Prints and Drawings
A superb impression of one of the worlds earliest printed engravings, Saint Bartholomew (1440s), is the first work by the Master of St. John the Baptist (c.1410-c.1460) to be acquired by the National Gallery of Art, and only the second in the United States. The Master of St. John the Baptistcalled the first realist by the great scholar of early engraving Max Lehrswas second only to the Master of the Playing Cards (c.1410-c.1460), who in the 1430s created a new art of printing engravings on paper. The acquisition of Saint Bartholomew was made possible by the Milmore Fund and the Gallerys Patrons Permanent Fund.

The recent gift of 141 watercolors and drawings by John Marin (1870-1953) from Norma B. Marin, daughter-in-law of the artist, further enriches the National Gallery of Arts already superb collection of works by this important American artist. The NGAs collectionthe largest, most comprehensive, and most important collection of Marins art in the worldnow consists of 797 watercolors and drawings, 89 prints and 13 paintings, almost all given by the Marin family. This new gift features a luminous 1929 watercolor, Taos Canyon; the 1945 calligraphically-styled Little Maple in Swamp; a superb late seascape, Cape Split, Sea (1945); exemplary renditions of Manhattans Woolworth Building and Brooklyn Bridge, and superb impressions of some of his greatest prints.

The National Gallery of Art Patrons Permanent Fund made possible the acquisition of seven outstanding examples of Russian Constructivism, which substantially enhance a growing area of the NGAs collection. All of the works were previously part of the Merrill C. Berman collection, the most comprehensive private collection of Russian graphic art. The NGA group features photocollages, watercolors, and a lithograph by the pioneering Russian constructivist Gustav Klutsis (1895-1938), including his original maquette for a book cover, The Female Worker in England; Elena Semenova (1898-1986); and Solomon Telingater (19031969).

Photographs
Fifteen gelatin silver prints span the rich and varied career of Jaromir Funke. One of the great Czechoslovakian photographers of the 20th century, he was among the first in his country to embrace industrial subject matter and to experiment with abstraction in photography. The selection includes a series of Modernist still lifes made from 1924 to 1930; works from two surrealist series on aspects of surrealism, Reflections and Time Persists; and haunting nature studies from Primeval Forests and The Unsated Earth, two series made during the repression and bloodletting of the Nazi era. This acquisition was made possible by the Patrons Permanent Fund.

Two Funke photographs, Composition (c.1924) and Abstract Photo (1927-1929), will be on view in the NGA exhibition Foto: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918-1945, from Feb. 11 through May 6, 2007. Spiral (1924), also by Funke, will be seen in the NGA exhibition Photographic Discoveries: Recent Acquisitions (March 26 to July 30, 2006).