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[Paper is watermarked with The Great Seal of the United States 1985]
[Left corner of letterhead has The Great Seal of the United States]
United States Department of State Washington, D.C. 20520
June 3, 1987
Mr. David C. Driskell [redacted]
Dear Mr. Driskell:
Congratulations on the wonderful exhibition that you organized for the Anacostia Museum. Each and every one of the artists were exciting and stimulating, and your choice of selections was outstanding.
As we discussed, I am enclosing a Fact Sheet and a copy of an article from The New York Times, which describe our program. If you could spread the word and find out if any of the artists you work with are interested in the program, I would be very grateful. We can do preliminary selections based on slides or photographs if the artists will send those materials to me.
Please let me know what you think. And, thank you in advance for your assistance.
Very truly yours,
[signature of Lee K. McGrath]
(Mrs.) Lee Kimche McGrath Director Art in Embassies Program A/ART, Room B 258 202/647-5723
Enclosures as stated
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[Letterhead is watermarked with The Great Seal of The United States 1985]
[Left side of letterhead: The Great Seal of The United States]
[Right side of letterhead: United States Department of State Washington, D.C. 20520 ]
FACT SHEET
ART IN EMBASSIES PROGRAM, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Art is a powerful form of international currency--it promotes understanding among people of diverse cultural backgrounds. George Bernard Shaw once said, "Next to torture, art is the greatest persuader." The people of the United States, beneficiaries of burgeoning growth in the arts, have a great opportunity to share the humane fruits of their success with world leaders, artists, and advocates around the globe through the Art in Embassies Program.
The Department of State inaugurated the program in January of 1964. The Congressional Record in 1965 first described the Art in Embassies Program as follows: "This is a worldwide program to place original art of our country in U.S. Embassies. Art transcending all periods will be selected throughout the United States. This will include paintings in all media, sculpture, carvings, graphics, ceramics, mosaics, and wall hangings."
The Program is based on cooperation between the government and the private sector. Museums, corporate and private collectors, commercial galleries, and artists donate or lend American art works representing all styles, periods, and media to the Program.
Interested donors or lenders who wish to participate in the program should contact the Director and arrange to show the works available. If it is impractical to arrange direct viewing, slides or photographs of each work of art available should be sent with descriptive information including title, dimensions, medium, and artist's name and biographical data. Generally, the minimum period for items to be loaned is two years. Donor's gifts are tax deductible as provided by the IRS code.
Donors, lenders, and artists are afforded international recognition through the publication of a brochure printed by the embassy in conjunction with each exhibition. Usually the brochure contains a photograph of each work, a brief biographical sketch of the artist, and recognition of the donor or lender. The embassy also seeks media and press coverage in the host country.
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[Image is watermarked with The Great Seal of The United States 1986]
Art is selected for the program according to the following criteria:
. Art must be original and created by an American artist . Art must be of recognized quality to best represent American culture . Art must be compatible with cultural concepts and trends of the host country . Art must enhance architecture and interior design of embassy buildings, to extent possible . To ensure conservation of art, the following factors must be considered in selecting and caring for art: condition/fragility, shipping and exhibition constraints, security, climate, and lender requirements
The State Department will be responsible for all costs of packing, insurance, and transportation for each work of art selected.
Inquiries and materials should be sent to:
Mrs. Lee Kimche McGrath, Director Art in Embassies Program U.S. Department of State, Room B258 21st and Virginia Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20520 Telephone 202/647-5723 Telex A/ART
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{Lefthand Margin reads: A20 THE NEW YORK TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1986 WASHINGTON TALK]
State Department
American Art Abroad
Special to The New York Times WASHINGTON, Jan. 28-Some of the better works in American are are showing up in the United States embassies and ambassadors' residences around the world. The Art in Embassies Program, a State Department service run throught the Foreign Buildings Operations office, administers more than 4,000 works of art that are owned by the program or on loan from major art museums, and distributes them to adorn the walls and receiving rooms of 141 foreign posts. Lee Kimche McGrath, who was recently appointed to head the program, says it had been limited to ambassadors' residences but she is expanding it to include embassies, too. She also hopes to expand the program's permanent collection.
A Showcase of Art
"It allows us to showcase of of the best contemporary artists in this country," Mrs. McGrath said of the program. She added that it also provides some stylish decorations but that, because of security precautions, viewing of the works of art must be limited to foreign dignitaries or people on official business. Among the best-known painters, sculptors and photographers represented areGeorgia O;Keeffe, John H. Safer and Ansel Adams. Some of the most notable works are found in posts in London, paris, Moscow and Mexico City, including "Sunset" by Winslow Homer, on loan from the National Gallery in Washington; "Portarit of Gen. George Washington" by Charles Willson Peale, on loan from an anonymous lender; "May" by Grandma Moses, on loan from Galerie St. Etienne in New York, and "Campbell's Soup Can" by Andy Warhol, on loan from the Leo Castelli gallery in New York. When a new ambassador is named, he meets with the interior design staff of the Foreign Buildings Operations Office. The ambassador and his spouse may then view the program's collected works, stored in the repository in the basement of the State Department and, together with members of the program staff, pick out a theme for decorating the embassy or ambassador's residence.
'A Certain Style or Theme'
"We try to get together a mini-collection, a certain period or a certain style or theme, and then work around that," Mrs. McGrath said. That done, the staff sets out to put together an impressive display, drawing some works of art directly from the repository and using others from museum loans. Most major American museums participate in the program, according to Mrs. McGrath, and they are asked to lend specific works of art for a minimum of two years. Donations to the department's own collection over the years have left it with about 1,000 pieces of art that Mrs. McGrath said are valued at $25 million. She evisions a private committee set up to raise funds with which to purchase lithographs and other less expensive pieces of art to add to the repository. The less expensive pieces, she says, will help fill out the displays in the embassies and residences and will complement the collection's more prized possesions.
[Three photos of 3 different art pieces are displayed on the left side of the newspaper page. The caption below the three photos reads:
The New York Times/Peter Turnley; The National Gallery
Among works being displayed in the State Department's Art in Embassies Program are, at top: "Mrs Joseph Chamerlain," by John Singer Sargent, in sitting room of ambassador's residence in Paris; center, "Iowa Indians Who Visited London and Paris," by George Catlin, on display in Bogota, Columbia, and "Ship in Full Sail," by T. Bangor Davis, at United States mission to United Nation in Geneva.]
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[Letterhead of Quisisana E Ponte Vecchio Hotel]
June 3, 1987
Caro David, all hail!
Mirabile Dictu -- I do hope that I've spelled that correctly -- now that I've shown off . . . . But it is five-thirty in the morning, and I am probably not totally responsible. Also, I'm using a horrible ball point pen I purchased yesterday, but enough of these excuses.
You've been on my mind, and as a matter of fact everything has been on my mind! I'm really a prisoner here; because of the conference all hotel reservations in Venice have been cancelled . . . . Just in Firenze without knowing anyone but at a really delightful old world pensione in a palazzo right on the Arno -- a few steps from the Ponte Vecchio, almost where Dante first encountered Beatrice.
I think that I am having an identity crisis -- I should have had it years ago. You artists have your paintings, and you also have your books while I have thousands (not an exaggeration) of mediocre themes I've read and corrected; it is too depressing. You can understand why I am trying to write articles, etc. I think that perhaps writing will be a good thing, but I do not wait until retirement to do it because one tends to do what he has been doing after he retires. An article about my meeting with the late Gertrude Stein is bouncing about (over please)