Fine Art PR Publicity Announcements News and Information
Fine Art PR Publicity Announcements News and Information

From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection at The National Gallery of Art

Washington, DC— New York investment broker Chester Dale’s 1962 bequest made the National Gallery of Art one of the leading repositories in North America of French art of the late-19th and early 20th centuries. From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection, on view in the Gallery’s West Building open through July 31, 2011, will bring together 81 of the finest French and American paintings that Dale and his wife Maud, an artist and critic, assembled from the 1920s through the 1950s.

Diego RiveraThe exhibition and its accompanying book will explore the Dales’ passion and talent for acquiring great art. Many of the works in the show are among the most renowned masterpieces in the history of art, but due to a stipulation in the bequest, may only be seen at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

“It is impossible to overestimate the transformative impact of the collection of Chester Dale and his wife Maud on the National Gallery of Art,” said Earl A. Powell III, director. “Their legacy has not only enriched the Gallery but the nation as well, by sharing these extraordinary works of French and American art with the American public and the world.”

The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington.

Chester Dale and the National Gallery of Art
An astute businessman who made his fortune on Wall Street in the bond market, Dale thrived on forging deals and translated much of this energy and talent into building his art collection. His purchases were guided by his personal tastes as well as by his wife Maud. Initially the couple began collecting American paintings; among their favorite artists was their neighbor, George Bellows, who painted portraits of both of them.

When Chester Dale bequeathed his remarkable collection of paintings to the National Gallery of Art in 1962, it became one of the most important repositories in North America of French art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some 81 of the finest French and American paintings―among the Gallery’s most beloved masterpieces― explore the collector’s passion and talent for acquiring great art as well as his tastes in modern art. This installation will allow visitors to discover the rich array of Dale’s bequest to the Gallery in the format of a special exhibition.

The range of paintings on view includes Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot’s Forest of Fontainebleau (1834), August Renoir’s A Girl with a Watering Can (1876), Mary Cassatt’s Boating Party (1893/1894), Pablo Picasso’s Family of Saltimbanques (1905), George Bellows’ Both Members of This Club (1909), and George Braque’s Still Life: Le Jour (1929). Several sculptures, such as Amedeo Modigliani’s Head of a Woman (1910/1911) and Paul Gauguin’s Pére Paillard (1902), will also be on view. Among other artists represented are Henri Matisse, Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, and Vincent van Gogh.

Dale was an astute businessman who made his fortune on Wall Street in the bond market. He thrived on forging deals and translated much of this energy and talent into his art collection. He served on the boards of several museums that hoped to be the beneficiary of his collecting, but his greatest devotion was to the National Gallery of Art, where he served on the board of trustees from 1943 and as president from 1955 until his death in 1962. Two portraits of Dale, by Salvador Dali and Diego Rivera, and two portraits of Dale’s wife Maud (who greatly influenced his interest in art) by Fernand Léger and Bellows, are included in the show.

A fully illustrated catalogue will present a study of the collection, with a biographical essay on Chester Dale as a collector, an exploration of the context of collecting in America from the1920s to the 1960s, and a chronology of the Chester Dale Collection.

A 15-minute documentary film will profile Chester Dale.

A selection of books from the Chester Dale Collection and related documentary material from the Gallery Archives will be installed in Gallery G-21 of the West Building.

he National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. For information call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery’s Web site at www.nga.gov.

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Image: Diego Rivera, Chester Dale, 1945, oil on canvas. Chester Dale Collection