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[[preprinted]] SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 722 [[/preprinted]] [[preprinted left margin]] MADE BY BAKER-VAWTER CO. [[/preprinted left margin]] ANNUAL REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. The Acting Secretary submitted the annual report of the Executive Committee showing the financial condition of the Institution for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1927, which, on motion, was received. ANNUAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART COMMISSION. The National Gallery of Art Commission held its seventh annual meeting in the Regents' Room of the Smithsonian Institution at 10.00 A.M., December 6, 1927. The following members were present: Gari Melchers, Chairman; Frank J. Mather,Jr., Vice-Chairman; W.H.Holmes, Secretary; Herbert Adams; James E. Fraser; John E. Lodge; James Parmelee; E.W.Redfield; and Charles G. Abbot, Acting Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. On motion, the reading of the minutes of the preceding annual meeting was dispensed with. The annual report of the Secretary of the Commission, reviewing the activities of the Gallery for the calendar year 1927, was then read, the introductory paragraph of which follows:- It is greatly to be regretted that the year has been marked by so few events of importance and that offering of art works have fallen below the usual standard. The latter fact is doubtless due in large measure to the lack of space available in the Institution for the accommodation of works of any kind, a state of affairs probably well known to possible patrons and to the public generally. Owners of collections cannot be expected to contribute their treasures to an Institution with the prospect that they may be consigned to storage. It appears, however, that the present discouraging conditions are not to continue indefinitely, that a great period of development for the Gallery is practically assured. An apparently well founded rumor leads to the anticipation that in the near future, provision for a Gallery building, and one worthy of the nation, will be announced, and it may be confidently anticipated that as soon as definite assurance of the correctness of this rumor is given, the art currents will turn quickly our way and that the building, when it becomes a reality, will act as a magnet drawings irresistibly the triumphs of genius from the farthest corners of the civilized world. There was wide discussion of various matters treated in the report,especially (1) the question of the development of a National Portrait Gallery as a branch of the Gallery proper, and (2) the possible assemblage in the Gallery at a future date, of the Ranger Fund paintings now held by various galleries through the country. The National Gallery has the privilege of claiming such [[initialed]] CGA [[/initialed]]
