AMERICA ABROAD: Art, Architecture, and Diplomacy – Works from the FAPE Collection

Presented on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the United States and the 40th anniversary of the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE), the exhibition offers rare public access to artworks typically seen only at US embassies—spaces not generally open to the public—and explores how art and architecture have shaped the United States’ diplomatic presence abroad from the Cold War to today. It draws from FAPE’s Site-Specific, Print, and Photography collections and includes maquettes of sculptures commissioned for major embassies, as well as works by leading American artists including Carmen Herrera, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Julie Mehretu, Martin Puryear, Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, Joel Shapiro, Frank Stella, Carrie Mae Weems and many others. A replica of the 1823 William J. Stone engraving of the Declaration of Independence—gifted from David M. Rubenstein to FAPE in 2013, one for each US embassy—will also be on view. A parallel section focuses on the evolution of US embassy architecture, featuring buildings designed by leading mid-century architects such as Edward Durell Stone and Walter Gropius, alongside more recent contributions by firms including Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and KieranTimberlake, among others. AMERICA ABROAD invites visitors to experience the cultural environments in which diplomacy unfolds. It traces how embassy art and architecture have evolved since the Cold War and draws attention to many original midcentury embassies that are now being decommissioned, with uncertain futures.