05/27/2026
Join us in commemorating the 120th anniversary of Detroit industrialist Charles Lang Freer’s signing the deed of gift of his art collection to the Smithsonian Institution and the Nation.
SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2026
2 PM
Detroit Institute of Arts
Marvin and Betty Danto Lecture Hall
Free with Museum Admission
No RSVP Required
Detroit and Charles Lang Freer’s Vision for a National Museum
Lecture by distinguished guest speaker
Chase Robinson, PhD
Director, Freer Gallery of Art,
National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution
Though born in New York, Charles Freer very much became a man of Michigan. It was in Detroit that he made his fortune, formed his social and political network, assembled his collection, and built a residence-gallery as a national hub for collectors, curators and scholars. This lecture will shed new light on Freer’s profile in Detroit and Detroit’s role in establishing America’s first national art museum.
When Detroit industrialist Charles Lang Freer donated his art collection to what became the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art, now the National Museum of Asian Art, he emerged as the nation’s first great art benefactor and perhaps the most influential art collector of the Gilded Age.
The Freer House, on Ferry, is a testament to Freer’s vision, life and art located in Detroit, originally home to The Peacock Room.
Chase Robinson, PhD, has been director of the National Museum of Asian Art since 2018. Under his leadership, the museum has sigificantly increased the number of visitors, added over 5,400 works to its collection, expanded community-based and international partnerships, and established itself at the forefront of provenance research. The museum’s centennial hosted more than 40,000 in celebration of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
