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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 513 
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MADE BY BAKER-VAWTER CO.
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"A LOUVRE-LUXEMBOURG RELATION FOR THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART AND THE CORCORAN GALLERY.

(1) A treaty or community of interest by which the Corcoran should deal with contemporary art while the National Gallery of Art should deal with that art which has been reasonably tested by time.

(2) The legal obstacles to be surmounted by a system of indefinite loans and, when necessary, by securing waivers from heirs,etc.

(3) The immediate adjustment: The Corcoran to put at the disposal of the National Gallery for indefinite loan all works by artists dead twenty (or ten) years. The National Gallery to put at the disposal of the Corcoran for limited loan all works, excluding those in the Freer Gallery collection, now in its possession by artists less than twenty (or ten) years dead. The immediate advantage of such a redistribution would be to secure instead of two incoherent and ill-balanced, two coherent and well-balanced galleries at Washington. The ulterior advantage to the National Gallery would be to create a balance which instead of repelling would attract gifts of older art, also if the exhibition of contemporary art were turned over to the Corcoran the initial building plan of the National Gallery could be diminished by so many galleries, at a saving of at least $300,000.

(4) The Future Running Arrangement: The National Gallery would loan all purchases of contemporary art to the Corcoran, recovering possession of them as the time limit was reached. Every year a certain number of works of art would thus come back, and the final decision be made whether they were worthy of permanent exhibition, eligible for loan to smaller museums, or fit only for the store-room. Similarly every year the National Gallery would receive for indefinite loan such works purchased by the Corcoran as had reached the time limit and seemed desirable for the permanent exhibition of American art. The advantage here would be that the National Gallery would virtually add to its resources for purchasing modern art, those of the Corcoran. Also the two institutions would be making a balanced development, avoiding competition, and better serving the public. Instead of two incomplete and repetitious exhibitions of contemporary art, there would be one complete and impressive one from which the National Gallery of Art as contributor would draw all due credit. The probationary period at the Corcoran while meeting the needs of the living artist and the information of the public as to the art of the day, would diminish the mistakes which are always made in buying contemporary art, and would make easier the correction and adjustment of such mistakes as inevitably will be made. Nor should we underestimate the advantage to the art-loving public of such a clear distinction between our national art as more or less fixed fact in history and criticism, and as the shuttlecock of current contention and opinion. Finally it should be noted that America is the only country which mixes the promotion of modern art with the custody of standard art in the same museum. France, England, Italy, Spain, Germany, for example, as a matter of course use two types of museum,

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