Release Date: September 5, 2014

NGA Corcoran Offers Free Admission
Don’t miss special exhibitions, collection highlights, and tours through September 28, 2014

Free Admission at NGA Corcoran has quadrupled attendance.
Photographer: Dennis Brack

Washington, DC—Through September 28, 2014, NGA Corcoran offers free admission and tours, Wednesday through Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. During the month of September, several exciting exhibitions and special installations are on view at NGA Corcoran before it closes for renovation in October.

Eliminating the admission fee to the galleries to increase access to the art of the Corcoran collection is just one of the goals of the historic agreement between the National Gallery of Art, the Corcoran, and George Washington University. Admission will remain free of charge when NGA Corcoran reopens in fall 2015, following renovations.

Exhibitions

American Metal: The Art of Albert Paley—The retrospective survey of the art of Albert Paley, one of the world's most distinguished metalsmiths, covers all aspects of his nearly 50-year career. It starts with his work as a jeweler and progresses through his recent, large-scale sculptural projects.

Terra Firma: Landscapes from the Photography and Media Arts Collection—Drawn from the Corcoran's collection of photography and media arts, Terra Firma examines the ways in which photographers have portrayed the natural and built environment for more than 150 years.

Mark Tribe: Plein Air—New-media artist Mark Tribe explores the aesthetics and representation of aerial views in landscape photography through the virtual lens of computer simulation.

Special Installations

Sol Lewitt's Wall Drawing #65—Following LeWitt's straightforward instructions, a representative from the artist's studio and a team of Corcoran students executed an architecturally-scaled drawing that is at once sensuous and precise, simple and highly complex. Installed just this past spring in the Corcoran's north atrium, Wall Drawing #65 is from the National Gallery of Art collection.

Loop: Jennifer Steinkamp and Jimmy Johnson—The site-specific visual art and music installation by internationally known media artist Jennifer Steinkamp and renowned electronic composer Jimmy Johnson engages visitors in the Corcoran's rotunda. The piece was commissioned in 2000 for Media/Metaphor, the Corcoran's 46th Biennial Exhibition, which took as its theme the complex relationships between painting and media arts. Steinkamp and Johnson's special brand of transformative art interacts with both the building and its visitors, making this installation a highlight of the Corcoran experience.

From the Corcoran Collection

American Journeys—Visions of Place—The Corcoran's collection of historic American art dates from 1718 to 1945. This installation showcases the Corcoran's masterpieces of pre-1945 American art, including 125 paintings and sculptures that convey the changing notion of place. Among the highlights on view are Albert Bierstadt's The Last of the Buffalo (1888), Frederic Remington's Off the Range (Coming through the Rye) (1903), Edward Hopper's Ground Swell (1939), and the iconic Niagara (1857) by Frederic Edwin Church.

An Intimate View: European Art from the Collection—With the acquisition of William A. Clark's collection in 1926, the Corcoran's European collection came to represent a wide range of historic and aesthetic ideas and styles, making it ideal for teaching. Highlights include Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot.

Modern and Contemporary Art since 1945—With a special focus on local artists, the modern and contemporary collection is also international in scope. It encompasses painting, sculpture, print, drawing, installation, and new media from 1945 to the present and features work by artists including iona rozeal brown, Robert Colescott, Richard Diebenkorn, Joan Mitchell, Anne Truitt, Cy Twombly, Yinka Shonibare MBE, and Andy Warhol.

George Washington University's Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, Gallery 31

Fathom: Joseph Asher Hale—Fathom is an educational cross-section model of Earth depicting its future super-continental landmass Pangea Ultima, speculated to form in 250 million years. This installation is an extension of Joe Hale's latest work using sculptural models of real and fantastically modified locations to alter the viewer's sense of place and blur the boundaries between fact and fiction.

Public Programs in September

Visiting Artist: Mark Tribe
Thursday, September 11, 7:00 p.m.
Mark Tribe discusses this new work commissioned by the Corcoran as well as his artistic practice and inspiration.

Visiting Artist: Albert Paley
Wednesday, September 24, 7:00 p.m.
Albert Paley discusses his prolific career, the creative process, and his work on view in the retrospective exhibition American Metal: The Art of Albert Paley.

NGA Corcoran

Admission to NGA Corcoran, located at 500 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20006, is free of charge through September 28, 2014. The main entrance is located on 17th Street between New York Avenue and E Street NW. Hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The telephone for Visitor Services is 202-639-1700. The current tour schedule can be found at http://www.corcoran.org/visit/daily-tours. After September 28, 2014, NGA Corcoran will close for renovation for approximately one year. The George Washington University Corcoran School of the Arts and Design remains open during this time.

For more information, visit http://www.nga.gov/press/2014/corcoran04.html