The Terra Foundation for American Art is a privately operated nonprofit organization dedicated to the support of American art exhibitions, projects, academic research, and publications worldwide. Its goal is to promote a greater understanding and appreciation of the cultural and artistic heritage of the United States through the acquisition, study, and display of works of American art. The Foundation is headquartered in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

History

The Foundation was established by Daniel J. Terra (1911-1996) in 1978 along with the Terra Museum of American Art, which opened in 1980. Terra was a businessman and art collector who used his own collection of influential American art to realize the goals of the Foundation. He opened three museums to house his collection of 700 works of American art from the late 18th century to 1945. The Foundation has longstanding presence in France. In 1992, it opened the Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, a museum managed in partnership with the French government and the

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...

which focuses on international impressionism. In 2009, the Terra Foundation opened its Paris Center to support its programs in Europe. The Paris Center houses the only research library in Europe dedicated exclusively to American art and transatlantic artistic exchange.

Activities

The Terra Foundation uses its endowment to award grants for exhibitions, fellowships, symposia, research, publications, and academic programs, with a special focus on international initiatives and local Chicago initiatives. It works closely with educators, scholars, curators, and museums. Despite the closure of the Museum in 2004, the Foundation continues to actively collect paintings, sculptures, works on paper, and other objects representing achievement in American art from the late eighteenth century to 1945. The collection currently comprises hundreds of works by artists such as

John Singleton Copley John Singleton Copley (July 3, 1738 – September 9, 1815) was an Anglo-American painter, active in both colonial America and England. He was believed to be born in Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay, to Richard and Mary Singleton Copley ...

James McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral a ...

Mary Cassatt Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side (Pittsburgh), North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, whe ...

Winslow Homer Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 – September 29, 1910) was an American landscape painter and illustrator, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters of 19th-century America and a preeminent figure in ...

Marsden Hartley Marsden Hartley (January 4, 1877 – September 2, 1943) was an American Modernist painter, poet, and essayist. Hartley developed his painting abilities by observing Cubist artists in Paris and Berlin. Early life and education Hartley was bor ...

, and

Edward Hopper Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American realism painter and printmaker. He is one of America's most renowned artists and known for his skill in depicting modern American life and landscapes. Born in Nyack, New York, to a ...

. The Foundation lends these works to institutions and exhibitions worldwide and maintains a comprehensive database of the collection. A selection of Terra Foundation paintings remains on long-term loan to the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

, and the Art Institute also houses the Foundation's collection of works on paper. In 2007, the Terra Foundation teamed with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation to take "Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation" to Beijing and Shanghai. In 2018, it organized Art Design Chicago, a year-long cultural programming initiative that drew 2.5 million people.

Management

Finances

As of 2020, the Terra Foundation has assets of $582 million and an annual budget of $17 million, most of which flows into grants promoting American art through research, exhibitions and other events. Between 2006 and 2012 alone, the foundation spent $40 million on more than 380 projects in more than 30 countries, starting in Western Europe and branching out to Russia, Mexico, Australia and beyond. In 2012, it gave away $7.6 million, with exhibitions receiving 60 to 70 percent of the funds.

Leadership

* 2001–2020: Elizabeth GlassmanNancy Kenney (February 26, 2020)
Terra Foundation for American Art recruits new leader from Colby College Museum
''The Art Newspaper''. * 2020–present: Sharon Corwin

References

External links

Foundation website
{{Authority control 1978 establishments in Illinois Arts foundations based in the United States Arts organizations established in 1978