FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies Installs Don Gummer’s Frontier at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow

Don Gummer, Frontier, 2017, Stainless steel and bronze, 22 feet high Gift of the artist with additional funding provided by Bank of America, Agnes Gund, The Honorable Ronald S. Lauder and Mrs. Jo Carole Lauder, Nancy and Howard Marks, and Maria Hummer-Tuttle and Robert Tuttle

Washington, D.C. – May 31, 2018 - The Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE) is pleased to announce the installation of a major site-specific by Don Gummer, Frontier, at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. The sculpture will be officially dedicated at a ribbon cutting ceremony at the embassy on Friday, June 8.

FAPE commissioned the artist to create the sculpture in 2014. Gummer understood the importance of engaging the community beyond the embassy compound and designed a 22-foot-high stainless steel and bronze sculpture that soars from the arrival courtyard and is visible to the citizens of Moscow above security walls. The sculpture is a gift of the artist and made possible through generous donations from Bank of America, Agnes Gund, The Honorable Ronald S. Lauder and Mrs. Jo Carole Lauder, Nancy and Howard Marks, and Maria Hummer-Tuttle and Robert Tuttle.

The artist describes his work as, “a tall, vertical sculpture that reflects the tension between gravity and velocity, Frontier expresses openness and optimism. It represents the energy and freedom of our multicultural world as well as the individuality and interconnectedness of our countries.”

Gummer’s sculpture is the 18th work commissioned for FAPE’s Site-Specific Collection. The program was established in 1999 when Joel Shapiro created Conjunction, a 40-foot bronze that stands on the front lawn of the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, Canada. The Collection includes works by Lynda Benglis (Mumbai, India); Louise Bourgeois (Beijing, China); Ron Gorchov (New York, USA); Ellsworth Kelly (Beijing, China; Berlin, Germany); Sol LeWitt (Berlin, Germany; Tunis, Tunisia; New York, USA); Maya Lin (Istanbul, Turkey); Elie Nadelman (London, United Kingdom); Odili Donald Odita (New York, USA); Martin Puryear (Beijing, China); Joel Shapiro (Ottawa, Canada; Guangzhou, China); Michael Singer (Athens, Greece); Dorothea Rockburne (Kingston, Jamaica); and Elyn Zimmerman (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania). FAPE announced its latest commission for the new U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, Roy Lichtenstein’s Greene Street Mural.

L to R: Don Gummer (right) reviews plans for Frontier with representatives from the State Department’s Overseas Building Operations and the fabrication team at Polich Tallix in New York where the sculpture was fabricated. Fabrication of Don Gummer’s Frontier.

“FAPE is honored to bring Don’s sculpture to Moscow and to support the important work our diplomats undertake every day at this important post,” said Jennifer A. Duncan, FAPE’s Director. “We know the critical role art can play to strengthen relationships and find points of commonality among cultures. We hope Frontier serves as inspiration to continue this cultural diplomacy effort.”

FAPE is assisted by an advisory committee of prominent arts professionals chaired by Robert Storr, Professor of Painting and former Dean of the Yale School of Art. Once an artist has been selected and has agreed to create a work, the embassy architects, the State Department, and the artist work together to ensure that the art is sensitively integrated within the site. The works are all donated by the artists, and FAPE provides the funds to pay for their fabrication and installation.

About Don Gummer (American, b. Louisville, Kentucky, 1946) Gummer is an American sculptor who studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in and the Yale School of Art, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Fine Arts in 1973. He had his first solo exhibition in 1973, and since then his work has been featured in more than 30 solo exhibitions in the United States and internationally, at locations including: Artists Space, Sperone Westwater, Fischer and Morrison Hotel Gallery in New York; Daniel Weinberg Gallery and Imago Galleries in California; the Akron Art Museum and the Butler Institute of American Art in Ohio; Museum of Contemporary Art; Kitakyushu International Center in Japan; and Galleria delle Esposizioni Benucci in Italy. Gummer has received prestigious awards from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and has been a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome. He lives and works in New York City.

About FAPE FAPE is a public-private partnership dedicated to providing permanent works of American art for U.S. embassies worldwide. Since 1986, FAPE has contributed to the U.S. Department of State’s mission of cultural diplomacy by partnering with American artists whose works encourage cross-cultural understanding within the diplomatic community and the international public. All artworks commissioned or placed by FAPE are by American artists and gifts, representing the generosity and patriotism of some of the United States’ greatest artists and donors. As of 2018, FAPE has raised more than $150 million in art and monetary contributions; permanent works by more than 220 preeminent American artists have been 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. FAPE underwrites the fabrication and installation of all works, and is exclusively funded through individual, foundation and corporate donations. FAPE’s sponsor is Bank of America. Additional information about FAPE can be found at www.fapeglobal.org.

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PRESS CONTACT: Caitlin O’Connor, FAPE, 202-349-3724, [email protected]