Abstract
This research project investigates the position of the art gallery within the early history of the Smithsonian Institution and traces its evolution in finally becoming a National Gallery. In light of the Smithsonian’s underpinning philosophical vision, to cultivate ‘the increase and diffusion of knowledge amongst men,’[i] this paper focuses on the role of the art gallery within an educational and research institution which was ‘essentially under the control of scientists’ (Fink 2007, p. xv). Accordingly, the aim of this study is to underline the scientific based pedagogy of the Smithsonian and to determine it how facilitated self-knowledge. In this way, the essay argues that it was the early museum practices of the institution itself that ultimately led to the realization of a national art gallery in the newly independent nation.
In tracing the emerging identity of the art collection within the context of the ideals of the institution, the discourse of this study revolves around three significant stages of the gallery’s development.
I. The impact of scientific knowledge upon the role of an art gallery under the Smithsonian’s spiritual guide, physicist and college professor, First Secretary Joseph Henry (1846-1878).
II. The collection’s evolution and the organisation of the museum under naturalist and collector, Second Secretary Spencer Fullarton Baird (1878-1887) and his protégé George Brown Goode (1851-1896).
III. The cumulative events which triggered the first manifestation of the Smithsonian National Gallery proper in 1909.
In critically analysing the role that the gallery of art played in the early history of the Smithsonian Institution, the study considers the key collections that defined the potential identity of the art museum within the three main developmental stages:
I. The American Indian Gallery and the transferral of the Marsh Print Collection from the National Institute, Patent Office Building and War Department.
II. The addition of Freer Collection of Asian Art and its placement in the US National Museum (Arts & Industries Building).
III. The establishment of the Harriet Lane Johnson and Evans Collections of National American Art.
In analysing the educational rationale supporting the developing collections the philosophical vision of the Smithsonian Institute under its founders becomes further apparent. The evolution of the National Gallery may be understood in terms of scientific ideology and progress; hence its significant influence upon the formation of public art museum practices.
[i] As stipulated in the Last Will and Testament of the Founder of the Smithsonian, James Smithson, October 23 1826. The Smithsonian Archives, History of the Smithsonian, online document URL:http://siarchives.si.edu/history/exhibits/documents/smithsonwill.htm
Introduction
The best blood of England runs through my veins.
On my father’s side I am a Northumberland, on my
Mother’s I am related to kings, but this avails me not;
My name will live on in the memory of men
When the titles of the Northumberlands and Percys
are extinct or forgotten.[i]
With this affirmation of identity in his memoires, James Smithson (1765-1829) penned his last will and made an extraordinary bequest. This study investigates the profound impact that the Smithson bequest had upon the development of American culture and society from the mid nineteenth century. Essentially, the discourse of this research paper revolves around the newly independent nation’s search for national and cultural identity in the post-revolution era at a time when even its sessions in Congress were described by John Quincy Adams as ‘a chaos of confusion.’[ii]
Although literature has assigned a certain aura of mystery to the circumstances and motivations surrounding the gift, Smithson biographer Heather Ewing pinpoints the very first sentences of the will as providing the vital clue to the riddle of the bequest.[iii] Despite the fact that the language of the will has been described as highly irregular and inexact, it is in particular the affirmation of heritage and identity that appears significant to the overall legacy (Ewing 2007, p. 309). With the bequest epitomizing ‘a spark from the last embers of English Enlightenment,’ this research paper reveals how the ‘establishment of an institution for the increase and diffusion of knowledge’ contributed largely to the self-realisation of a society ‘hungry for identity, prestige and progress’ (Ewing 2007, p. 349).
As the Smithsonian grappled with long Congressional debate regarding its very nature, post revolutionary backlash and civil war, the journey to self-realisation as a nation was reflected in the organisation and interests of the institute. This quest for national identity was tied in with the early museum practices of the largely scientific organisation. Accordingly, this paper highlights how the formation of identity of the National Art Museum was conceived alongside the pedagogic intent of the scientific collections and examines how the role of art within these collections allowed for new pathways for understanding the nation as a whole.
Though the effect of national discontent and civil war upon the goals of the Smithsonian may have contributed to what has been regarded as ‘the confused identity of the art museum’ (Fink 2007, p. xi), the lineage of the art collection at the Smithsonian may be understood in three evolving expressions of early nationhood. The first manifestation depicts the art as providing a link to America’s historical and cultural heritage thus enhancing the understanding of an anthropological collection, the second manifestation involves art as representing the progress and achievement of the nation after the Civil War, whilst the third development sees the art finally declaring a national identity with an correlating appreciation of the aesthetic qualities of the nation itself.
In tracing the heredity of the National Art Gallery at the Smithsonian, Chapter One, the Literature Review not only surveys the literature regarding the art collection at the early Smithsonian and the scientific practices of the Institution, but also outlines the methodological approach of this paper based on existing research. Chapter Two, the Historical Context, will establish a clear link between Enlightenment ideology and the scientific character of the Smithsonian Institution. Focussing on how the newly self-determining nation received the Smithson Bequest, the chapter provides an overview of the socio-political climate that surrounded the establishment of the Smithsonian as well as an introduction to the key founding figures – James Smithson (1765-1829) Joseph Henry (1797-1878) - whose visions shaped the formation of the art museum within the Smithsonian Institution.
In presenting James Smithson as a figure of the Enlightenment era, the discussion will highlight how his beliefs in a public sphere whereby scientific process could contribute to the contentment of society were formed in the coffee house society of revolutionary Europe (Ewing 2007, p. 113). The historical background to this socially and politically pivotal time will link America to this philosophical movement as well as provide some correlation to the emerging museum practices that coincided with this school of thought.
Chapter Three explores the first manifestation of the art museum under Henry and places it within the context of the ancient museum, with the collection set amongst a library and cloisters in the original Smithsonian Institute. Comprised largely of print material, busts and portraits, the art collection provided visible links to the nation’s revolutionary and ethnographic heritage as well as to the legacies of civilisation itself. Based on a liberal German ethnographic model, this early gallery reflected the social, political and religious climate of post revolution America. The analysis explains how Henry used artworks to provide cognitive links between nature, art and science. The discussion also measures the supposed civilising effect of the gallery upon Washington society caught up in the throes of Civil War.
Chapter Four surveys the second developmental phase of the art museum reflective of America’s own Enlightenment phase after the chaos and darkness of civil war. Moved to a new location (the Arts and Industries Building) the art objects provided the central pivot around which collections of a scientific nature were organised. Embracing a revival in scientific interest, the National Museum under Baird’s influence saw the incorporation of art objects into the overall display as a very logical part of the scientific museum. The discussion overviews how art was used to promote the success of the nation as it faced the threshold of a new century. With an emphasis on the manual production and processes of art, the additions of the Freer Collection to the art museum signalled the beginnings of the aesthetic appreciation of artwork as opposed to its previous use as historical and ethnographic documentation.
Chapter Five concludes the study into the early formation of the National Art Museum within the Smithsonian with a review of how the interweaving of art into scientific frameworks led to an interest in art and the nation’s desire to affirm its identity through the proper establishment of a National Gallery, featuring artworks by contemporary American artists. Further to this, the significance of these practices in terms of contemporary museological theory is also considered.
As a consequence of his lifelong quest for a proper declaration of identity, Smithson’s extraordinary bequest allowed for a fledging nation to realize and determine its own unique individuality.[iv] The role that the art museum played in this journey of discovery underlines the value of esoteric knowledge that can be gained from the aesthetic experience of artwork. Accordingly, this research paper will confirm that the identity of the art gallery at the Smithsonian existed inside the centre for scientific research all along. Whilst Karp (1965, p. 96) describes the provision for the art gallery within the Smithsonian as vague and unclear, its ultimate purpose as a tool for self-realisation may be best described by First Secretary Joseph Henry:
All knowledge was practical, however abstruse
‘soever it might be to the initiated appear,
and in good time would always vindicate itself
in subserving the practical wants and necessities of humankind.[v]
[i] From the memoires of James Smithson, undated (cited in Ewing 2007, p. 1).
[ii] President John Quincy Adams held Office 1825-1829 (cited in Ewing 2007, p. 329).
[iii] See Appendix A, James Smithson’s Last Will and Testament, Oct 23, 1826.
[iv] Smithson was denied his father’s title and his own birthright as he was born out of wedlock.
[v] Rosenberg (ed), ‘Joseph Henry: Advocate of Basic Research,’ Joseph Henry Papers Project, online, Smithsonian Institution Archives, URL: www.siarchives.si.edu/history/jhp/project01.htm
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