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Show IT HAPPENED IN WASHINGTON by Mrs. Wallace F. Bennett With the advent of hot weather, I thiigs slow town somewhat in Washington and give one time to ei-joy some of the finer things of life. A recent visit to the National Gallery of Art made me realize a-new a-new just what a treasure is afforded afford-ed there. In addition to it magnificent collection of art treasuies, the National Na-tional Gallery is one of the most beautiful buildings in Washington. From the moment one enters the large rotunda, with its impressive dark green Italian marble columns surrounding a magnificent fountain in full play, it is apparent that those responsible for the building and its contents wanted nothing but the best. The central rotunda divides the main floor into two wines, each ' yn - . f,f Si ending in a beautiful beau-tiful garden court In the center of ' each court is a fountain surroun ded by plants and flowers, kept in bloom constantly It is a two-story two-story structure. The second floor contains the prin cipal exhibition galleries, provid- Mrs. Bennett in the maximum amount of natural natur-al lighting for the paintings, as much of the light is filtered through skylights. The backgrounds for the exhibition exhibi-tion rooms have been chosen with great care to enhance the art of the different periods; for instance, the fumed oak background in the Flemish Fle-mish and Dutch rooms blends beautifully beau-tifully with the dark tones of the pictures of that period, whereas the lighter French and British paintings are hung on light backgrounds of pninted wood paneling. A comparitively new feature of the gallery is the use of the Lec-Tour Lec-Tour system of broadcasts. This consists of a small receiving set which a visitor may rent for 25c. He hangs it around his neck, with the receiver hanging vertically on his chest, and plugs a tiny earphone into one ear. This allows him to hear lectures on the paintings in various rooms without disturbing anyone else. Having been in many European galleries where numerous guides speaking in various languages blast out their stories, I found the "silent treatment" a welcome relief. This system does not replace the regular and special tours conducted by members of the staff, but supplements supple-ments them. Whenever I go there, I wonder why 1 don't set aside a definite time each week to go to the gallery and really study the beautiful treasures there. Why do we allow our lives to become so crowded that there is often no time for beauty? 4S- |