Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

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The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden was a gift to the nation from the financier and avid collector of modern art, Joseph H. Hirshhorn. Hirshhorn began his collecting with prints in 1917, and it became his lifelong passion. Hirshhorn's collection is best known for its nineteenth and twentieth century sculpture, including the works of Rodin, Picasso, Matisse, Giacometti, Calder, and Moore. He also collected widely and enthusiastically from the works of contemporary American painters, including, among many others, Thomas Eakins, Willem de Kooning, Raphael Soyer, and Larry Rivers.

Hirshhorn had long planned to keep his collection together in a museum so that its art could be accessible and give others the pleasure it had given him. Because of the strength of the collection, many museums throughout the United States and around the world courted Hirshhorn with offers of a museum and support for his holdings. Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley very much wanted to see a museum of contemporary art in Washington, which had no significant contemporary museum at the time. Ripley worked to persuade Hirshhorn that he should choose Washington and the Smithsonian from among many competitors for his art. In this effort he had the powerful assistance of President Lyndon Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird, who enthusiastically wooed Hirshhorn over several years. Finally in 1966 Hirshhorn announced that he would give his entire collection to the Smithsonian, to be housed in a museum named for him and constructed on the Mall by the federal government. The initial gift numbered more than 6,000 pieces of art, and Hirshhorn bequeathed the Museum an additional 6,000 items and an endowment of five million dollars at his death.

The Hirshhorn Museum opened to the public in October 1974 under the direction of Abram Lerner, who had been appointed in 1967 after curating Hirshhorn's personal collection in New York and advising him on art purchases since 1955. Lerner retired in October 1984 and was succeeded by James T. Demetrion, formerly director of the Des Moines Art Center.

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Institutional file. Brooklyn Museum Libraries & Archives
referencedIn Video organization file : Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden : miscellaneous uncataloged material. Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)
referencedIn Hirshhorn, Joseph H. Joseph H. Hirshhorn archival audio collection, 1969-1984. Smithsonian Institution. Libraries
creatorOf Inventory to the Samuel Murray and Thomas Eakins papers at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Archives of American Art
creatorOf Catherine Viviano Gallery records Archives of American Art
creatorOf Archives of American Art sound recordings Archives of American Art
referencedIn Catherine Viviano Gallery records Archives of American Art
referencedIn Daniel P. Moynihan Papers, 1765-2003, (bulk 1955-2000) Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
referencedIn Bunshaft, Gordon, 1909-1990. Gordon Bunshaft architectural drawings and papers, 1909-1990 (bulk 1950-1979). Columbia University in the City of New York, Columbia University Libraries
creatorOf Bassett, David. Correspondence regarding purchase of paintings : 1957 Mar.-1958 Nov., A-L. University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Harriet Irving Library
creatorOf Dorothy C. Miller papers Archives of American Art
referencedIn Papers of Daniel Robbins and Seymour Slive, 1959-2003 (inclusive), 1971-1982 (bulk) Harvard Art Museums. Archives
creatorOf Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Correspondence to Edward F. Fry, 1982. University of Pennsylvania Library
referencedIn Irving Block papers Archives of American Art
referencedIn Dorothy C. Miller papers Archives of American Art
creatorOf Smithsonian Institution. Office of the Secretary. Office of the Secretary (S. Dillon Ripley), 1972-1984 Records. Smithsonian Institution Archives
creatorOf McClintic, Miranda. Correspondence to Edward F. Fry, 1979. University of Pennsylvania Library
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Oral history interview with Abram Lerner Archives of American Art
Relation Name
associatedWith Block, Irving. person
associatedWith Bunshaft, Gordon, 1909-1990. person
associatedWith Catherine Viviano corporateBody
associatedWith Catherine Viviano Gallery. corporateBody
associatedWith Eakins, Thomas, 1844-1916. person
associatedWith Hirshhorn, Joseph H. person
associatedWith Lerner, Abram. person
associatedWith Levine Aaron M. 1934-2023 person
associatedWith Levine, Barbara person
associatedWith McClintic, Miranda. person
associatedWith Miller, Dorothy Canning person
associatedWith Miller, Dorothy Canning, 1904-2003. person
associatedWith Moynihan, Daniel P. (Daniel Patrick), 1927-2003 person
associatedWith Murray, Samuel. person
correspondedWith Robbins, Daniel person
associatedWith Smith, David, 1906-1965. person
associatedWith Smithsonian Institution. Office of the Secretary. corporateBody
associatedWith Smithsonian Institution. Office of the Secretary. Special Consultant to the Secretary (James C. Bradley). corporateBody
associatedWith Willem de Kooning, Reconsidered (1993 : Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden) corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
District of Columbia DC US
Subject
Art, Modern
Art museums
Art teachers
Painters
Sculptors
Occupation
Activity

Corporate Body

Establishment 1974

Americans

English

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