11 Facts About Freer Gallery

1.

Freer Gallery of Art is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D C focusing on Asian art.

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2.

The Freer Gallery was featured in the Google Art Project, which offers online viewers close-up views of selected items from the Freer Gallery.

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3.

Freer Gallery owned the largest collection of works by American artist James McNeill Whistler and became a patron and friend of the famously irascible artist.

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4.

Freer Gallery gift was accepted on behalf of the government by the Smithsonian Board of Regents in 1906.

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5.

Freer Gallery felt strongly that all of the museum's holding should be readily accessible to scholars at all times.

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6.

The Freer Gallery possesses an autographed letter from Roosevelt inviting Freer to visit him at the White House, reflecting the personal interest Roosevelt showed in the development of the museum.

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7.

The gallery is constructed primarily of granite: the exterior of the Freer is pink granite quarried in Milford, Massachusetts, the courtyard has a carnelian granite fountain and walls of unpolished Tennessee white marble.

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8.

The Freer Gallery was the first Smithsonian museum created from a private collector's bequest.

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9.

The Freer Gallery closed for extensive renovations in January 2016 and reopened in October 2017.

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10.

In 1890, after meeting James Abbott McNeill Whistler, an American artist influenced by Japanese prints and Chinese ceramics, Freer Gallery began to expand his collections to include Asian art.

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11.

Freer Gallery has had a long tradition in serving as a center for inquiry and advanced scholarship about Asia.

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