museum published the first four issues 

 of its new quarterly newsletter, dedicated to activities and 

 programs taking place at the museum and its Renwick Gal- 

 lery. From previews of upcoming exhibitions and collection 

 highlights, to a glimpse behind-the-scenes, the newsletter 

 provides a broad view of all museum offerings. 



Thomas Souchall, a specialist in photography of the West, 

 was named the Joshua C. Taylor Research Fellow for 1996. 

 Michael Leja was awarded the Charles C. Eldredge Prize for 

 outstanding scholarship in American Art for his book, Re/ram- 

 ing Abstract Expressionism: Subjectivity and Painting in the 1940s. 



The museum inaugurated a new Director's Circle member- 

 ship program in March. Director's Circle members, compris- 

 ing the museum's highest level of general membership, and 

 special guests enjoyed an event-filled weekend at the museum 

 beginning with a Friday evening dinner and "A Day of Art 

 and Conversation" on the following day. Each annual S1500 

 Director's Circle gift is dedicated to providing financial sup- 

 port for education and outreach programs. Another important 

 membership group, the American Art Forum, celebrated its 

 10th anniversary in May with three days of special visits in 

 Washington to Supreme Court chambers, the Vice President's 

 Residence, the Library of Congress, and private collections. 

 Twelve Art Forum members participated in a public two-part 

 panel discussion, titled "A Morning with Major Collectors of 

 American Art." 



The museum acquired a significant number of new works 

 throughout the year, adding to its permanent collection hold- 

 ings of more than 37,500 paintings, sculpture, graphic art, 

 photographs, and folk art as well as crafts at its Renwick Gal- 

 lery. Key acquisitions include What Stands Betueen the Artist 



and.... 1994, by Eric Fischl; The Ocean is the Dragon's Wor/d. 

 1995, by Hung Liu; Ice Bound Lake Boat, 1924, by Charles 

 Burchfield, a gift of the Charles Burchfield Foundation; an im- 

 portant wood sculpture, Acrobatic Performers. 1932, by Chaim 

 Gross, a gift of the Renee and Chaim Gross Foundation; 

 Camas para Suenos. 1985, by Carmen Lomas Garza; Lake Sum- 

 mer, 1991, by Cynthia Shira, a gift by an anonymous donor and 

 the Franklin Parrasch Gallery; Michael Mazur's Wakeby Night. 

 1983, a gift from Kurt and Kim Butenhoff, Mr. and Mrs. 

 Hugh Halff, Jr., and Judith Ross; Three Streets Doun, 1978, by 

 Wayne Thiebaud; and a major collection of World War I and 

 World War II posters, a gift of Barry and Melissa Vilkin. 



Two long-time patrons of the museum and its Renwick 

 Gallery continued to pledge their support during 1996. The 

 James Renwick Alliance contributed $79,000 to purchase 

 craft objects for the Renwick Gallery permanent collection. 

 Consolidated Natural Gas Company Foundation inaugurated 

 the establishment of an innovative "Partnership in American 

 Art" with the museum in June by pledging $250,000 to sup- 

 port the program goals of the museum's photography depart- 

 ment over the next several years. CNG's support of the major 

 exhibition "American Photographs: The First Century from 

 the Isaacs Collection in the National Museum of American 

 Art," which opens November 22, will be the first benefit of 

 this new partnership. In addition, the recent gift supports the 

 development of Helios (http://www.nmaa.si.edu/Helios), an 

 extensive Web site showcasing the museum's photography col- 

 lection. 



As part of the museum's National Art and Humanities 

 Education Program intended to distribute educational 

 materials to secondary schools across America, a teachers' 

 resource packet on "Latino Art and Culture" was completed 

 and distributed. Among other outreach efforts, the museum 

 hosted thirty K-12 teachers from Nebraska for a week-long 

 workshop about using art delivered online in the classroom. 

 This is the second Nebraska teachers' workshop conducted 

 as part of NMAA's participation in "The Community 

 Discovered," coordinated by the Westside Schools in 

 Omaha. 



The Design and Installation and Education departments 

 crafted the museum's birthday pavilion and special events, 

 respectively, to encourage people of all ages to experience 

 American art as part of the grand I50th-birthday festivities on 

 the Mall in August. Visitors participated in carving sandstone 

 with Chicago's Mr. Imagination (Gregory Warmack); posed 

 with a cardboard rendition of Cappy, the bottle-cap giraffe, a 

 signature folk art work from the museum; and designed and 

 created their own artistic wearable buttons. 



The museum's New Media office continues to win awards 

 for its outstanding efforts in presenting the museum's resour- 

 ces electronically. The February 6, 1996 edition of PC 

 magazine named the NMAA Web site as one of only two art 

 museum sites in its list of "100 Top Web Sites "; Webscout 

 deemed the site a "Way Cool Site" in September. The 

 museum looks to great anticipation to releasing its first-ever 



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