The article examines the relationship between the Kress Foundation and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, focusing on the donations of paintings during the museum’s first decade (1941–1951). Drawing on extensive range of manuscript and printed sources, and intertwining museum practices with acquisition strategies, the paper first outlines the complex machinery of exhibitions aimed at presenting the donations. These exhibitions were the result of meticulous planning, accompanied by educational events and an effective communication strategy. Secondly, the contribution focuses on the criteria of authorship and conservation status that guided the choices of acquisition, selection and display of the donated artworks. These meticulous guidelines were primarily the prerogative of the Kress Foundation’s curator, Wilhelm Suida, and the team of restorers headed by Mario Modestini. The construction of the Kress collection and, consequently, that of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, was not only an act of patronage but also a complex museological project that intertwined collecting tastes, the dynamics of the art market, public preferences and the ambitions of key figures in mid-twentieth-century American museum historiography.
La National Gallery of Art di Washington e le donazioni della Fondazione Kress: pratiche museali e strategie per una storia dell’arte italiana in Nord America
Serati, Ilaria
2026
Abstract
The article examines the relationship between the Kress Foundation and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, focusing on the donations of paintings during the museum’s first decade (1941–1951). Drawing on extensive range of manuscript and printed sources, and intertwining museum practices with acquisition strategies, the paper first outlines the complex machinery of exhibitions aimed at presenting the donations. These exhibitions were the result of meticulous planning, accompanied by educational events and an effective communication strategy. Secondly, the contribution focuses on the criteria of authorship and conservation status that guided the choices of acquisition, selection and display of the donated artworks. These meticulous guidelines were primarily the prerogative of the Kress Foundation’s curator, Wilhelm Suida, and the team of restorers headed by Mario Modestini. The construction of the Kress collection and, consequently, that of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, was not only an act of patronage but also a complex museological project that intertwined collecting tastes, the dynamics of the art market, public preferences and the ambitions of key figures in mid-twentieth-century American museum historiography.
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