Recent Acquisitions: Gifts from the Corcoran Gallery of Art
The Corcoran Gallery of Art, one of the first private museums in the United States, was established in Washington, D.C., in 1869 by William Wilson Corcoran. It expanded in 1880 to include the Corcoran College of Art and Design and, for more than a century, remained 鈥渄edicated to art and used solely for the purpose of encouraging the American genius.鈥�
In 2014, the Corcoran transferred the college to George Washington University and distributed the collection. The National Portrait Gallery received eighty portraits, ranging from images of nineteenth-century American presidents to twentieth-century artists, athletes, and movie stars. This exhibition features a selection of portraits from this generous gift.
William Wilson Corcoran鈥檚 wide-ranging collection encompassed portraits of historical and contemporary figures. In 1879, the first curator of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, William MacLeod, noted that Corcoran鈥檚 purchase of a series of presidential portraits by George Peter Alexander Healy showed 鈥渢he determination of Mr. Corcoran and the trustees to make national portraiture a strong point in the gallery.鈥� Today, Corcoran鈥檚 legacy continues as thousands of works from the collection are treasured and exhibited by several institutions in the Washington, D.C., area, including other Smithsonian museums, the National Gallery of Art, and the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center.
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The Corcoran Gallery of Art, one of the first private museums in the United States, was established in Washington, D.C., in 1869 by William Wilson Corcoran. It expanded in 1880 to include the Corcoran College of Art and Design and, for more than a century, remained 鈥渄edicated to art and used solely for the purpose of encouraging the American genius.鈥�
In 2014, the Corcoran transferred the college to George Washington University and distributed the collection. The National Portrait Gallery received eighty portraits, ranging from images of nineteenth-century American presidents to twentieth-century artists, athletes, and movie stars. This exhibition features a selection of portraits from this generous gift.
William Wilson Corcoran鈥檚 wide-ranging collection encompassed portraits of historical and contemporary figures. In 1879, the first curator of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, William MacLeod, noted that Corcoran鈥檚 purchase of a series of presidential portraits by George Peter Alexander Healy showed 鈥渢he determination of Mr. Corcoran and the trustees to make national portraiture a strong point in the gallery.鈥� Today, Corcoran鈥檚 legacy continues as thousands of works from the collection are treasured and exhibited by several institutions in the Washington, D.C., area, including other Smithsonian museums, the National Gallery of Art, and the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center.
Artists on show
- Alexander Brook
- Alphonse Legros
- Annie Leibovitz
- Carl Gutherz
- Daniel Huntington
- George Biddle
- George P.A. Healy
- Harold Eugene Edgerton
- John Vanderlyn
- John Wesley Jarvis
- Margaret French Cresson
- Mariana Cook
- Philippe Halsman
- Prentiss Taylor
- Robert Vonnoh
- Rosalind Solomon
- Rupert Garcia
- Sante Graziani
- Stephen Shore
- Walter Ernest Tittle
What's on nearby
