Release Date: October 6, 2006

Gallery "Bookcase":
Mellon, Duveen, and Finley

The East Building Auditorium, National Gallery of Art, is located on the National Mall at Constitution Avenue and 4th Street, NW.

The Gallery is open Monday-Saturday, 10-5; Sunday, 11-6.

All programs are free and open to the public.

For more information, call (202) 737-4215, visit the Web site at www.nga.gov, or inquire at the Art Information Desks.

Books are available from the National Gallery of Art Shops by phone at (202) 842-6002 or (800) 697-9350, by fax at (202) 789-3047, or by e-mail at mailorder@nga.gov.

Mellon: An American Life
(Knopf, 2006)
By David Cannadine

Lectures & book signings:
Sunday, October 8, 2 p.m.
Saturday, December 9, 12 noon (no book signing)

A landmark work from one of the preeminent historians of our time: the first published biography of Andrew W. Mellon, the founder of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, scion of the Pittsburgh banking family, Secretary of the Treasury under Coolidge, Harding, and Hoover, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Random House

Duveen: A Life in Art
(Knopf, 2004)
By Meryle Secrest

Lecture & book signing:
Saturday, October 14, 12 noon

A new and richly detailed biography of Joseph Duveen, one of the most influential art dealers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and a key intermediary in bringing many great old master paintings to major museums across the United States, including the National Gallery of Art. Secrest has written biographies of Romaine Brooks, Bernard Berenson, Kenneth Clark, Salvador Dalí, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Stephen Sondheim, among others. Random House

David Finley: Quiet Force for America’s Arts
(National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2006)
By David A. Doheny

Throughout his long life David Finley (1890-1977) made brilliant contributions to the cultural life of this country (first director of the National Gallery of Art, founding chairman of the board of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and a key player in the creation of the just-reopened National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC). Finley’s distinguished role in promoting the work of the Roberts Commission, which protected the art and architectural monuments in Europe during World War II, stands as a landmark in America’s cultural maturity. Preservation Books

Mellon’s and Finley’s lives were closely intertwined for over 10 years, beginning when Finley became assistant to Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon shortly after WWI. Mellon was among Joseph Duveen’s best clients.

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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Gallery "Bookcase": Mellon, Duveen, and Finley

Gallery "Bookcase":
Mellon, Duveen, and Finley