Release Date: September 19, 2002

Selections from the Collection of Jacob Kainen, from Rembrandt to David Smith,
At National Gallery of Art
September 22, 2002–February 9, 2003

Washington, D.C.--An Artist’s Artist: Jacob Kainen’s Collection from Rembrandt to David Smith reveals the discerning eye and broad aesthetic interest of this painter, draftsman, printmaker, curator, scholar, and art collector. Selected from his bequest to the National Gallery of Art of more than 400 prints and drawings from the 16th through the 20th centuries, this exhibition exemplifies Kainen’s artistic friendships and technical curiosity. It will be on view in the West Building, ground floor print galleries, from September 22, 2002, through February 9, 2003.

"The Gallery owns 105 works by Jacob Kainen and we have showcased his artistic achievements in such exhibitions as Jacob Kainen: Prints and Drawings, in 1989," said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. "We have also shown Jacob and Ruth Kainen’s joint collection in the exhibition German Expressionist Prints. Now, thanks to his bequest to the Gallery of the major share of his personal collection of prints and drawings, we celebrate Jacob Kainen the art collector."

Jacob Kainen (1909-2001) was for decades a beloved figure in the art world. As a painter, draftsman, and printmaker, with numerous gallery and museum shows to his credit, he worked first in New York, then in Washington, with brief periods at studios in Paris and Chicago. Kainen was also an internationally known curator and scholar. He helped to build and manage the print collections at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, arranged numerous exhibitions, and published research on subjects as varied as 16th-century mannerism, 18th-century Venetian etchings and woodcuts, and German expressionism.

For centuries artists have collected other artists’ work. Their collections frequently reveal a wide range of private connections and aesthetic curiosity, often far different from their personal styles. In Kainen’s case, these ranged from etchings by Rembrandt, Van Dyck, and Canaletto, to woodcuts by Otto Dix, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Käthe Kollwitz. Those familiar with Kainen’s own bold color abstractions may be surprised to find among his favorite etchings the elegant images by 17th-century French painter Laurent de la Hyre or the minutely worked rustic landscapes by 19th-century British artist Samuel Palmer.

Kainen’s strong political and aesthetic allegiances are apparent in his Daumier lithographs, his American works from the 1930s, and his outstanding German expressionist prints. His experience in New York in the thirties put him in touch with the New York School, from Louis Lozowick to John Graham to David Smith. His interest in printmaking led to admiration for the technical wizardry of Félix-Hilaire Buhot’s views of city and shore. One of his last collecting enthusiasms, and another of his most valued additions to the Gallery’s collection, are great examples of American landscapes from the 19th-century etching revival: from the finesse of James Smillie and the tonality of J. C. Nicoll to the grandeur of Thomas Moran.

Jacob and Ruth Kainen have been generous donors to the National Gallery for years. Together and individually they have donated 581 works of art to the Gallery.

The exhibition curator is Andrew Robison, Mellon senior curator of prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art.

General Information

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. For information call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery's Web site at www.nga.gov.

Visitors will be asked to present all carried items for inspection upon entering the East and West Buildings. Checkrooms are free of charge and located at each entrance. Luggage and other oversized bags must be presented at the 4th Street entrances to the East or West Building to permit x-ray screening and must be deposited in the checkrooms at those entrances. For the safety of visitors and the works of art, nothing may be carried into the Gallery on a visitor's back. Any bag or other items that cannot be carried reasonably and safely in some other manner must be left in the checkrooms. Items larger than 17 x 26 inches cannot be accepted by the Gallery or its checkrooms.

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phone: (202) 842-6353 e-mail: pressinfo@nga.gov

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Selections from the Collection of Jacob Kainen, from Rembrandt to David Smith, At National Gallery of Art September 22, 2002–February 9, 2003

Selections from the Collection of Jacob Kainen, from Rembrandt to David Smith,
At National Gallery of Art
September 22, 2002–February 9, 2003