FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Joel Shapiro Donates the 20th Edition to the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies Lee Kimche McGrath Original Print Collection Presented to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Washington D.C. - June 26, 2012 The Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE) is pleased to announce the 2012 print contribution to the Lee Kimche McGrath Original Print Collection by Joel Shapiro. Named for FAPE’s Founding Director, the Collection is FAPE’s oldest program, through which some of America’s most celebrated and accomplished artists have contributed prints for display in U.S. embassies around the world. The print, entitled Toss-up, marks the twentieth edition in the Collection.
The artist presented his screenprint to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on May 15, 2012, at a dinner hosted by the Secretary in honor of FAPE at the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Reception Rooms.
“Joel’s print is a tremendous addition to one of FAPE’s oldest and most renowned collections,” said FAPE Chairman Jo Carole Lauder. “We are extremely grateful to Joel for his continued support and generosity to FAPE through this extraordinary gift.”
The Lee Kimche McGrath Original Print Collection began in 1989, when Frank Stella donated The Symphony in an edition large enough for a print to be sent to every American Toss-up, 2012, 2 color screenprint, 40 x 30 inches, embassy. Since 1995, John Baldessari, Louisiana Bendolph, edition of 100 Mary Lee Bendolph, Loretta Bennett, Vija Celmins, Chuck Close, Jasper Johns, Alex Katz, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Mangold, Brice Marden, Elizabeth Murray, Loretta Pettway, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Susan Rothenberg, Ed Ruscha and Joel Shapiro have contributed editions.
“I kept pushing the parts around until I found an image that I thought was lively and the aggregate became more meaningful than the parts,” said Shapiro of the print.
Shapiro’s print marks the seventh edition published courtesy of Gemini G.E.L. LCC. In addition to this work, Gemini has contributed the publishing of the John Baldessari, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Elizabeth Murray, Susan Rothenberg and Ed Ruscha prints.
About Joel Shapiro Joel Shapiro was born in New York City in 1941, and received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from New York University. Since his first exhibition in 1970, his work has been the subject of many one-person shows and retrospectives, notably at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, in 1980; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1982; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1985; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, jointly
Page 1 of 2 with the Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, 1995-6; the American Academy in Rome, 1999; Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 1999; and the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2001. In 2005, his sculpture 20 Elements was installed in the Musée d’Orsay for its contemporary arts initiative Correspondences.
Shapiro’s work can be found in numerous public collections in the United States and abroad, including The Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; the Tate Gallery, London; and the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centers Georges Pompidou, Paris. Prominent commissions include the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C.; the Communauté de Communes de l’Agglomération Orléanaise in Orléans, France; Verge, for 23 Savile Row, London; and For Jennifer, which was recently installed at the Denver Art Museum.
In 2010, Mr. Shapiro had solo exhibitions of new work at The Pace Gallery, New York, and Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne. Additionally, The Paula Cooper Gallery organized an exhibition of sculpture from the 1970s. He recently completed installations of new sculptural work at the Museum Ludwig, Cologne, and the Rice University Art Gallery, Houston, Texas. The John Berggruen Gallery in San Francisco held an exhibition of new sculpture and drawings that opened in April 2012.
Among other distinctions, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1998, and he was awarded the Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture in 2005. Shapiro lives and works in New York City.
About FAPE FAPE is the leading non-profit organization dedicated to providing permanent works of American art for U.S. embassies worldwide, through site-specific commissions, an original print collection, preservation projects and other arts initiatives. It contributes to the U.S. Department of State’s mission of cultural diplomacy by partnering with American artists whose gifts encourage cross-cultural understanding within the diplomatic community and the international public. All artworks commissioned or placed by FAPE are gifts, representing generosity among some of the country’s greatest artists. As of 2012, FAPE’s donations include permanent works by more than 200 preeminent American artists placed in more than 140 countries.
FAPE was founded in 1986 by Leonore Annenberg, Wendy W. Luers, Lee Kimche McGrath and Carol Price. Its current leadership includes Chairman Jo Carole Lauder, President Eden Rafshoon, Vice President Darren Walker, and Director Jennifer A. Duncan. A volunteer advisory committee chaired by Robert Storr, Dean of the Yale School of Art, selects and commissions all FAPE artists. FAPE underwrites the fabrication and installation, and is exclusively funded through individual donations as well as foundations and corporations.
Further information on FAPE may be found at www.fapeglobal.org.
Media Contacts: For more information on FAPE, images, or to arrange interviews, please contact:
Elizabeth Reina-Longoria or Rachel Patall-David Blue Medium Inc. (212) 675-1800 [email protected] [email protected]
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