FAPE: Martin Puryear, Beijing, China

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fapeFAPE: Martin Puryear, Beijing, China: In 2008, FAPE commissioned Martin Puryear to create a work of art for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Mr. Puryear’s design, a sweeping stainless steel arch that will stand more than 30 feet tall, and will be visible to the public from outside the Embassy, was unveiled to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at FAPE’s 2011 Annual Events in Washington, DC. The sculpture will be installed at the embassy in 2018.

Puryear was born in Washington, DC, and received his B.A. from Catholic University of America and a graduate degree in sculpture from Yale University. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone from 1964 to 1966. Puryear’s first solo exhibition was held in the late 1970s at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington. In the 1980s, he participated in two Whitney Biennials, and received a Guggenheim Fellowship and a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Award. The Museum of Modern Art presented a 30-year survey of Puryear’s work in 2008-2009, and he received the 2011 National Medal of Arts.

Gift of the artist with additional funding provided by Bank of America, The Honorable Ronald S. Lauder and Mrs. Jo Carole Lauder and Maria Hummer-Tuttle and Robert Tuttle. Donated in honor of Agnes Gund.