Republican Congressman John Mica Battling to Greatly Expand the National Gallery of Art -- posted by Florida Fine Art Blog

Photo by Bill O'Leary/WASHINGTON POST

Congressman Mica’s quest pits FTC against National Gallery
Washington Post - Page 1 Lifestyle
By Ned Martel, Published: June 19

Rep. John L. Mica has what he calls a “weakness,” an obsession with art. He has fulfilled it as any aspiring connoisseur might. He scours odd shops and auction sites for objects treasured only by dust mites but still accruing worth with each passing year. He makes frequent trips to the National Gallery to research what he has bought and what he could buy. One day, while at the museum, he looked across the street and saw something old and undervalued: the Apex building, home to the Federal Trade Commission.

Decades ago, the Florida Republican was a developer. It gave him the means to treasure-hunt as well as a gut for appraisal — the real-estate concept of highest, best use. A question popped into his head: How many more Americans would benefit from the FTC building if the National Gallery were to take it over.
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Link to The Washington Post article


I have blogged about this story before and am following the developments closely. The National Gallery has more work in its collection than it could possibly display. Most of the treasures in the collection are only on exhibition periodically. The last time I was up at the National Gallery in 2007 they were having an exhibition of Jasper John's work. Amazingly I learned that it was the first time the Gallery had been able to show all the work they owned of Jasper Johns. In fact not even the artist's famous "Flags" are permanently displayed. When you search the National Gallery website what sticks out most in the descriptions of the paintings is the phrase "Not on Display". It seems that most of the collection, all important works, are stored away hoping for one day to be included in a group show or artist retrospective. We should be proud of this world class collection and more of it should be included on permanent display. Let’s hope Congressman Mica can persuade enough to join his worthy art “Crusade”!
Link to The Washington Post article
Past blog post on same story
National Gallery of Art website
John Mica website