Freer and Sackler Galleries of Srt Freer and Sackler Gallery of Art in Washington Dc

Art museum in Washington, D.C.

Freer Gallery of Art

Established	1923
Location	1050 Independence Artery Washington, D.C.
Coordinates	38°53′17″N 77°01′39″W  /  38.888135°N 77.02739°Due west  / 38.888135; -77.02739 Coordinates: 38°53′17″N 77°01′39″W  /  38.888135°North 77.02739°West  / 38.888135; -77.02739
Director	Hunt F. Robinson
Public transit access	Smithsonian
Website	www.asia.si.edu
Freer Gallery Of Fine art
U.South. National Register of Historic Places
U.South. National Celebrated Landmark
Front end entrance to the Freer Gallery of Art
Congenital	1923
Builder	Platt, Charles A.
Architectural fashion	Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals, Florentine Renaissance
NRHP referenceNo.	69000295[one]
Added to NRHP	June 23, 1969

The Freer Gallery of Art is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. focusing on Asian fine art. The Freer and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery together form the Smithsonian's national museums of Asian art in the United States. The Freer and Sackler galleries house the largest Asian fine art research library in the state and contain art from East Asia, Due south Asia, Southeast Asia, the Islamic earth, the ancient Near E, and ancient Egypt, as well as a significant drove of American fine art.

The gallery is located on the southward side of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., face-to-face with the Sackler Gallery. The museum is open 364 days a year (beingness closed on Christmas), and is administered by a single staff with the Sackler Gallery. The galleries were among the most visited fine art museums in the world.

The Freer houses over 26,000 objects spanning 6,000 years of history from the Neolithic to modern eras. The collections include ancient Egyptian rock sculpture and wooden objects, aboriginal Near Eastern ceramics and metalware, Chinese paintings and ceramics, Korean pottery and porcelain, Japanese folding screens, Western farsi manuscripts, and Buddhist sculpture. In addition to Asian art, the Freer also contains the famous Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room (better known as The Peacock Room) by American creative person James McNeill Whistler which serves equally the centerpiece to the Freer's American art drove.

The museum offers free tours to the public and presents a full schedule events for the public including films, lectures, symposia, concerts, performances, and discussions. Over eleven,000 objects from the Freer|Sackler collections are fully searchable and available online.^[2] The Freer was also featured in the Google Art Projection, which offers online viewers close-up views of selected items from the Freer.^[three]

History [edit]

Entrance to the Freer Gallery of Art

Founding [edit]

The gallery was founded by Detroit railroad-car manufacturer and cocky-taught connoisseur Charles Lang Freer. He owned the largest drove of works past American creative person James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) and became a patron and friend of the famously irascible creative person. Whistler made information technology very clear to Freer that if he helped him to build the premier Whistler collection, then that drove would have to be displayed in a city where tourists went.^[4]

In 1908, Charles Moore, a former aide to Michigan U.s. Senator, James McMillin and the chairman of the United states Commission of Fine Arts, moved from Washington, D.C., to Detroit. Moore became friends with Freer, who was director of the Michigan Car Company, and persuaded Freer to permanently exhibit his 8,000-slice collection of Oriental art in Washington, D.C. Before and then, Freer informally proposed to President Theodore Roosevelt that he give to the nation his art collection, funds to construct a building, and an endowment fund to provide for the study and acquisition of "very fine examples of Oriental, Egyptian, and Near Eastern fine arts."^[5]

The Freer gift was accepted on behalf of the government by the Smithsonian Board of Regents in 1906. Freer's will, however, independent certain requirements that only objects from the permanent collection could be exhibited in the gallery, and that none of the art could be exhibited elsewhere. Freer felt strongly that all of the museum's property should be readily accessible to scholars at all times. In addition, Freer'south bequest to the Smithsonian came with the proviso that he would execute total curatorial control over the collection until his death. The Smithsonian initially hesitated at the requirements just the intercession of President Theodore Roosevelt allowed for the project to keep. The Freer Gallery possesses an autographed letter from Roosevelt inviting Freer to visit him at the White House, reflecting the personal interest Roosevelt showed in the development of the museum. Freer died before the art gallery was completed.^{[ citation needed ]}

Construction and architecture [edit]

Construction of the gallery began in 1916 and was completed in 1921, later on a delay due to World War I.^[6] On May 9, 1923, the Freer Gallery of Art was opened to the public. Designed by American architect and landscape planner Charles A. Platt, the Freer is an Italian Renaissance-fashion building inspired by Freer'due south visits to palazzos in Italy.^[7] It is reported that in a coming together with builder Charles Platt at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, Freer jotted down his ideas for a classical, well-proportioned edifice on a napkin.^[8] The gallery is constructed primarily of granite: the outside of the Freer is pink granite quarried in Milford, Massachusetts, the courtyard has a carnelian granite fountain and walls of unpolished Tennessee white marble. The gallery'due south interior walls are Indiana limestone, and the floors are polished Tennessee marble.^{[ citation needed ]}

A major renovation of the building, which culminated in a grand reopening in 1993, profoundly expanded storage and exhibition space by connecting the Freer and the Arthur 1000. Sackler Gallery. With the addition of the connecting gallery, the Freer has 39,039 square feet (iii,626.8 g²) of public space. The original structure designed by Platt remains intact, including the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Auditorium which serves every bit the venue for many public programs.^{[ citation needed ]}

Current [edit]

Later on opening in 1923, the Freer served equally the Smithsonian'south first museum defended to the fine arts.^[9] The Freer was besides the outset Smithsonian museum created from a private collector's bequest. Through the years, the collections have grown through gifts and purchases to almost triple the size of Freer'due south original donation: nearly 18,000 works of Asian art have been added since Freer's death in 1919.^{[ citation needed ]}

The Freer is now connected by an underground exhibition space to the neighboring Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Although their collections are stored and exhibited separately, the 2 museums share a director, assistants, and staff. The Freer closed for extensive renovations in January 2016 and reopened in October 2017.^[x]

Exhibitions [edit]

Because one of the main weather condition of Charles Lang Freer donation stated that simply items from his collection may be exhibited at the gallery, the Freer does not borrow from or lend out items to other institutions. Notwithstanding, due to the 26,000 objects in the gallery'due south collections, they are still able to nowadays exhibitions internationally recognized for both depth and quality.

The Freer also has a number of rotating/temporary exhibits.

American fine art at the Freer [edit]

The Peacock Room by Whistler

Freer began collecting American art in the 1880s.^[8] In 1890, later meeting James Abbott McNeill Whistler, an American artist influenced by Japanese prints and Chinese ceramics, Freer began to expand his collections to include Asian art. He maintained his interest in American fine art, however, amassing a drove of over 1,300 works past Whistler, which is considered the world'due south finest.^{[ commendation needed ]}

One of the nigh well-known exhibits at the Freer is The Peacock Room, an opulent London dining room painted by Whistler in 1876–77. The room was designed for British aircraft magnate F.R. Leyland^[11] and is lavishly decorated with green and aureate peacock motifs. Purchased past Freer in 1904 and installed in the Freer Gallery later his death, The Peacock Room is on permanent display.^{[ commendation needed ]}

The Freer also has works by Thomas Dewing (1851–1938), Dwight Tryon (1849–1925), Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849–1921), Childe Hassam (1859–1935), Winslow Homer (1836–1910), Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907), Willard Metcalf (1858–1925), John Vocalizer Sargent (1856–1925), and John Twachtman (1853–1902).^[12]

F|South Online [edit]

The Freer|Sackler provides several online resources for exploring the fine art and culture of Asia and its American fine art collections. Likewise the collections objects viewable online, thousands of photographs, archeological diaries, maps, and archaeological squeezes (impressions of carvings) take been digitized and are used past researchers from around the world.

F|S Archives and Library [edit]

This earthenware dish from ninth century Abbasid, Republic of iraq is i of the many artifacts exhibited at the Freer Gallery.

The Freer Sackler Archives^[13] houses over 120 important manuscripts collections relevant to the study of America's encounter with Asian fine art and culture. The core collection is the personal papers of gallery founder Charles Lang Freer, which includes his purchase records, diaries, and personal correspondence with public figures such as artists, dealers and collectors. Freer'southward all-encompassing correspondence with James McNeill Whistler forms one of the largest sources of primary documents about the American artist. Other significant collections in the Archives includes the papers (notebooks, letters, photography, squeezes) and personal objects of the German archeologist Ernst Herzfeld (1879–1946), documenting his enquiry at Samarra, Persepolis and Pasargadae. The papers of Carl Whiting Bishop^[xiv] Dwight William Tryon, Myron Bement Smith,^[15] Benjamin March^[16] and Henri Vever^[17] are also located at the Athenaeum. The Archives also holds over 125,000 photographs of Asia dating from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Highlights of photographic holdings include the Henry and Nancy Rosin Collection of 19th century photography of Japan,^[18] the 1903-1904 photographs of the Chinese Empress Dowager Cixi, and photographs of Iran by Antoin Sevruguin.^[19]

The Freer|Sackler Library is the largest Asian art research library in the United States. Open to the public 5 days a week (except federal holidays) without appointment, the library collection consists of more than than 86,000 volumes, including almost two,000 rare books. Half the volumes are written and catalogued in Asian languages. Originating from the collection of four thousand monographs, journal issues, offprints, and sales catalogues that Charles Lang Freer donated to the Smithsonian Establishment as part of his gift to the nation, the F|S Library maintains the highest standards for collecting materials an active program of purchases, gifts, and exchanges.^{[ citation needed ]}

In July 1987 the library moved to its new home in the Arthur One thousand. Sackler Gallery. Today information technology supports activities of both museums, such as collection evolution, exhibition planning, publications, and other scholarly and educational projects. Its published and unpublished resources—in the fields of Asian fine art and archaeology, conservation, painting, sculpture, architecture, drawings, prints, manuscripts, books, and photography—are available to museum staff, outside researchers, and the visiting public.^{[ commendation needed ]}

Public programs [edit]

The Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Auditorium, named later American financier and publisher Eugene Meyer and journalist/social activist Agnes E. Meyer, is located in the Freer and provides a venue for a broad variety of costless public programs. These programs include concerts of music and trip the light fantastic toe, lectures, sleeping accommodation music, and dramatic presentations. It is also known for its moving-picture show series, highlighting a wide variety of Asian cultures (including a Korean Film Festival and Iranian Film Festival).^{[ commendation needed ]}

Most recently, the museums began the series Asia Later Dark, opening up the space for musicians, dancing, Asian cuisine, and other after-work adventures. The Freer and Sackler's 'We Stand With Nihon' in 2011 hosted Steve Aoki.^[20]

Free drib-in tours are available daily and guide visitors through both featured exhibitions and specific themes in both the Freer and Sackler galleries, and a broad range of public lectures provide in-depth experiences with prominent artists and scholars.^{[ citation needed ]}

Conservation [edit]

Intendance of the collections began before the museum came into existence as Charles Lang Freer, the founder of the Freer Gallery of Art, hired Japanese painting restorers to care for his works and to prepare them for their eventual home equally role of the Smithsonian Institution. In 1932, the Freer Gallery of Fine art hired a full-time Japanese restorer and established what was to become the Due east Asian Painting Conservation Studio. This facility remains one of the few in the United states that specializes in the conservation of Asian paintings.^[half-dozen] The Technical Laboratory was established in 1951 when chemist Rutherford J. Gettens moved from the Fogg Museum at Harvard University to the Freer. The laboratory was the showtime Smithsonian facility devoted to the use of scientific methods for the study of works of art. Over the years, the piece of work of the Technical Laboratory expanded to include objects, newspaper, and exhibits conservation. The Technical Laboratory and the East Asian Painting Conservation Studio merged in 1990 to create the Department of Conservation and Scientific Research for both the Freer and Sackler Galleries.^[21]

The conservators in the Department of Conservation and Scientific Enquiry care for and care for works of art in the collection and fix them for exhibition. The section works to ensure long-term preservation and storage, safe handling, exhibition, and transport of artworks in the permanent collection, as well as those on loan. In improver, conservators are responsible for conducting technical examinations of objects already in the collection and those under consideration for acquisition. They also interact often with the department'south scientists on technical and applied research. Training and professional outreach efforts are an integral part of the department's commitment to educating future conservators, museum professionals, and the public most conservation.^{[ commendation needed ]}

Scholarship [edit]

The Freer has had a long tradition in serving as a middle for inquiry and advanced scholarship about Asia. The Freer non only presents lectures and symposia to the public, but it as well copublishes the Ars Orientalis with the University of Michigan Department of History of Art. Ars Orientalis is a peer-reviewed almanac volume of scholarly manufactures and occasional reviews of books on the art and archaeology of Asia, the ancient Near E, and the Islamic globe.^{[22] [23]}

The Freer and Sackler, along with the Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Art Studies in Kyoto, Nippon, presents the Shimada Prize for distinguished scholarship in the history of East Asian art. The award was established in 1992 in honor of Professor Shimada Shujiro, by the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and by The Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Fine art Studies in Kyoto, Japan. Several fellowships are as well available to support graduate students and visiting scholars, including the Andrew Westward. Mellon Fellowship, Anne Van Biema Fellowship (Japanese Visual Arts), Iran Heritage Foundation (IHF) Fellowship (Farsi art), Lunder Fellowship, J. South. Lee Memorial Fellowship (Chinese Fine art), Smithsonian Institution Fellowship, and the Freer Fellowship.^[24]

Freer and Sackler curators are likewise involved in dozens of ongoing inquiry projects, often with colleagues from institutions around the world. The results of their work tin be seen in a variety of published formats, including exhibition catalogues, scholarly publications, and online publications.^[25]

Gallery [edit]

Communist china [edit]

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India [edit]

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  Seated Ganesha, Hoysala dynasty, 12th–13th century

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  Sri Krsna with the flute Opaque watercolor and gold

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  Depiction of the Lord Krishna in the Golden City from the Harivamsha

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  The Bharhut stupa, depicted on one of the friezes.

Egypt [edit]

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  Ancient Egyptian coffin mask made of wood and glass, New Kingdom, 18th or 19th Dynasty (1550–1196 BC)

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  Ancient Egyptian miniature glassware vessels, New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty (1550–1307 BC)

Nippon [edit]

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Nepal [edit]

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Persia [edit]

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Korea [edit]

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Syria [edit]

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Kushan [edit]

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See too [edit]

• Biblical Manuscripts in the Freer Collection
• Chinese painting
• History of art
• History of painting
• Indian art
• Islamic art
• Japanese painting
• Pewabic Pottery
• Ernst Herzfeld and Persepolis
• Zhou Jichang
• Charles Lang Freer medal
• Lin Tinggui
• J. Keith Wilson

References [edit]

1. ^ "National Annals Data System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
2. ^ "Collections | Freer and Sackler Galleries". Asia.si.edu. 2013-03-15. Retrieved 2014-06-06 .
3. ^ "Freer|Sackler: The Smithsonian's Museums of Asian Art - Google Cultural Found". Googleartproject.com. Retrieved 2014-06-06 .
4. ^ Linda Merrill, a erstwhile curator of American art at the Freer Gallery, editor of With Kindest Regards: The Correspondence of Charles Lang Freer and James McNeill Whistler, and co-author of Freer: A Legacy of Fine art.
5. ^ Smithsonian Establishment Archives
6. ^ ^{a b} Smithsonian Establishment Archives
7. ^ Caemmerer, H. Paul. "Charles Moore and the Plan of Washington." Records of the Columbia Historical Society. Vol. 46/47 (1944/1945): 237-258, 256.
8. ^ ^{a b} "Charles Lang Freer | Almost The states | Freer and Sackler Galleries". Asia.si.edu. 2013-03-15. Archived from the original on 2011-12-31. Retrieved 2014-06-06 .
9. ^ "The Freer Gallery of Art | Well-nigh Us | Freer and Sackler Galleries". Asia.si.edu. 2013-03-15. Archived from the original on 2014-08-26. Retrieved 2014-06-06 .
10. ^ "Freer Gallery of Fine art To Reopen After Almost Two Years". newsdesk.si.edu. Smithsonian. 11 October 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
11. ^ "A Closer Wait - James McNeill Whistler - Peacock Room". Asia.si.edu. Retrieved 2014-06-06 .
12. ^ "Freer and Sackler Galleries | Collections". Asia.si.edu. 2013-03-xv. Retrieved 2014-06-06 .
13. ^ "Archives - Freer-Sackler".
14. ^ Bishop, Carl Whiting. "The Carl Whiting Bishop Collection" – via siris-archives.si.edu Library Catalog.
15. ^ Smith, Myron Bement. "Myron Bement Smith Collection" – via siris-archives.si.edu Library Catalog.
16. ^ "Benjamin March - A Finding Help to His Papers at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur Yard. Sackler Gallery Archives".
17. ^ "Henri Vever - A Finding Aid to His Papers at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur Chiliad. Sackler Gallery Archives". Archived from the original on 2013-08-05. Retrieved 2011-01-31 .
18. ^ Rosin, Henry D.; Lyman, Benjamin Smith; Ueno, Hikoma; Beato, Felice; Rosin, Nancy; Stillfried, Raimund. "Henry and Nancy Rosin Drove of Early Photography of Japan" – via siris-archives.si.edu Library Catalog.
19. ^ "Archives: Highlights | Freer and Sackler Galleries". Asia.si.edu. 2013-03-15. Retrieved 2014-06-06 .
20. ^ "Asia Later on Night - Freer Gallery of Art - We Stand with Japan | Flickr - Photo Sharing!". Flickr. 2011-05-14. Retrieved 2014-06-06 .
21. ^ [ane] Archived Feb 2, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
22. ^ "Ars Orientalis Freer and Sackler Galleries". Asia.si.edu. 2013-03-15. Retrieved 2014-06-06 .
23. ^ "Ars Orientalis". Freer/Sackler. Retrieved March xx, 2019.
24. ^ "Fellowships & Internships | Enquiry | Freer and Sackler Galleries". Asia.si.edu. 2013-03-15. Retrieved 2014-06-06 .
25. ^ "Curatorial Research | Freer and Sackler Galleries". Asia.si.edu. 2013-03-fifteen. Retrieved 2014-06-06 .

External links [edit]

Media related to Freer Gallery of Fine art at Wikimedia Commons

• Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur One thousand. Sackler Gallery

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