N.C. Wyeth, The Boy Columbus on the Wharf at Genoa (The Vision of Columbus), 1917, oil on canvas, 40 x 29 in.
DELAWARE ART MUSEUM’S HOTEL DU PONT COLLECTION NAMED AS 2017 ART CONSERVATION PROJECT GRANT RECIPIENT BY BANK OF AMERICA
Bank of America supports restoration of artworks by the Wyeth family, Frank Schoonover, and Edward Loper
WILMINGTON, DE (January 16, 2018) — The Delaware Art Museum will receive a grant from the 2017 Bank of America Art Conservation Project to conserve 13 works of art by notable American painters, including the Wyeth family, Frank Schoonover, and Edward Loper.
“We are honored to receive this incredible support from Bank of America for such an important collection of works given to the Museum by DuPont,” said Sam Sweet, Executive Director and CEO at the Delaware Art Museum. “These restoration and conservation treatments will ensure that future generations will be able to learn from and enjoy these remarkable pieces that are tied to our local community.”
The collection was given to the Delaware Art Museum by the DuPont Corporation, who displayed the works of art at the Hotel du Pont in downtown Wilmington, DE. The Hotel’s collection was formed over several decades to adorn the building’s public spaces and support local artists. DuPont also donated works of art to the Brandywine River Museum of Art and Hagley Museum & Library. The 13 works received by the Delaware Art Museum, which include oil paintings, watercolors, and a fabric-and-seashell assemblage, require cleaning, repair, and reframing to restore each piece to its original beauty. Once the treatments are complete, the Delaware Art Museum will present the Hotel du Pont collection in a fall 2018 exhibit that celebrates the history of the pieces and the conservation process.
“We’re honored to have the opportunity to help the Delaware Art Museum conserve these 13 historic pieces of art,” said Chip Rossi, Delaware market president at Bank of America. “These major paintings are local treasures and we’re excited to play a role in ensuring they will remain in Delaware, on view, for generations to come.”
The Bank of America Art Conservation Project provides grant funding to nonprofit cultural institutions throughout the world to conserve historically or culturally significant works of art that are in danger of deterioration. Since the Art Conservation Project began in 2010, Bank of America has provided grants for more than 120 projects in 30 countries on six continents to conserve paintings, sculptures, archaeological and architectural pieces that are critically important to cultural heritage and the history of art.
Twenty-one major art restoration projects across six countries and in 13 U.S. cities are receiving grant funding through the 2017 Bank of America Art Conservation Project. A selection of works in the U.S. benefitting from the 2017 grants includes the mural “Fantasy” by Henriette Wyeth at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, PA; “The Assumption of the Virgin” (1577-1579) by El Greco at The Art Institute of Chicago; “Untitled (Three Dancing Figures, version C)” an outdoor 1989 sculpture by Keith Haring in Des Moines, Iowa; the Farnese Sarcophagus (circa 225 C.E.), a 7500-pound Roman Severan period piece at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston; 21 works by Romare Bearden and other African American artists, at The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; the Mexican Cultural Institute’s Roberto Cueva del Río mural installed on three floors of the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C.; and five paintings by Wayne Thiebaud at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, Calif.
For full descriptions of the 2017 projects and to view images of the artwork, please click here to download the “Bank of America Art Conservation Project 2017 Recipients” brochure.
The Art Conservation Project is a key element of Bank of America’s program of arts support worldwide, and part of the company’s environmental, social and governance program. The support Bank of America provides for the arts is global in scope and diverse, spanning both the visual and performing arts. The program includes loans of its private art collection to museums at no cost, sponsorships, and grants to arts organizations for arts education, as well as the preservation of cultural treasures. For more information, please visit the Art Conservation Project website
