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67-577: The foundation is led by Maxwell L. Anderson , who serves as its president, and a member of its board of trustees. Anderson was previously director of the Dallas Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. The Souls Grown Deep Foundation Collection contains over 1,100 works by more than 160 artists, two-thirds of whom are women. Ranging from large-scale assemblages to works on paper,

134-610: A neoclassical style (as is Pope's other notable building in Washington, D.C., the Jefferson Memorial ). Designed in the form of an elongated H, the building is centered on a domed rotunda modeled on the interior of the Pantheon in Rome. Extending east and west from the rotunda, a pair of skylit sculpture halls provide its main circulation spine. Bright garden courts provide a counterpoint to

201-641: A 100-acre sculpture park as well as a conservation science laboratory, acquired the mid-century modern Miller House and Garden estate, and more than doubled museum attendance to reach some 450,000 visitors annually. Anderson left Indianapolis at the end of 2011 to become the Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art in Dallas, Texas where he served until 2015. His tenure at the Dallas Museum of Art included introducing free general admission,

268-570: A National Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects in 1981. The final addition to the complex is the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden . Completed and opened to the public on May 23, 1999, the location provides an outdoor setting for exhibiting a number of large pieces from the Museum's contemporary sculpture collection. In 2011, an extensive refurbishment and renovation of

335-792: A board member of the National Committee for the History of Art , the National Center for Arts Research, and a trustee of the American Federation of Arts . In 1990, he was decorated with the rank of Commendatore (Knight Commander) in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic and in 2010, he was awarded the French Republic's rank of Chevalier dans l' Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight in

402-604: A disgruntled office seeker, Charles Guiteau , shot President James Garfield (see James A. Garfield assassination ). The station was demolished in 1908 because it did not conform to the McMillan Plan for the Mall. In 1918, temporary war buildings were constructed on the site; these were demolished by 1921 to construct the foundation of the George Washington Memorial Building , which was never completed. The site

469-579: A new gallery for old masters, separate from the Smithsonian. When asked by Abbot, he explained that the project was in the hands of the Trust and that its decisions were partly dependent on "the attitude of the Government towards the gift". In January 1937, Mellon formally offered to create the new Gallery. On his birthday, 24 March 1937, an Act of Congress accepted the collection and building funds (provided through

536-517: A novel loyalty program attracting over 100,000 members, a fifteen-year loan of a significant collection of Islamic art and a program in painting conservation. He served as a board member of the NewCities Foundation beginning in 2011, and stepped into the role of Executive Director in 2015. He relinquished his position in 2017 and rejoined the Foundation's Board of Trustees. In 2016 Anderson

603-467: A private collection of old master paintings and sculptures during World War I . During the late 1920s, Mellon decided to direct his collecting efforts towards the establishment of a new national gallery for the United States. In 1930, partly for tax reasons, Mellon formed the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, which was to be the legal owner of works intended for the gallery. In 1930–1931,

670-531: A seat for an artist on the Board of Trustees, with Chuck Close as its first incumbent. He established the Museum's first conservation program, introduced new media and architecture as collecting and programming areas, established an M.A. program in curatorial studies with Columbia University, and grew attendance to some 670,000 annually. In 2003, Anderson resigned from the Whitney over disagreements with Board leadership about

737-453: A site for art museums worldwide to share video content. Anderson married Jacqueline Buckingham Anderson in 1995. They were briefly divorced in 2013, before announcing their re-marriage three months later. They are now no longer married. They have two children. National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C. , United States, located on

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804-584: A walkway beneath 4th street, called "the Concourse" on the museum's map. In 2008, the National Gallery of Art commissioned American artist Leo Villareal to transform the Concourse into an artistic installation. Multiverse is one of Villareal's largest and most complex light sculpture by light count, featuring approximately 41,000 computer-programmed LED nodes that run through channels along the entire 200 ft (61 m)-long space. The concourse also includes

871-536: Is enclosed by a sculptural space spanning 16,000 sq ft (1,500 m ). The atrium is centered on the same axis that forms the circulation spine for the West Building and is constructed in the same Tennessee marble. However, in 2005 the joints attaching the marble panels to the walls began to show signs of strain, creating a risk that panels might fall onto visitors below. In 2008, NGA officials decided that it had become necessary to remove and reinstall all of

938-595: Is not part of the Smithsonian Institution . Noted directors of the National Gallery have included David E. Finley, Jr. (1938–1956), John Walker (1956–1968), and J. Carter Brown (1968–1993). Earl A. "Rusty" Powell III was named director in 1993. In March 2019 he was succeeded by Kaywin Feldman , past director and president of the Minneapolis Institute of Art . The museum hired Evelyn Carmen Ramos ,

1005-813: The Ackland Art Museum , the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts , the Brooklyn Museum , the Morgan Library & Museum , the Dallas Museum of Art , the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art , the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston , Clark Atlanta University Art Museum, the Minneapolis Institute of Art , the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts , and The Phillips Collection . Forty works by 21 artists were purchased by

1072-525: The COVID-19 pandemic , the National Gallery was largely closed to the public. However, visitors were able to schedule appointments to access the west building in small numbers. The museum comprises two buildings: the West Building (1941) and the East Building (1978), linked by an underground passage. The West Building, composed of pink Tennessee marble , was designed in 1937 by architect John Russell Pope in

1139-685: The Chalice of Abbot Suger of St-Denis and a collection of work by Auguste Rodin and Edgar Degas . Other highlights of the permanent collection include the second of the two original sets of Thomas Cole 's series of paintings titled The Voyage of Life , (the first set is at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in Utica, New York ) and the original version of Watson and the Shark by John Singleton Copley (two other versions are in

1206-563: The Michael C. Carlos Museum in Atlanta, Georgia (1987–1995). While in Atlanta he inaugurated a series of loan projects highlighting unpublished treasures from the storerooms of some of the world's leading museums in London, Paris, Rome, Mexico City, and elsewhere, looking for alternatives to buying antiquities from the illicit trade, expanded the Museum with architect Michael Graves, and greatly enlarged

1273-844: The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Detroit Institute of Arts ). The National Gallery's print collection comprises 75,000 prints, in addition to rare illustrated books. It includes collections of works by Albrecht Dürer , Rembrandt , Giovanni Battista Piranesi , William Blake , Mary Cassatt , Edvard Munch , Jasper Johns , and Robert Rauschenberg . The collection began with 400 prints donated by five collectors in 1941. In 1942, Joseph E. Widener donated his entire collection of nearly 2,000 works. In 1943, Lessing Rosenwald donated his collection of 8,000 old master and modern prints; between 1943 and 1979, he donated almost 14,000 more works. In 2008, Dave and Reba White Williams donated their collection of more than 5,200 American prints. In 2013,

1340-736: The National Gallery of Art in 2020. Exhibitions of acquisitions from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation include Revelations: Art from the African American South (2017-2018) at the de Young Museum in San Francisco; History Refused to Die: Highlights from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation Gift (2018) at The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Cosmologies from the Tree of Life: Art from the African American South (2019) at

1407-849: The National Mall , between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in 1937 for the American people by a joint resolution of the United States Congress . Andrew W. Mellon donated a substantial art collection and funds for construction. The core collection includes major works of art donated by Paul Mellon , Ailsa Mellon Bruce , Lessing J. Rosenwald , Samuel Henry Kress , Rush Harrison Kress , Peter Arrell Browne Widener , Joseph E. Widener , and Chester Dale . The Gallery's collection of paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculpture, medals, and decorative arts traces

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1474-686: The Souls Grown Deep Foundation . Anderson previously served as Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art from 1998 to 2003, director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art from 2006 to 2011, and director of Dallas Museum of Art from 2011 to 2015. The son of Columbia University 's Julian Clarence Levi Professor Quentin Anderson and grandson of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Maxwell Anderson , he

1541-511: The 1970s on much of the remaining land left over from the original congressional action. Andrew Mellon's children, Paul Mellon and Ailsa Mellon Bruce , funded the building. Designed by architect I. M. Pei, the contemporary structure was completed in 1978 and was opened on June 1 of that year by President Jimmy Carter . The new building was built to house the Museum's collection of modern paintings, drawings, sculptures, and prints, as well as study and research centers and offices. The design received

1608-647: The Americas) and groups of works by Titian and Raphael . The collections include paintings by many European masters, including a version of Saint Martin and the Beggar , by El Greco , and works by Matthias Grünewald , Cranach the Elder , Rogier van der Weyden , Albrecht Dürer , Frans Hals , Rembrandt , Johannes Vermeer , Francisco Goya , Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres , and Eugène Delacroix , among others. The collection of sculpture and decorative arts includes such works as

1675-709: The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the High Museum of Art, the Ackland Art Museum, and the New Orleans Museum of Art. He has lectured and published on general issues of museum practice, especially on the ethical collection of antiquities, institutional transparency, free expression, artists' rights, and the use of new technologies. Anderson is a former president of the Association of Art Museum Directors ,

1742-635: The French galleries were undertaken. As part of the celebration of the reopening of this wing, organist Alexander Frey performed 4 sold-out recitals of music of France in one weekend in the French Gallery. The National Gallery of Art is supported through a private-public partnership. The United States federal government provides funds, through annual appropriations, to support the museum's operations and maintenance. All artwork, as well as special programs, are provided through private donations and funds. The museum

1809-776: The Gallery's five best-attended exhibitions in its history. Anderson served as the Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City from 1998 to 2003. While at the Whitney, he initiated the first multinational art purchase, a work by Bill Viola today jointly owned by the Whitney Museum, the Pompidou, and the Tate, to cope with the large scale of many contemporary artworks in variable media, and created

1876-619: The Museum's artistic direction, became a Leadership Fellow at the Yale School of Management 's Chief Executive Leadership Program, and subsequently joined a firm advising cultural institutions on planning and programming. In 2006, Anderson served as the museum director and CEO of the Indianapolis Museum of Art in Indianapolis, Indiana from 2006 to 2011. At the IMA, the museum added over $ 30 million to its endowment through gifts and pledges, opened

1943-450: The NGA purchased from a private French collection Gerard van Honthorst 's 1623 painting, The Concert , which had not been publicly viewed since 1795. After initially displaying the 1.23 by 2.06 m (4.0 by 6.8 ft) The Concert in a special installation in the West Building, the NGA moved the painting to a permanent display in the museum's Dutch and Flemish galleries. Art experts estimated

2010-692: The Order of Arts and Letters). Anderson has long worked in the field of antiquities, serving as an assistant curator in the Department of Greek and Roman Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1982–87, and holding teaching positions in the field of Roman art history at the University of Rome II , Princeton University , and Emory University . At the Michael C. Carlos Museum he negotiated several long-term loans of previously unpublished archaeological material to underscore

2077-510: The South , presented in conjunction with the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and in partnership with the City of Atlanta and the Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University. The subsequent two-volume publication Souls Grown Deep: African American Vernacular Art of the South , remains the most in-depth examination of the movement. In 2014 the Souls Grown Deep Foundation began a multi-year program to transfer

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2144-462: The Tower Galleries would probably house modern art, and the creation of a distinct " Rothko Room" was possible. Beginning in 2011, NGA undertook an $ 85 million restoration of the East Building's façade. The East Building is clad in 3 in (7.6 cm) thick pink marble panels. The panels are held about 2 in (5.1 cm) away from the wall by stainless steel anchors. Gravity holds

2211-588: The Trust made its first major acquisition, 21 paintings from the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg as part of the Soviet sale of Hermitage paintings , including such masterpieces as Raphael 's Alba Madonna , Titian 's Venus with a Mirror , and Jan van Eyck 's Annunciation . In 1929 Mellon had initiated contact with the recently appointed Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution , Charles Greeley Abbot . Mellon

2278-680: The Trust), and approved the construction of a museum on the National Mall. The new gallery was to be effectively self-governing, not controlled by the Smithsonian, but took the old name "National Gallery of Art" while the Smithsonian's gallery would be renamed the "National Collection of Fine Arts" (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum ). The museum stands on the former site of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station , where in 1881

2345-437: The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; Souls Grown Deep: Artists of the African American South (2019) at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and Called to Create: Black Artists of the American South (2022-2023) at the National Gallery of Art. Maxwell L. Anderson Maxwell L. Anderson (born May 1, 1956) is an American art historian , former museum administrator, and non-profit executive, who currently serves as President of

2412-435: The Visual Arts (CASVA). Among the highlights of the East Building in 2012 was an exhibition of Barnett Newman 's The Stations of the Cross series of 14 black and white paintings (1958–66). Newman painted them after he had recovered from a heart attack ; they are usually regarded as the peak of his achievement. The series has also been seen as a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust . The two buildings are connected by

2479-430: The artists of this tradition reflect the rich, symbolic world of the black rural South through highly charged works that address a wide range of revelatory social and political subjects. Among the artists represented are Thornton Dial , Lonnie Holley , Mary T. Smith , Joe Minter , Nellie Mae Rowe , Purvis Young , Emmer Sewell , Ronald Lockett , Joe Light , and the Gees Bend quilters . Souls Grown Deep Foundation

2546-521: The cause of the problem. Although the Gallery began raising private funds to fix the issue, eventually federal funding was used to repair the building. In 2012, the NGA chose a joint venture, Balfour Beatty /Smoot, to complete the repairs. Anodized aluminum anchors replaced the stainless steel ones, and the top corner anchors were moved to the center of the top edge of each stone. The neoprene joints were removed and new colored silicone gaskets installed, and leveling screws rather than mortar used to keep

2613-408: The ceilings of existing galleries and the building's skylights (which was never completed when the building was constructed in 1978) would be renovated into two, 23 ft (7.0 m) high, hexagonal Tower Galleries. The galleries would have a combined 12,260 sq ft (1,139 m ) of space and will be lit by skylights . A rooftop sculpture garden would also be added. NGA officials said that

2680-418: The center of its design, which arching pathways of granite and crushed stone complement. (The pool becomes an ice-skating rink during the winter.) The sculptures exhibited in the surrounding landscaped area include pieces by Marc Chagall , David Smith , Mark Di Suvero , Roy Lichtenstein , Sol LeWitt , Tony Smith , Roxy Paine , Joan Miró , Louise Bourgeois , and Hector Guimard . The NGA's West Building

2747-408: The creation of the National Gallery encouraged the donation of other substantial art collections by a number of private donors. Founding benefactors included such individuals as Paul Mellon , Samuel H. Kress , Rush H. Kress , Ailsa Mellon Bruce , Chester Dale , Joseph Widener , Lessing J. Rosenwald and Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch . The Gallery's East Building was constructed in

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2814-425: The design of the East Building, by architect I. M. Pei , is geometrical, dividing the trapezoidal shape of the site into two triangles: one contains public galleries, and the other houses a library, offices, and a study center. The triangles establish a motif that is echoed throughout the building, realized in every dimension. The East Building's central feature is a high atrium designed as an open interior court that

2881-513: The development of Western art from the Middle Ages to the present, including the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the Americas and the largest mobile created by Alexander Calder . The Gallery's campus includes the original neoclassical West Building designed by John Russell Pope , which is linked underground to the modernist East Building, designed by I. M. Pei , and is next to the 6.1-acre (25,000 m ) Sculpture Garden . The Gallery often presents temporary special exhibitions spanning

2948-447: The façade, infiltration of moisture, and shrinkage of the building's structural concrete by 2 in (5.1 cm) over time caused extensive damage to the façade. In 2005, regular maintenance showed that some panels were cracked or significantly damaged, while others leaned by more than 1 in (2.5 cm) out from the building (threatening to fall). The NGA hired the structural engineering firm Robert Silman Associates to determine

3015-404: The first woman and the first person of color to be the chief curatorial and conservation officer, in 2021. The president of the museum is billionaire businessman Mitchell Rales and its chairperson is Sharon Rockefeller . Entry to both buildings of the National Gallery of Art is free of charge. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. It is closed on December 25 and January 1. During

3082-583: The food court and a gift shop. The final element of the National Gallery of Art complex, the Sculpture Garden was completed in 1999 after more than 30 years of planning. To the west of the West Building, on the opposite side of Seventh Street , the 6.1 acres (2.5 ha) Sculpture Garden was designed by landscape architect Laurie Olin as an outdoor gallery for monumental modern sculpture. The Sculpture Garden contains plantings of Native American species of canopy and flowering trees, shrubs, ground covers, and perennials. A circular reflecting pool and fountain form

3149-768: The foundation is particularly strong in works dating from the death of Martin Luther King Jr. to the end of the twentieth century. The roots of these works can be traced to slave cemeteries and secluded woods. Following the Civil War, when the southern agrarian economy collapsed and rural African American sharecroppers and tenant farmers were forced to migrate for survival to major population centers—particularly in and around Birmingham, Alabama, where iron and steel production created jobs—a new and more public language of quilts, funerary, and yard arts arose. Beyond painting, sculpture, assemblage, drawing, and textile-making, this tradition also included music, dance, oral literature, informal theater, culinary arts, and more. Much like jazz musicians,

3216-549: The interior mechanical plant of the structure, and $ 30 million to create new exhibition space. Because the angular interior space of the East Building made it impossible to close off galleries, the renovation required all but the atrium and offices to close by December 2013. The structure remained closed for three years. The architectural firm of Hartman-Cox oversaw both aspects of the renovation. A group of benefactors — which included Victoria and Roger Sant, Mitchell and Emily Rales , and David Rubenstein — privately financed

3283-407: The long main axis of the building. The West Building has an extensive collection of paintings and sculptures by European masters from the medieval period through the late 19th century, as well as pre-20th century works by American artists. Highlights of the collection include paintings by Jan Vermeer , Rembrandt van Rijn , Claude Monet , Vincent van Gogh , and Leonardo da Vinci . In contrast,

3350-431: The majority of works in its care to the permanent collections of leading American and international art museums. To date, this program has led to the acquisition of over 350 works by more than 100 artists from the foundation's collection by 17 museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art , the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco , the High Museum of Art , the New Orleans Museum of Art , the Philadelphia Museum of Art ,

3417-446: The most compelling political and social issues of our time. The majority of the works and ephemeral documents held by the foundation were compiled by Arnett and his sons over three decades, with the goal of creating a collection that could serve as a record and legacy of this culture. By the mid-1990s Arnett's efforts culminated in an ambitious survey exhibition of this tradition titled Souls Grown Deep: African American Vernacular Art of

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3484-567: The panel in the bottom anchors (which are placed at each corner), while "button head" anchors (stainless steel posts with large, flat heads) at the top corners keep the panel upright. Mortar was used on the gravity anchors to level the stones. Joints of flexible colored neoprene were placed between the panels. This system was designed to allow each panel to hang independent of its neighbors, and NGA officials say they are not aware of any other panel system like it. However, many panels were accidentally mortared together. Seasonal heating and cooling of

3551-444: The panels square. Work began in November 2011, and originally was scheduled to end in 2014. By February 2012, however, the contractor said work on the façade would end in late 2013, and site restoration would take place in 2014. The East Building remained open throughout the project. In March 2013, the National Gallery of Art announced a $ 68.4 million renovation to the East Building. This included $ 38.4 million to refurbish

3618-448: The panels. The renovation was completed in 2016. The East Building focuses on modern and contemporary art , with a collection including works by Pablo Picasso , Henri Matisse , Jackson Pollock , Andy Warhol , Roy Lichtenstein , Alexander Calder , a 1977 mural by Robert Motherwell and works by many other artists. The East Building also contains the main offices of the NGA and a large research facility, Center for Advanced Study in

3685-431: The permanent collection date from the Middle Ages to the present. The Italian Renaissance collection includes two panels from Duccio 's Maesta , the tondo of the Adoration of the Magi by Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi , a Botticelli work on the same subject, Giorgione 's Allendale Nativity , Giovanni Bellini 's The Feast of the Gods , Ginevra de' Benci (the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in

3752-531: The permanent collection. Anderson served as the director of Toronto's Art Gallery of Ontario from 1995 to 1998, where he led the creation of a national exhibition indemnity program, restituted five 17th-century Italian drawings to the Berlin State Museums, which had been looted during the Second World War, initiated the illustrated web-based publication of the museum's collections, made significant acquisitions of European and Canadian art, and organized numerous exhibitions including The Courtauld Collection , one of

3819-466: The quilt makers of Gee's Bend. Ranging from large-scale assemblages to works on paper, the Foundation is particularly strong in works dating from the death of Martin Luther King to the end of the twentieth century. Anderson introduced a multi-year program to transfer the majority of the Foundation's works in its care to the permanent collections of leading American and international art museums, which has led to acquisitions by multiple institutions, including

3886-595: The renovation. The Washington Post reported that the donation was one of the largest the NGA had received in a decade. NGA staff said that they would use the closure to conserve artwork, plan purchases, and develop exhibitions. Plans for renovating conservation, construction, exhibition prep, groundskeeping, office, storage, and other internal facilities were also ready, but would not be implemented for many years. The NGA's collection galleries and Sculpture Garden display European and American paintings, sculpture, works on paper, photographs, and decorative arts. Paintings in

3953-534: The value of provenance. In 2007, while director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, he recognized 1970 as a "bright line" when acquiring ancient art. He advocated changes in the acquisitions policies of the Association of Art Museum Directors as founding chair of its Task Force on Archaeological Materials & Ancient Art beginning in 2003, culminating in its 2008 adoption of a bright line of 1970 as well. In December 2016 Oxford University Press published his book "Antiquities: What Everyone Needs to Know" Anderson

4020-475: The world and the history of art. It is one of the largest museums in North America. Attendance rose to nearly 3.3 million visitors in 2022, making it first among U.S. art museums, and third on the list of most-visited museums in the United States . Of the top three art museums in the United States by annual visitors, it is the only one that has no admission fee. Andrew W. Mellon , Pittsburgh banker and Treasury Secretary from 1921 until 1932, began gathering

4087-466: Was appointed in 1931 as a Commissioner of the Institution's National Gallery of Art. When the director of the Gallery retired, Mellon asked Abbot not to appoint a successor, as he proposed to endow a new building with funds for expansion of the collections. However, Mellon's trial for tax evasion, centering on the Trust and the Hermitage paintings, caused the plan to be modified. In 1935, Mellon announced in The Washington Star his intention to establish

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4154-571: Was appointed president of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, an Atlanta-based collection of African American art from the Southeast. Souls Grown Deep Foundation is the only non-profit organization dedicated to documenting, preserving, exhibiting and promoting the work of contemporary African American artists from the American South. A vital resource for this genre, the Foundation's holdings are extensive, with some 1,200 works by more than 160 artists—among them Thornton Dial, Lonnie Holley, Joe Minter, Purvis Young, Ronald Lockett, Mary T. Smith, Joe Light , and

4221-507: Was born in 1956 in New York City and raised there, attending Collegiate School (New York) and graduating from The Dalton School . He received a B.A. from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire in 1977 with highest distinction in Art History, and M.A. (1978) and Ph.D. (1981) degrees in the history of Art from Harvard University . Anderson worked as a curatorial assistant at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and subsequently as assistant curator from 1981–87, and became director of

4288-475: Was founded in 2010, but traces its roots to the mid-1980s, when William S. Arnett , an art historian and collector, began to collect the artworks of largely undiscovered African American artists across nine southeastern states. Developed outside of the structure of schools, galleries, and museums, these rich yet largely unknown African American visual art traditions present a distinct post–Civil Rights phenomenon that offers powerful insight and fresh perspectives into

4355-459: Was one of the earliest proponents of using new media technologies to advance public interest in art. As Liaison for Information Technology of the AAMD and a Member of the Advisory Council of the Getty Art History Information Program (AHIP) he helped found the Art Museum Image Consortium (AMICO) in 1997 and the Art Museum Network in 1999. In 2008, he modeled museum transparency with the award-winning IMA Dashboard and in 2009, he launched ArtBabble ,

4422-423: Was renovated from 2007 to 2009. Although some galleries closed for periods of time, others remained open. After congressional testimony that the East Building suffered from "systematic structural failures", NGA adopted a Master Renovations Plan in 1999. This plan established the timeline for closing the building, and planned for the renovation of the electronic security systems, elevators, and HVAC . Space between

4489-477: Was then reassigned to the new National Gallery of Art. Designed by architect John Russell Pope , the new structure was completed and accepted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on behalf of the American people on March 17, 1941. At the time of its inception it was the largest marble structure in the world. Neither Mellon nor Pope lived to see the museum completed; both died in late August 1937, only two months after excavation had begun. As anticipated by Mellon,

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