THE NEW FREER ART GALLERY IN 
WASHINGTON. 
HEN Mr. Charles L. Freer sold to the United 
States Government for one dollar in 1906 art 
collections valued at many millions, and added 
more than another million to provide a suitable building 
for its installation and maintenance, he placed its direc¬ 
tion under the Smithsonian Institution at Washington. 
In addition to magnificent specimens of Oriental art, the 
Freer Collection includes the donor’s “Chosen Ameri¬ 
cans,” Whistler being the first, represented by 1,200 
examples in oil, water color, pastel, etching, lithograph, 
and that masterpiece of Victorian decoration, the 
famous “Peacock Room.” Other Americans included 
are Abbott Thayer, Thomas Dewing, Dwight Tryon, 
Metcalf, Twachtman, Murphy and Melchers. 
This new Museum at Washington will be a tremendous 
spur to an awakened appreciation of both Eastern and 
Western art in America, and it is quite conceivable that it 
may lead our Government, through its congressmen and 
senators, to look with favor upon suitable appropriations, 
as in other countries, to foster and encourage the ac¬ 
quirement and exhibition of masterpieces, both American 
and foreign. Should this be the case, Mr. Freer will 
have accomplished for us Americans more than the mere 
giving of a rare art collection to the country, and future 
generations will hail him, as the British do Lord Elgin, 
as the true American prophet of Art. 
Mr. F reer’s life was typical of the romantic American 
rise to success. Born in Kingston, N. Y., in 1856, he 
began life as a time-keeper on the Eel River railroad. 
After various vicissitudes of fortune, he acquired abun¬ 
dant means as a manufacturer of railway cars, and in his 
later years enjoyed ample leisure for the pursuit and 
gratification of his artistic tastes. 
The new Freer Art Gallery adjoins the Smithsonian 
Institution, of which foundation it becomes a part. 
