Gene Davis, Sherwood Forest, Acrylic on canvas, 69 1/2 × 92in. (176.5 × 233.7cm), Gene Davis Estate Collection, courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Washington, D.C. October 29, 2024: The U.S. Department of State’s Office of Art in Embassies and the Smithsonian American Art Museum announce a new collaboration to support art diplomacy. A collection of works by U.S. painter Gene Davis has been placed under a long-term loan, making these paintings readily available for ambassadors heading to posts around the world. The Gene Davis Estate Collection, courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, is part of a new art diplomacy initiative tied to the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
“With support from America’s esteemed cultural leaders at the Smithsonian, we are able to help tell the rich story of our nation’s history through artwork and artifacts at our Embassies and Consulates around the world,” said U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken.
“The Smithsonian is pleased to loan the Gene Davis paintings in celebration of our country’s 250th anniversary. Art is an effective and powerful way to convey American ideals abroad, which Davis does masterfully,” said the Honorable Franklin D. Raines, Regent of the Smithsonian Institution.
The announcement takes place at the State Department’s Harry S. Truman Building, where a Gene Davis painting will be installed marking this historic collaboration. The Collection includes artworks in various media by Davis, a major figure in the impactful and vibrant abstraction movement that emerged in Washington, D.C., in the 1960s.
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“As the global leader and trusted source on American art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum is delighted to extend its mission by sharing these twenty-two works by Gene Davis with the world through Art in Embassies,” said Jane Carpenter-Rock, acting director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
The Gene Davis Estate Collection, courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, is one of five new Democracy Collection collaborations incorporating art under loans made readily available for Art in Embassies exhibitions. Other Collections include the Clarice Smith Collection, with works by deceased D.C. artist Clarice Smith on loan from her family’s collection; the Wolf Kahn Collection, with works by Kahn, who as a young Jewish boy in Germany escaped by Kindertransport to ultimately reside in the United States; the Creative Growth Collection, featuring works by artists with developmental disabilities; and the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art Collection at the University of Oklahoma, containing twentieth-century American paintings depicting the American Southwest.
Along with the Democracy Collections, the initiative includes gifts from cultural and diplomatic leaders. These include iconic New York photographer Philip Trager; graphic artist Shepard Fairey; photographer and Ambassador Chantale Wong; RFK Human Rights leader Kerry Kennedy; the family of Ambassador Joseph Gildenhorn; former Art in Embassies Director Ellen Susman; photographer Bonnie Lautenburg; artist and U.S. Naval Academy graduate Kristin Cronic; figurative painter Barbara Prey; the For Freedoms Collective; collector Don Russell Clayton; photographer Didi Cutler; winner of the Democracy Collection Student Art Competition Daniel Rivera; artist Marc Poole; historical painter Steve Penley; representational sculptor Greg Wyatt; and Ukrainian American artist Ola Rondiak.
The establishment of the Gene Davis Estate Collection, courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, is made possible through an updated collaboration agreement between the State Department and the Smithsonian Institution. This agreement develops and delivers impactful programming and knowledge exchange across culture and the arts, science and conservation,
and education, magnifying the world-class expertise of the Smithsonian by the Department of State’s influence across the world.
About Art in Embassies
Envisioned by the Museum of Modern Art in 1953 and formalized by John F. Kennedy a decade later, Art in Embassies is an official visual arts office within the U.S. Department of State. For six decades, Art in Embassies has played a leading role in U.S. public diplomacy through a focused mission on generating cross-cultural dialogue through exhibitions, permanent collections, site-specific commissions, and two-way artist exchanges at more than 200 U.S. embassies, consulates, and partner institutions around the world.
It showcases the innovation and cultural prowess of the United States and fosters cross-cultural connections. Each ambassador representing the U.S. in each nation has their own custom curated exhibition to support their specific diplomatic agenda.
For press enquiries, please contact:
Megan Beyer
Director, Art in Embassies
For more information about Art in Embassies and upcoming projects, please visit art.state.gov or follow on Instagram, Facebook and X.
About the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations
The U.S. Department of State Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) provides the most effective facilities for United States diplomacy abroad. OBO is the single real property manager for the planning, acquisition, design, construction, operations, maintenance, and disposal of U.S. governmental diplomatic and consular property overseas. The secure, functional, and resilient facilities enable U.S. foreign policy through building technologies, sustainability, art, and culture. Art in Embassies is an Office within OBO’s Operations Directorate.
For more information about the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations and Art in Embassies, please visit Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations – United States Department of State. Sign up for OBO’s distribution list and follow us on social media through our Youtube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Threads, and Facebook.
About Gene Davis
Gene Davis (1920-1985) was a significant figure in twentieth-century American painting, playing a pivotal role in the color abstraction movement of the 1960s and establishing Washington, D.C., as a contemporary art hub. Known for his multicolored vertical stripes, Davis was a key contributor to the color field and post-painterly abstraction movements. Born in Washington, D.C., he initially pursued a career as a sportswriter before turning to art in 1949. Despite his lack of formal training, Davis educated himself through extensive museum visits and benefited from the guidance of artist and curator Jacob Kainen.
Davis’s early works showed influences from artists like Paul Klee and Arshile Gorky and had an improvisational quality that extended to his later stripe paintings. Identified as a leader of the impactful and vibrant abstraction movement in the 1960s, Davis’s works encouraged prolonged viewing and exploration of individual colors. Beyond stripes, he created modular compositions, collages, silhouette self-portraits, and public installations, including the notable 1972 Franklin’s Footpath. Throughout his career, Davis revisited and deepened past ideas, producing works that balanced seriousness with whimsy and unpredictability. A lifelong Washington, D.C., resident, Davis passed away in his hometown on April 6, 1985. His work is part of major collections, including the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and the Guggenheim Museum, New York.
