1989 ANNUAL REPORT 1989 Annual Report National Gallery* of Art Copyright © 1990. Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. 20565 This publication was produced by the Editors Office, National Gallery of Art Edited by Tarn L. Curry Designed by Susan Lehmann, Washington, D.C. Printed by Schneidereith & Sons, Baltimore, Maryland The type is Bodoni Book, set by BG Composition, Baltimore, Maryland Photo credits: Dean Beasom, pp. 20-24, 32, 50, 52, 55, 65, 72, 76, 79, 84, 93 Dennis Brack, Black Star, pp. 17, 34, 43, 48, 61, 74, 123 Kathleen Buckalew, pp. 2-3, 12-14, 37, 45 Richard Carafelli, p. 59 Philip Charles, pp. 30, 75, 78, 106 Jose Naranjo, pp. 6, 8, 10, 11, 18, 27, 28, 42,47,81,87, 96, 98, 116 James Pipkin, cover William Wilson, pp. 13, 14, 36, 86, 89, 136 ISBN 0-89468-146-X Pages 2-3: Exhibition banners with Japanese heraldic designs for Japan: The Shaping of Daimyo Culture, and Alexander Calder's Untitled mobile Contents President's Preface 7 External Affairs Director's Report 9 Development 77 Art Programs Corporate Relations 78 Press and Public Information 80 Acquisitions 19 Special Events 81 Renaissance Painting 25 Visitor Services 82 Baroque Painting 25 Horticulture 82 American Painting 26 Music at the Gallery 82 Modern Painting 27 Twentieth-Century Art 29 Center for Advanced Study Sculpture and Decorative Arts 29 in the Visual Arts 85 Prints and Drawings 30 Staff Activities and Publications Exhibitions 33 Design and Installation 35 Financial Reports 9 9 Lenders 38 Trustees and Staff 109 Conservation 42 Records and Loans 48 Donors 117 Changes of Attribution 51 Loans to Exhibitions 54 Education 59 Library 64 Photographic Archives 67 Editors Office 68 Photographic Services 69 Gallery Archives 70 Administration Security 73 Publication Sales 73 Gallery Architect 74 Facilities Management 75 Personnel 75 Procurement and Supply 75 President's Preface In a bold reaffirmation of the vitality of Lessing J. Rosenwald in December. We philanthropy in America, the National also noted with regret the deaths of Gallery's fiscal year ending 30 September Trustee Emeritus Carlisle Humelsine in 1989 was marked by magnificent gifts. January, and Robert Amory, Jr., retired A major bequest of art from the Taft Secretary - General Counsel, in April. Schreiber family and a pledge of Van The enhancement of the collections re- Gogh's Roses from Mrs. W. Averell Harri- mains a priority of the Board of Trustees, man, as well as gifts of acquisition funds and I am pleased to report that the Pa- from the Honorable and Mrs. Walter H. trons' Permanent Fund, the income of Annenberg and the Morris and Gwen- which is dedicated exclusively to the pur- dolyn Cafritz Foundation, greatly chase of works of art, supported several strengthen our national collection. key acquisitions during the year. The Public funds made possible the daily Fund had a market value of $71.9 million operations of the Gallery, and in a time at the close of the fiscal year. In March of fiscal retrenchment my fellow Trustees 1989 Sound Shore Management, Inc., and I are especially gratified by continu- joined First Manhattan Capital Manage- ing congressional support. The 1989 fis- ment and Scudder, Stevens & Clark as cal year operating budget was $50.4 mil- part of the investment advisory team that lion, an increase of $3.6 million over the manages the Gallery's portfolio of assets. previous year, some 80 percent of which The effectiveness of collective patron- came as federal appropriations. age was also powerfully evidenced by the I have been greatly assisted in the exe- contributions the Gallery's support groups cution of my duties as President by meet- made to the collections and special pro- ing monthly with the Director and other grams. The impact of the Collectors Com- executive officers to discuss the ongoing mittee, a group of individuals from across business and operations of the Gallery. the country who contribute funds for the Franklin D. Murphy was reelected as a acquisition of twentieth-century art, came General Trustee and continues as Chair- into dramatic focus during the tenth anni- man of the Board of Trustees. Alexander versary of the East Building. The Com- M. Laughlin, who remains a General mittee has been guided by Ruth Carter Trustee, was succeeded as chairman of Stevenson since its inception, and Edwin the Trustees' Council by John C. White- L. Cox, from Dallas, Texas, joined her head. Lois de Menil remains Council vice this year as co-chairman. chairman. During the year we were de- The Circle of the National Gallery of lighted to welcome Judith Laughlin from Art also acquired works of art for the col- New York City, Robert M. Bass from Fort lections during the year, and supported Worth, Texas, and Richard Kirstein, from film production, music, and conservation. Chevy Chase, Maryland, to the Trustees' Pablo Picasso, Harlequin Musician, 1940, Given in This national membership group, devoted loving memory of her husband, Taft Schreiber, by Council. to realizing projects for which there are Rita Schreiber, 1989.31.2 (detail) We were saddened by the death of Mrs. no public funds, is led by Katharine 7 r — 4V , X [31 . .. • . SwtK'f.v - i J*. C Vincent van Gogh, Roses, 1890, Partial and even- Graham and Robert H. Smith. Members Director and the External Affairs Officer tual gift of Mrs. W. Averell Harriman in honor of the contributed $473,000 for Gallery pro- and reporting to the Director, is coordi- Fiftieth Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art grams in fiscal year 1989, an increase of nating the anniversary campaign. (detail) more than 25 percent in three years. While generously providing for the care Looking ahead to the Gallery's 50th and safekeeping of our national art collec- anniversary in 1991, I am delighted to tion, including operational costs for our report that gifts and pledges to the 50th conservation department, the Gallery's Anniversary Gift Committee made this federal appropriations do not support year have brought us past the halfway training and internship opportunities. To mark toward our goal of $5 million. Mem- address this basic need, the Andrew W. bers of this Committee, whose names ap- Mellon Foundation awarded the Gallery a pear on page 117, are contributing funds $ 1 million challenge grant to create a to purchase a major work of art as an an- core endowment for conservation training niversary gift. The Gift Committee is programs. We were gratified by a major chaired by Trustee Robert H. Smith. grant from the Charles E. Culpeper Foun- Gifts in kind, most notably that of Mrs. dation in response to this challenge. Harriman, also continue to be made in Our deep thanks go to these and the honor of the Gallery's fiftieth anniversary, many other donors to the Gallery this and will be exhibited in a special exhibi- year, of funds, art, or volunteer services. tion in 1991, celebrating the great tradi- tion of philanthropy in America. A steer- ing committee made up of curatorial and John R. Stevenson development staff, headed by the Deputy President Director's Report In this, the first annual report to appear Conservation efforts germane to the in the new decade, we have decided to maintenance of the collection continued change the format somewhat in the inter- simultaneously with this support for the ests of legibility and compression. systematic catalogue. In addition to mak- I will not be reporting on the year in ing progress on several large ongoing chronological fashion, as I have for some projects, painting conservators this year time, for the Gallery's activities have be- completed twenty-two major conservation come so complex that one inevitably treatments. Among them, two important leaves out much in attempting to be inclu- seventeenth-century Spanish paintings sive. Therefore, this year, this report will were cleaned. Conservators painstakingly present a brief overview of the year's removed layers of darkened varnish from main activities, and readers are encour- El Greco's Saint Jerome and Velazquez's aged to turn to individual departmental The Needlewoman, giving the twentieth- reports for a fuller discussion of the Gal- century viewer access to the masterful lery's principal functions. underpainting and compelling brushwork In fiscal 1989 the National Gallery re- characteristic of each artist's style. An- ceived more than six million visits, a grati- other welcome achievement was the re- fying number during a year marked by a joining of two fifteenth-century Sienese decline generally in Washington tourism. panels by Francesco di Giorgio. At least It continued also to serve a global audi- 150 years ago the painter's Nativity was ence of many tens of millions who, cut into two parts. The Metropolitan Mu- through film, television, slides, and our seum of Art eventually came to own the audiovisual and educational materials, primary image of the Nativity, and the came into contact with works of art in the Gallery acquired the lunette, God the Fa- Gallery's care. ther Surrounded by Angels and Cherubim, The core of the National Gallery is un- given by the Samuel H. Kress Collection. questionably its permanent collection, Working for the first time with the Metro- and considerable energy on the part of politan's painting conservation depart- the staff is directed to the presentation, ment, it was possible to restore the panel research, physical care, and augmenta- to its original visual and iconographic tion of the Gallery's holdings. The ambi- complexity.