MS01.01.03.B02.F23.099

Harmon Foundation
Page [crossed out: 14] 23

annual exhibits of his works, the Foundation acted as art broker on
Johnson's behalf, selling some of his works and arranging for private
commercial gallery shows. In 1946, when Johnson became ill in his
adopted Denmark, the United States goverment acted to repatriate him.
Brady arranged for shipment from Europe to New York City
of over eleven hundred Johnson's paintings. [crossed out : Johnson's] His works were placed in storage but many deteriorated due to dampness and the intrusion of
mice and rats. In June 1956, the Harmon Foundation legally obtained
release of hundreds of boxes and crates of Johnson's works from U.S Customs. Many of the paintings were in need of restoration. Palmer Hayden, a Harmon Foundation gold medal prize winner and occasional janitor for the Foundation, assumed the work of "restoring" Johnson's paintings. The Foundation with the help of the United Negro College Fund raised enough additional funds to partially restore many works. Once the paintings were restored to their original state, the Foundation donated eleven hundred fifty-four [crossed out: works] to the National Collection of Fine arts, now the National Musuem of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, along with the gift of works by William H. Johnson to the Smithsonian.

While the programs of the [crossed out: Harmon] Foundation were light years ahead of others of thier time in improving [crossed out: human condition], the status of Black artists, the Foundation's success may well have been less measurable were it not for the efforts of Brady. She served the Board of Directors as a secretary while assuming the roles of Public Information Officer, as Acting Director went works by Palmer Hayden, Malvin Gray Johnson, Ellis Wilson, Sargent Johnson, Claude Clark and other artists whom the Foundation had collected.