Bank of America Announces 2021 Art Conservation Project Grant Selections

Grants will provide funding for 23 cultural restoration projects across the globe

Bank of America announced today grant funding for 23 major art restoration projects in 13 countries and nine U.S. cities through the 2021 Bank of America Art Conservation Project (ACP). The company is celebrating a decade of art conservation projects, providing grant funding to nonprofit cultural institutions throughout the world to conserve historically or culturally significant works of art that are in danger of deterioration. This year’s grant recipients include:

• Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif. – Conservation of 32 works in the Asian American Art Initiative
• Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA), Long Beach, Calif. – Conservation of four sculptures by contemporary Latinx artists José Luis Cuevas; Carlos Luna; Luis Torruella; Noé Katz
• Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of The New York Public Library, New York City –Preservation of eight artworks by African American modernists along with three rare books, c. 1800
• Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel – George Segal (American, 1924–2000), Sacrifice of Isaac, 1973
• Vatican Museums, Vatican City – Apollo “del Belvedere”

“With the 2021 selections, we have now been able to fund the conservation of over 5,000 individual pieces of art through 195 projects in 36 countries since launching the program in 2010,” said Rena DeSisto, global arts and culture executive, Bank of America. “It’s a privilege to support this important work to safeguard our cultural treasures as we believe in the power of the arts to help economies thrive, educate and enrich societies and create greater cultural understanding.”

This year’s selections again span the globe, including the restoration of artworks by five Japanese manga artists at Kawasaki City Museum in Japan, three artworks at the National Museums of Kenya and nine paintings showcasing Brazilian independence at the Museu Paulista in São Paulo.

The program also continues to help raise understanding and awareness for the field of art conservation through unique projects and partners including Fisk University Galleries in Nashville, Tenn. Fisk, one of the nation’s leading historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), is conserving artworks that will be part of an upcoming traveling exhibition, “African Modernism in America, 1947-1967." Students from Fisk University and from other University members of the Alliance of HBCU Museums and Galleries, will have unique opportunities to work alongside conservators and gain valuable experience in the field of art conservation.

This year’s selections also include several iconic paintings, including Georges Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” at the Art Institute of Chicago, a piece that was also featured as part of the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment program earlier this year.

"Since its inception, this innovative and enigmatic painting has continued to intrigue, elude and inspire—leaving a transformative mark on the history of art—and drawing millions of visitors to Chicago to see it,” said James Rondeau, President and Eloise W. Martin Director of the Art Institute of Chicago. “Bank of America's support for the conservation of this artwork—among so many great works of art around the world—not only ensures its preservation and care for future generations of visitors, but, specifically, it enhances our understanding of Seurat's creative process and the materials he used, making us better stewards of this great painting."

Additional conservation projects including “The Boy in a Red Vest” by Paul Cézanne and “Man-Eater with Pennants” by Alexander Calder, will take place at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

“The past year has been enormously challenging for museums, yet our mission to safeguard and share art with the public has never been more important,” said Kate Lewis, The Agnes Gund Chief Conservator at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. “Bank of America’s commitment to conservation and to keeping the arts thriving ensures that we can continue to connect people with extraordinary works of art, both now, and for future generations."

The full list of museums receiving grants through the 2021 Bank of America Art Conservation Project includes:

• Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
• Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif.
• Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), Mumbai, India
• Denver Art Museum, Denver
• Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn.
• Kawasaki City Museum, Kawasaki City, Japan
• Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
• Museo Nacional De Antropología, Mexico City, Mexico
• Museu Paulista, São Paulo, Brazil
• Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, Calif.
• Museum of Modern Art, New York City
• National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya
• Rose Art Museum, Waltham, Mass.
• Sadberk Hanim Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
• Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City
• Städel Museum, Frankfurt, Germany
• Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
• The Menil Collection, Houston
• The New York Public Library, New York City
• The Wallace Collection, London, England
• Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Vatican Museums, Vatican City
• Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn.

Bank of America Arts and Culture

The Bank of America Art Conservation Project is a key demonstration of Bank of America’s arts support worldwide, and part of the company’s environmental, social and governance commitment. Through the Art Conservation Project, programs like Museums on Us®, loaning exhibitions through the Art in Our Communities program, the Masterpiece Moment video series and sponsorships and grants, we support a wide range of both local and world-class organizations. Our programs are designed to have a positive impact on economies and societies throughout the world, and shine a light on diverse cultural traditions. Through steadfast and strategic support, we have become one of the world’s leading corporate supporters of the arts. To learn more about our arts and culture support and programs, please visit bankofamerica.com/arts.

Bank of America

At Bank of America, we’re guided by a common purpose to help make financial lives better, through the power of every connection. We’re delivering on this through responsible growth with a focus on our environmental, social and governance (ESG) leadership. ESG is embedded across our eight lines of business and reflects how we help fuel the global economy, build trust and credibility, and represent a company that people want to work for, invest in and do business with. It’s demonstrated in the inclusive and supportive workplace we create for our employees, the responsible products and services we offer our clients, and the impact we make around the world in helping local economies thrive. An important part of this work is forming strong partnerships with nonprofits and advocacy groups, such as community, consumer and environmental organizations, to bring together our collective networks and expertise to achieve greater impact. Learn more at about.bankofamerica.com, and connect with us on Twitter (@BofA_News).

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