Corcoran Gallery of Art
After this university and the Corcoran Museum of Art spent months exploring a potential partnership, Washington’s oldest art museum has decided to instead pursue a plan announced Wednesday that would have George Washington University and the National Gallery of Art take it over.
Under the proposed plan, George Washington would take over the College of Art and Design while the National Gallery of Art would be in charge of the museum’s more than 17,000 pieces of art. After a period of study, the National Gallery of Art would obtain many of those pieces and the rest would go to museums across the nation.
The announcement came as a surprise given that the university and the Corcoran were in the midst of studying a “mutually beneficial” partnership. That potential partnership, announced in April, would have enabled the university to access the iconic art museum’s vast collection while boosting arts and humanities programs at a largely STEM-focused institution.
“Not every courtship ends in marriage,” university President Wallace Loh said. “We’re still committed to dramatically enhancing the arts and humanities.”
Loh said in April the impacts of partnering with the Corcoran could have greater implications than joining the Big Ten.
Financial troubles have beleaguered the Corcoran for years. It once considered selling its more than 100-year-old Beaux-Arts building, which is less than a half mile away from the White House. It also needs more than $100 million worth of renovations to bring it up to modern museum standards.
George Washington will not pay for the building, but will have to pay for the millions needed in renovations.
