The Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE) is a private, non-profit organization with headquarters in Washington, DC. Since it was founded in 1986, its mission has been to assist the U.S. Department of State in its various programs designed to exhibit and preserve American art in U.S. diplomatic facilities throughout the world.
Before FAPE’s existence, many embassies were without art collections, and federal funding for the restoration and preservation of historic buildings and valuable antiques was lacking. FAPE was founded by Leonore Annenberg, Wendy W. Luers, Lee Kimche McGrath, and Carol Price. As spouses of former U.S. Ambassadors in locations ranging from London to Czechoslovakia, and with Mrs. McGrath as the Director of ART in Embassies at the State Department, their vision of enhancing the places where the United States of America is represented abroad with works by its most gifted artists became a reality.
Among FAPE’s accomplishments are an original print collection, begun in 1989, with editions of works donated by renowned artists; the formalization of a partnership with Sotheby’s to provide pro bono services to the State Department to inventory and evaluate historic furnishings; the millennium GIFT TO THE NATION – a collection of American art by more than 145 artists that have been sent for permanent display in U.S. embassies in over seventy countries; and its Art in New Embassies Program, which commissions artists to create site-specific installations at new U.S. embassies.
FAPE’s restoration projects include the historic eighteenth-century Hôtel de Talleyrand, in Paris, once headquarters for the Marshall Plan and now an American embassy annex building; Winfield House, the Embassy Residence in London, which is supported by an endowment established by Leonore and Walter H. Annenberg through the Annenberg Foundation; restoring the treasures of Petschek Palace, the U.S. Embassy Residence in Prague; preserving ancient statuary in the gardens at the U.S. Embassy in Rome; and the complete refurbishment of public rooms at the U.S. Embassy Residences in Warsaw and Beijing. Funding has also been provided by FAPE for restoration projects at the U.S. Embassy Residences in Brussels, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Paris, and Vienna.
FAPE has built a worthy American legacy. Credit is due to many: the dream of our founders; the support of Secretaries of State and Presidential administrations; our expert advisors; the talented and generous artists..
Jo Carole Lauder
Chairman