US National Gallery of Art acquires around 190 works spanning five centuries

The National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, DC, announced on August 19 that it has acquired around 190 works since March, spanning several media, styles, centuries and continents.

The acquisitions include a 17th-century crucifix painting by María Josefa Sánchez, colonial Latin American art, woodblock prints by T.C. Cannon, the museum's first Ben Shahn painting, a major work by Wifredo Lam, and a collection of photographs by Lillian Bassman and Paul Himmel.

Many of the acquisitions mark the first time an artist's work has entered the NGA's collection, including French Impressionist Marie Bracquemond and contemporary artists LaToya Hobbs, Stacy Kranitz, Lorraine O'Grady and Christina Quarles. Quarles's painting Turn Around, Don't (2024) was one of her only finished works to survive the Los Angeles wildfires that destroyed her Altadena house and studio.

"Spanning over five centuries, our latest acquisitions provide new opportunities to engage with major artistic innovations by offering new points of entry into the practices of both established and lesser-known artists," NGA director Kaywin Feldman said in a statement. Chief curatorial and conservation officer E. Carmen Ramos added that the acquisitions expand the museum's holdings in modern art, contemporary painting and colonial Latin American art.