The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center will open a new exhibition this spring celebrating four decades of American art placed in U.S. embassies around the world—works that, according to organizers, have quietly shaped how people in more than 140 countries understand the United States.
The free public exhibition—Artistic Generosity and the American Artist Abroad—will open April 7 at the Irene and Richard Frary Gallery and remain on view through June 13. Featuring site-specific commissions, original prints, and photographs, the show draws from the collection of the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies, or FAPE, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that has placed works by more than 280 American artists in embassies across the globe.
In recognition of the United States' 250th anniversary, the exhibition will also display a replica of William J. Stone's 1823 engraving of the Declaration of Independence—a gift from businessman and philanthropist David M. Rubenstein, with one copy designated for each embassy.
"At a moment when the United States marks its 250th anniversary and Johns Hopkins celebrates its sesquicentennial, the FAPE show underscores the importance of cultural diplomacy as an essential tool and calls out the critical role that art and artists play in advancing a dynamic, democratic, and open society," said Cybele Bjorklund, JHU's vice president for federal strategy and executive director of the Hopkins Bloomberg Center.
Image caption:The Statue of Liberty, Joel Grey, 2023
Among the highlights are never-before-seen maquettes of Don Gummer's Frontier, made for the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, and Frank Stella's Hanoi Star, created for the new U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam, and the last public work the artist completed before his death. The exhibition will also include photographs of Roy Lichtenstein's original installation of the Greene Street Mural, drawn from the Leo Castelli Gallery records at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
About the exhibition
Drawing on FAPE's three core collections—site-specific, original print, and photography—the exhibition traces the organization's history from its earliest major installations to landmark commissions. These include Joel Shapiro's 40-foot-high Conjunction at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, Canada, and Martin Puryear's Connecting at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China.
"Artists play a significant role in international dialogue," said Caitlin Berry, director of the Frary Gallery. "Collaborating with FAPE allows Frary Gallery visitors to experience American art as it is encountered beyond U.S. borders and reflects Johns Hopkins' commitment to promoting global exchange of ideas and research."
The selection also reflects the global dimensions of American art itself. Ellsworth Kelly, a World War II veteran who studied in Paris under the GI Bill, is represented alongside first-generation American artists like Sarah Sze and artists born abroad who now call the United States home, such as Julie Mehretu.
Image caption:Toss-up, Joel Shapiro, 2012
The exhibition will also feature Sam Gilliam's Cerebral (2022), a tondo—a circular piece of art popularized during the Renaissance—on loan from the Sam Gilliam Foundation, created in the same period and style as Beautiful Man, a large-scale painting acquired by FAPE for the lobby of the U.S. Department of State. The loan deepens the Hopkins Bloomberg Center's ongoing partnership with the Gilliam Foundation, which includes a site-specific commission for the building's atrium and a sponsored lecture series.
Other artists represented in FAPE's collection include Stephen Antonakos, John Baldessari, Dawoud Bey, Ron Gorchov, Carmen Herrera, Rashid Johnson, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Sol LeWitt, Glenn Ligon, Elizabeth Murray, Odili Donald Odita, Robert Rauschenberg, Avis Collins Robinson, James Rosenquist, Ed Ruscha, Joel Shapiro, Cindy Sherman, Stanley Whitney, and Elyn Zimmerman.
"As we mark FAPE's 40th year of operations and our country's 250th anniversary this year, we are pleased to open the doors to our program beyond diplomatic spaces and into classrooms, museums, and communities throughout the United States," said Jack Shear, curator, FAPE board member, and president of the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation.
