National Gallery of Art given 5,000 American prints

January 3, 12:00 PMDC Art Travel ExaminerMarsha Dubrow

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National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC has acquired one of the largest and finest private collections of American prints, totaling 5,250 works representing more than 2,000 artists.

The treasures include Andy Warhol's pink "Marilyn", Jasper Johns's screenprint "Target", Childe Hassam's greatest print, "The Lion Gardiner House, Easthampton", Winslow Homer's "The Signal of Distress", and Jim Dine's "Five Paintbrushes", the National Gallery of Art (NGA) announced in a press release January 2.

The renowned collection of Reba and Dave Williams and The Print Research Foundation in Stamford, CT is "unrivaled in its scope and is among the largest and finest private collections of American prints," the NGA said. It spans roughly from 1875 to 1975, and is "particularly strong in depression-era and Works Project Administration (WPA) prints, surpassing all others in private hands." The schools of Pop Art and Ashcan Art are also represented. 

NGA Director Earl A. Powell III said the newly acquired collection has "extraordinary quality and breadth and gives the National Gallery of Art an entirely new standing in the field of American prints." More than three-quarters of the 2,070 artists represented are new to the NGA. In addition to the gift of 5,000 prints, the NGA bought 250 works from the Williams's private collection, the statement added. 

Although many of the artists are famous, including Grant Wood, Lee Krasner, and Thomas Hart Benson, many others are lesser known, such as Louis Lozowick and Jolán Gross Bettelheim.   

Reba and Dave Williams began collecting the prints in the mid-1970s. They established The Print Research Foundation to provide research facilities for the study of prints made by American artists during the last 150 years.