Do any museums or galleries in Washington DC have an art rental program?

For example, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has a great
program to rent works of art, it's a great way to quickly and easily
furnish a new home as you gradually find art that you love and want to
buy to keep.

johnb...

I'm sorry to have to answer in the negative, but please don't shoot
the messenger, and keep in mind that researchers earn their 75% of
the question price for performing the research, no matter what the
outcome may be.

That said, this carefully-tailored search rules out art rental 
programs in other locations (and quickly locates your unanswered
question on Yahoo Answers), but turns up no evidence of such a 
program currently in the D.C. area (my home town, by the way):

"art rental" "washington, d.c." gallery OR museum -chicago -lacma
-"san francisco" -victoria -ottawa -indianapolis -"los angeles"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22art+rental%22+%22washington%2C+d.c.%22+gallery+OR+museum+-chicago+-lacma+-%22san+francisco%22+-victoria+-ottawa+-indianapolis+-%22los+angeles%22


Digging through the results of a less restrictive search:

"art rental" dc -"san francisco"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22art+rental%22+dc+-%22san+francisco%22

I was able to locate references such as this one on Artline:

"1972  Corcoran Gallery (Sales and Rental), Washington, DC"
http://www.artline.com/galleries/mateyka/artists/klaidman/bio.html

And this one, from Joan Rettalack's publications page at the
University at Buffalo:

"The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Corcoran Art Rental and Sales Gallery,
 D.C.,
 (Represented Retallack's work from 1971 to its closing in 1973.)"
http://wings.buffalo.edu/epc/authors/retallack/retallack-pub.html


Searching for the Corcoran Gallery site and then doing a sub-search
of the site for the word 'rental':

rental site:www.corcoran.org
://www.google.com/search?q=rental+site%3Awww.corcoran.org

I was able to see that the Corcoran Gallery's archives contain
references to an Art Rental Gallery which seems to have been
active during the 60's, but a thorough search of their site
gives no indication that they have such a program active at
this time:
http://www.corcoran.org/

Another page that suggests that they once engaged in renting
artworks is this obituary for Edna Goldstein Salant in the 
Brown Alumni Magazine, which notes:

"A painter and sculptor, she displayed her work at the Corcoran
 Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where she served on the
 board, and at the Smithsonian. She was a special consultant
 to the National Institute of Mental Health and directed an
 experimental program to train eighth-grade girls as nursery-
 school aides. In 1957 she cofounded Art Rental Gallery, which
 leased works of art."
http://www.brownalumnimagazine.com/storydetail.cfm?ID=2322

The use of the past tense, "leased", suggests that the program
is no longer active. However you can always contact the staff
at Corcoran to inquire further:
http://www.corcoran.org/about/contacts.htm

Then there's the possibility that such programs exist in art
galleries that have no online presence.

If you have any questions, or you think my findings are in 
error, please post a Request for Clarification.

If you're moving to D.C., I wish you the best, and you certainly
won't find the city lacking in arts and culture!

sublime1-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by sublime1-ga on 19 Nov 2006 12:58 PST

john... 

I'm happy to have found a few results with another search:

"lease art OR artwork" "washington, dc"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22lease+art+OR+artwork%22+%22washington%2C+dc%22

I was able to locate this page from the WVSA ARTs connection
(formerly Washington Very Special Arts) which has an Art On
The Move program:

"The ART on the Move art-leasing program offers individuals
 and businesses the opportunity to lease artwork created by
 the artist apprentices in our ARTiculate Employment Training
 Program. For an annual fee, exhibits are curated to match your
 needs and preferences. The exhibits increase the viewing and
 purchasing audience for our art and offer additional exposure
 for our young artists and for the goals of our program.

 ARTiculate artwork is currently on display in over 20 offices
 and organizations throughout the greater metropolitan area."
http://www.wvsarts.org/gallery/leaseArt.html

Their catalogue page gives you an idea of the type of artwork
which is available:
http://www.wvsarts.org/gallery/Catalog/Catalog.htm


I also found the International Visions Gallery:

" Gallery Features

- Features original work by nationally and internationally acclaimed
  artists
- Hosts exhibitions rotating every six weeks
- Hosts various activities and cultural programs
* Offers oppurtunities to acquire or lease art for your residence,
  office, business or institution
- Offers art advertising and interior design consultation services
- Offers art installation and placement
- Offers special membership benefits "
http://www.inter-visions.com/gallery_information.asp

Here's their homepage:
http://www.inter-visions.com/


Then there's the O Street Museum Foundation:

"The O Street Museum Foundation is home to numerous traveling art
 exhibits. The museum also offers the unique option to lease art
 and antiques from our extensive inventory."
http://www.omansion.com/museum/

Homepage:
http://www.omansion.com/


These few results suggest to me that there are very likely
other, smaller galleries that engage in leasing artwork, but
you'll likely have to become involved in the local community
in order to ferret them out.

sublime1-ga