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The biggest art giveaway in museum history? Or the biggest museum implosion in art history? It’s a matter of perspective. After the Corcoran Gallery of Art was dissolved in 2012, the National Gallery of Art agreed to act as the steward of its collection, accepting more than 8,600 artworks into its ranks. But the National Gallery didn’t take everything. More than 10,750 remaining paintings, photographs, drawings, prints, and sculptures were to be split up but dispersed within the area. This week, the remaining trustees of the Corcoran announced the tentative final resting places of the encyclopedic art collection of what was once D.C.’s oldest private art museum.
For 22 museums and universities in the D.C. area (and a few beyond), the Corcoran’s loss means their gain. Organizations as diverse as the D.C. Council and the U.S. Supreme Court got in on the action. American University’s Katzen Arts Center took a healthy helping: thousands of works in all media, likely hundreds more than it asked for. (Full disclosure: Some of them include images by City Paper staff photographer and Corcoran grad Darrow Montgomery.) For curators, the Corcoran’s final dissolution may be a bonanza, but it’s still a net loss for viewers: Collections that should have been kept whole are now divided, and works that had a rationale in the Corcoran may disappear into the vaults for good. Here’s a look at where you can find pieces of the Corcoran collection now, and highlights of each institution’s acquisition.
1. American UniversityNumber of works acquired: 8,899Highlights: Titian, “Martino Pasqualigo” (1544 painting); Rembrandt, “An Old Man in an Armchair” (1637 painting, pictured); work by local artists including Jae Ko, Jim Sanborn, and Frank DiPerna; hundreds of unknown pieces
2. University of the District of ColumbiaNumber of works acquired: 87Highlights: Gaston Lachaise, “Torso of Elevation” (1912–17 sculpture); prints by Alphonse Legros and Joseph Goldyne
3. Howard UniversityNumber of works acquired: 16Highlights: Lois Mailou Jones, “Pont Louis Philippe, Paris” (1958 painting, pictured); Howard Mehring, “Cadmium Groove” (1965 painting)
4. Kreeger MuseumNumber of works acquired: 8Highlights: Helen Frankenthaler, “Hurricane Flag” (1969 painting, pictured); Anne Truitt, “Essex” (1962 painting); Joan Mitchell, “Untitled” (1965 painting)
5. Georgetown UniversityNumber of works acquired: 85Highlights: A portrait by Gilbert Stuart (1819 painting); photographs by Garry Winogrand (late 1970s); abstract silkscreens by Josef Albers (1972 prints, pictured)
6. Tudor PlaceNumber of works acquired: 2Highlights: Drawings by Armistead Peter III
7. Phillips CollectionNumber of works acquired: 46Highlights: Nikki S. Lee “The Hispanic Project (6)” (1998 photograph, pictured); Sam Taylor-Wood, “Some Gorgeous Accident” (2002 photograph); Depression-era photographs by Walker Evans 8. District of Columbia CouncilNumber of works acquired: 17Highlights: Photographs of D.C. by Clifton Adams, John Gossage, Arthur Ellis, and, uh, Tipper Gore
9. Smithsonian American Art MuseumNumber of works acquired: 318Highlights: Paintings by James Peale and Albert Pinkham Ryder; photographs by Ansel Adams, William Henry Jackson, William Christenberry, Eadweard Muybridge, Thomas Eakins, Andre Kertesz, W. Eugene Smith, Jan Groover, Joel Meyerowitz, Mary Ellen Mark, and Sally Mann (pictured)
9. National Portrait GalleryNumber of works acquired: 80Highlights: Painting by Gilbert Stuart; photographs by Robert Frank, Philippe Halsman, Annie Leibovitz, and Stephen Shore
10. George Washington UniversityNumber of works acquired: 777Highlights: Jennifer Steinkamp, “Loop” (2000, pictured); Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, “The Paradise Institute” (2001); Soviet-era photography from Ljalja Kuznetsova, Valeri Mikhailov, and Marina Yurchenko
11. National Museum of African American History and CultureNumber of works acquired: 123Highlights: Documentary images and photojournalism work by Roy DeCarava, Michael Margolis, Milton Rogovin, Eli Reed, and Gordon Parks; numerous images by Benedict J. Fernandez of civil rights figures and events
12. National Museum of Women in the ArtsNumber of works acquired: 51Highlights: Kiki Smith, “Breast Jar” (1990 sculpture, pictured); Louise Bourgeois, “Untitled (with foot)” (1989 sculpture); Dorothea Lange “Washing Facilities for Families in a Migratory Pea Pickers’ Camp” (1937 photograph)
13. U.S. Department of the TreasuryNumber of works acquired: 1Highlights: Eliphalet Frazer Andrews, “Andrew Johnson” (1882 painting)
14. The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture GardenNumber of works acquired: 10Highlights: Sam Gilliam, “Light Depth” (1969 painting, pictured); Jim Sanborn, “Lux, Lux, Lux” (1990 projected light on petrified wood)15. National Museum of African ArtNumber of works acquired: 11Highlights: Photographs by Volkmar Kurt Wentzel, Albert Couturiaux, Peter Magubane, and Constance Stuart Larrabee
15. Freer|SacklerNumber of works acquired: 10Highlights: Early 17th century Isfahan Rug, photographs by Joseph F. Rock
16. National Museum of the American IndianNumber of works acquired: 3Highlights: Early 20th century photographs by Joseph K. Dixon
17. Supreme Court of the United StatesNumber of works acquired: 1Highlight: Robert Matthew Sully’s portrait of Chief Justice John Marshall (1830 painting)18. D.C. Commission on the Arts and HumanitiesNumber of works acquired: 40Highlights: Works by Howard Mehring, Paul Reed, Gene Davis, Thomas Downing, Willem De Looper, Steven Cushner, Marjorie Phillips, and Richard Dempsey19. Anacostia Community MuseumNumber of works acquired: 100Highlights: Sam Gilliam, “Long Green” (1965 painting), Gene Davis, “Micro-Painting;” photographs by Brad Richman and Henry Chalfant
Out-of-Town AcquisitionsCooper Hewitt National Design MuseumNumber of works acquired: 92Location: New York, New YorkHighlights: Numerous unknown sculptures from 3rd to 7th century B.C., unknown decorative art from 17th to 19th century
Deer Isle–Stonington Historical SocietyNumber of works acquired: 1 Location: Deer Isle, MaineHighlight: Malvin Marr Albright, “Deer Island, Maine” (1940 painting)
Weir Farm National Historic SiteNumber of works acquired: 1Location: Ridgefield and Wilton, ConnecticutHighlight: Julian Alden Weir, “Autumn” (1906 painting)
Willistead ManorNumber of works acquired: 1Location: Windsor, OntarioHighlight: Gari Melchers, “Edward C. Walker” (1906 painting)
Bari Melchers Home & Studio, University of Mary WashingtonNumber of works acquired: 4Location: Falmouth, VirginiaHighlight: Gari Melchers, “James Parmalee” (1927 painting)
Montana Museum of Art & CultureNumber of works acquired: 9Location: Missoula, MontanaHighlights: An undated painting by Jean-Honoré Fragonard; two undated paintings by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
Wythe County Historical SocietyNumber of works acquired: 1Location: Wytheville, VirginiaHighlight: David Silvette, “Thornton Nye of Wytheville” (1931 painting)
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