Release Date: May 11, 2003 | Summer in the Sculpture Garden

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART CELEBRATES
TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY PARIS WITH
MÉTROPOLITAIN ENTRANCE IN SCULPTURE GARDEN

Washington, DC -- “Meet me at the Metro entrance” takes on a new meaning this spring in Washington, D.C. with the permanent installation of a cast-iron Paris Métropolitain entrance in the National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden. The entrance is one of the few remaining among those removed from their Parisian settings between the 1930s and 1960s.

Measuring approximately fourteen feet tall and twelve feet wide, An Entrance to the Paris Métropolitain (conceived 1902, fabricated 1902/1913) has been installed adjacent to the art nouveau revival pavilion (designed in 1988 by Charles Bassett) leading to the grand fountain and reflecting pool in the Sculpture Garden. During warm weather, individuals can dine outside on tables arrayed around the distinctive art nouveau structure.

Of the 141 Métropolitain models designed by French architect Hector Guimard and installed in Paris in between 1900 and 1913, 86 are still standing today in the city and have been registered since 1978 as Monuments Historiques. The Gallery's acquisition of the cast-iron entrance was made possible by a gift from Robert P. and Arlene R. Kogod.

" Since their installation at the time of the 1900 Paris World Fair, Hector Guimard's entrances to the Paris Métropolitain have been a symbol of the art nouveau movement. Radical and remarkably original in their combination of ornament and structure, they are considered masterpieces of art nouveau," said Earl A. Powell lll, director, National Gallery of Art. "This famous work from the beginning of the last century will delight visitors who come to eat in the pavilion restaurant, sit by the fountain, skate on the ice rink, or enjoy the sculptures and landscaping throughout our Sculpture Garden."

An Entrance to the Paris Métropolitain was first on view at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, as part of the exhibition, Art Nouveau, 1890-1914 (October 8, 2000-January 28, 2001), which attracted 268,155 visitors in the fall of 2000 before traveling to Tokyo.

A leading figure of art nouveau and modernism in France, Guimard was the first to create art nouveau designs in French architecture in 1893, and his Métro entrances are among his most famous creations. Due to the pervasiveness of these structures in Paris, the art nouveau movement was often called at the time le style Métro or le style Guimard.

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.

For additional press information please call or send inquiries to:

Press Office
National Gallery of Art
2000B South Club Drive
Landover, MD 20785
phone: (202) 842-6353 e-mail: pressinfo@nga.gov

Deborah Ziska
Chief of Press and Public Information
(202) 842-6353
ds-ziska@nga.gov

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NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART CELEBRATES TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY PARIS WITH MÉTROPOLITAIN ENTRANCE IN SCULPTURE GARDEN

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART CELEBRATES
TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY PARIS WITH
MÉTROPOLITAIN ENTRANCE IN SCULPTURE GARDEN