0:00 Art in Embassies was started by John F Kennedy in 1963
0:04 the idea was that Ambassadors at post
0:08 would have wonderful artworks with which to create discussions
0:11 and help with cultural diplomacy. Today Art in Embassies is a public-private
0:15 partnership. We have
0:17 over 20,000 artists that we’ve worked with and
0:20 what we tried to do is mix artists from host countries
0:23 along with American and international artists. This is about the Art in Embassies
0:27 program which provides works of art for the representational spaces
0:33 of the US Chanceries, Consulates,
0:36 and the Embassy Residence around the world
0:39 in 190 countries, so its a
0:43 big program, lots of buildings.
0:45 The wonderful eclectic art collection here at Villa Taverna
0:48 is a testament to the vision of Ambassador John Phillips
0:52 and his wife, Linda. They wanted to really fuse
0:55 America and Italy, where John’s parents and grandparents had originally come from.
1:00 We’re very lucky to have in this collection such notable
1:03 artists is Sean Scully and Philip Guston
1:06 as well as a wonderful woman artist named Joyce Kozloff who created masks
1:11 that describes voyages people take around the world
1:14 based originally on the Masks of Dennis. We also have landscape painting
1:18 and some fantastic works by Donzelli, who’s an Italian who did tapestries.
1:24 Altogether this collection is a wonderful testament
1:27 to their vision of how Italy and the United States
1:31 work together to make the world a better place.