What do you think of when you think of the U.S. State Department? Diplomats convey messages to foreign governments to avoid war or resolve disputes? Civil servants and contractors? Or a glorious passport office? Another way to consider the State Department building in Northwest District of Washington, D.C. is to act as a museum. Its collection includes over 5,000 items – paintings, portraits, busts of Benjamin Franklin, Chippendale chairs, silver water pitchers, and important historic tables and tables and tables. Some of them are recent, but most of them date back to the early days of the Republic.
The Ministry of Finance may not inspire enthusiasm. It has an IRS and regulates the sale of alcohol, guns and tobacco, so everyone has something to be upset about. But it is not known to most people, and it also has an extensive collection of artworks, including portraits of Abraham Lincoln and his Treasury Secretary, the landscape of the Treasury Building and sixty-one paintings and prints created by artists from depression, between 1933 and 1943. There are 5,000 and 7,000 items in total.
Both agencies hire curators to take care of the collections and object in a way that helps visitors appreciate their meaning. Although many people can also visit the rooms of these cultural objects, the fact that it is free is also many. No background check, no real ID. However, in the Ministry of Finance, the tour is guided and is only available on Saturday mornings at 9:00, 9:45, 10:30 and 11:15.
See also: Observer’s guide to art storage, masterpieces to wait
There is certainly no shortage of museums in Washington, D.C., and the Smithsonian Institution is a gathering of seventeen museums, galleries and zoos, most of which are located in shopping malls. They are all free, the only question for visitors is which day you can visit on any day – American Museum of Art? African Art Museum? hirshhorn? Or is the free gallery of art? But the exquisite and decorative items contained in federal departments and agencies are particularly surprising. Most visitors expect art to be limited to museums. However, many federal collections are equivalent to the de facto exhibitions being underway and constantly evolving.
American art collection
At the Ministry of Finance, the series tells the history of the department itself. The same goes for portraits of the Senate Office Building and Senate leaders, carving busts of numerous vice presidents and historic furniture. The House, with portraits of speakers, sculptures from each state and various artifacts; the Supreme Court has oil portraits, busts and photographs; the Fed’s paintings focus on the currency and portraits of the Fed’s chairman; and the Capitol Architect’s office, which manages a large number of sculptures, portraits and photographs of Congress.
Before 9/11, visitors to the Capitol were allowed to wander more freely. Today, they start at the Visitor Center and join the tour guide. Still, “most people are overwhelmed by the majesty of this place,” Capitol Collection Director Dr. Michele Cohen told Observer. Rotunda – The large circular space in the center of the building, “is a pilgrimage site for many people” as they occupy the murals, depicting a critical moment in American history, on the top of the dome, a painting by Constantino Brumidi in 1865 The Deification of George Washington.
Other collections can be found in the Blair House (paintings and antique furniture), in the collections of the five branches of the U.S. Army (the art of combat) and the White House (spanning furniture, portraits and historical sites). The White House series actually totals 40,000 items, although most of them (China, tableware, glassware) are reserved for VIPs and guests to use formally. NASA’s art collection includes more than 3,000 pieces, including sketches and paintings; some are on display at the Smithsonian National Aviation Museum, but others are at NASA’s headquarters.
Most of the General Services Authority’s art collection (24,000 paintings, prints and sculptures commissioned since the 1850s) are installed in federal buildings across the country. GSA’s collection strategy is related to institutional history compared to the records of American art over the past 150 years. The Ministry of the Interior has the largest cultural relics distributed among its institutions, including the Indian Affairs Bureau (more than 5.5 million projects), the National Park Service (120 million projects), the Fish and Wildlife Service (5.5 million items), and the U.S. Geological Survey (more than 40,000 items). If you are only interested in art, DOI has over 101,000 pieces of fine art, representing hundreds of years of history.
Each federal collection of art and artifacts reflects the characteristics of its institution. In the House, you’ll find a baseball card for Wilmer “Vinegar Bend” Mizell, a former MLB pitcher who served three terms as a congressman from North Carolina. Another highlight was the 1857 desk in the room of the house, when members had no offices or employees and stored everything on a single lift table. In stark contrast to today’s vast offices.
The Senate collections vary, from Thomas Jefferson’s portrait of Thomas Suley and George Washington’s Gilbert Stewart to items bordering Islam, such as impeachment trial tickets and Senate graffiti. Barack Obama’s presidential lunch also used Chinese and silverware. There are about 10,000 items, some of which are displayed in lobbies and meeting rooms, while others are in storage. Even if these items are not strictly related to the Senate, they together form an institutional memory.
But not every collection is a narrative for purpose. State Department’s diplomatic reception room on the eighth floor – tables with Thomas Jefferson, Affleck and Chippendale chairs, John Singleton Copley, Jean Baptiste Greuze, refreshments and paintings, refreshments and paintings. At the Blair House, the presidential hotel opposite the White House, furniture and artworks tend toward the mid-19th century to the early 20th century. (Although not a museum, Blair House is still a hotel for VIPs and officials.)
How federal agencies build art collections
Interestingly, due to the slightest travel, federal collections tend not to be insured or valued, and if so, this is another government agency. The State Council is an exception, with its assessment of collections of $100 million.
Maintaining all of this costs money, sources vary. The Senate and House of Representatives fund their collections, while agencies rely on private donations. The State Council raises funds for the diplomatic reception room through its office of Fine Arts (it also has art from the Embassy Office, curates about 60 exhibitions a year and builds art collections for the country’s diplomatic space). At Blair House, the federal government pays for building maintenance costs, while the Blair House Recovery Fund covers protection. The Historical Society of the Nonprofit Supreme Court raises approximately $35,000 in acquisitions and portrait committees each year. The Ministry of Finance Historical Association will help protect the finance building and expand the collection. The Fed’s Fine Art Trust accepts donations for money and art. The Capitol Historical Society supports the work of Capitol curators and architects. Founded by Jacqueline Kennedy in the early 1960s, the White House Historical Society adds millions of dollars each year by selling ornaments, guides, and poster replicas.
This is not very different from how major cultural institutions deal with acquisitions and preservation. What really distinguishes the collection and planning of federal agencies and the curation of museums is the display of works that are not stored in active buildings: employees, visitors and guests use carpets, sit on chairs, write on desks, sleep on four-station beds, sometimes destroy or ruin things – spilling coffee or tilting too far. Most objects are not behind ropes or under glass. At Blair House, the largest share of the annual budget is used for protection, which means repairing and returning items used. There is work to be done in history.
In the White House, which may be a collection of all censorship, including predicted polished national image. On the wall are portraits of the president and the first lady, as well as Albert Bierstadt, George Caleb Bingham, Mary Cassatt, William Merritt Chase, Jasper Cropsey, Childe Hassam, Martin Johnson, Winslow Holmes, Henry Ossawa Tanner.
