Joseph Hirshhorn, the Latvian-born multi-millionaire, has given his art collection, valued at between $25,000,000 and $50,000,000 to the United States, which will house it in a new building and a sculpture garden on the Washington Mall, it was learned today.
The collection of 5,300 paintings, drawings and sculpture is one of the largest privately owned collections in the world. President Johnson is expected to announce the gift in the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Hirshhorn in a few days.
Nearly every official gallery and group which knows about the Hirshhorn collection has tried to obtain it. Mr. Hirshhorn said previously he planned to give the collection away while he was still alive because he felt it “belongs to the people.”
The Smithsonian Institution will administer the collection and President Johnson will ask Congress for funds to build the gallery which will house it. Mr. Hirshhorn has agreed to contribute $1,000,000 for additional acquisitions of contemporary art for the collection. Much of the collection is now housed in Mr. Hirshhorn’s mansion in Greenwich, Conn.
Mr. Hirshhorn, who is 67, was reared in Brooklyn, where he was taken by his mother, who had emigrated from Latvia with him and his 12 brothers and sisters.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
