This presentation by Roger Lawson on the National Gallery of Art was given on June 14, 2019, as part of the ARLIS/NA IRC Venice Study Tour. The National Gallery of Art was founded in 1937 following Andrew W. Mellon's offer to donate his art collection to the United States, pay for the building on the National Mall, and create an endowment to pay selected officer salaries and support art acquisitions. The offer was subject to conditions that the institution would not bear his name and that the Federal government agree to maintain the building and operations in perpetuity. For more than 75 years, the original charter has successfully supported the National Gallery of Art's - and the library's - growth and the pursuit of its mission. This recording is made available under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Related Event: Presentations of the 2019 IRC Venice Study Tour