U.S. Philanthropist Gives Modern Art to Cuban Museum

Written by Anthony Lipskar Monday, 14 May 2012 22:38

PARIS - An American-born philanthropist and curator has donated 120 works of modern art, including pieces by Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro and Marcel Duchamp, to Cuba's National Museum of Fine Art. Gilbert Brownstone, 69, is based in France and says he admires Cuba because it has advanced the culture of its people. "I think I can help in this fight," he said in an interview with Agence France-Presse. "I will continue buying and donating works from the collection to the Cuban people."

Last month, he delivered engravings and drawings by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Andre Masson, Edouard Vuillard, Camille Pissarro and others to the museum in Havana.

Brownstone was once a curator of the Picasso Museum in Antibes and worked at a modern art gallery in Paris. He amassed his own collection, held by the Brownstone Foundation, which lends works to public institutions and has donated art to the the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.

The foundation has also promoted dance in Cuba, creating a new rehearsal space at the Havana Dance Center and funding video projects in Cuba.

Cuba has pledged to tour his collection throughout the island, so all Cubans can enjoy it. Cuban artists of the early 20th century embraced modern art and there are significant collections of modern art in Cuban art institutions. Brownstone has dual Swiss-American citizenship, which smooths the way for his travels in Cuba, as the U.S. broke off ties with Cuba in 1961.

• The Foundation’s headquarters in Paris serves as both studio and rehearsal space for artists, to use at their convenience.

• Artists-in-residence may organize semi-public shows in support of their public or institutional partners.

• The Foundation invites creators, professionals involved in culture, to take part in debates and gives artists, exhibition curators and choreographers a free hand to do as they will.