Guided Exhibition Tours
AMERICA ABROAD: Art, Architecture, and Diplomacy
Works from the FAPE Collection
Join Laurence Lafforgue, Executive Director of the Onera Foundation and co-curator of AMERICA ABROAD: Art, Architecture, and Diplomacy – Works from the FAPE Collection, for a 45-minute guided tour of the exhibition.
These intimate tours offer a behind-the-scenes look at the exhibition's conception and explore how art, architecture, and cultural diplomacy have shaped America's presence abroad since the Cold War. Featuring rarely seen works from the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE) Collection—including works by Carrie Mae Weems,Ed Ruscha, Ellsworth Kelly, Joel Shapiro, Martin Puryear, Carmen Herrera, Julie Mehretu, Frank Gehry, and others—the exhibition brings to New Canaan artworks ordinarily accessible only within US embassies around the world. Set within Onera Foundation's historic headquarters, the exhibition also examines the evolution of American embassy architecture from the Cold War to today and highlights New Canaan's remarkable connection to this history through architects including Marcel Breuer, John Johansen, and Edward Durell Stone.
Guided tours start September 9, 2026, at 63 Park Street in New Canaan, Connecticut. Click on the tour button above for information and to reserve your guided tour.
Presented on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the United States and FAPE’s 40th year of operations, the exhibition offers rare public access to artworks typically seen only at US embassies—spaces not generally open to the public—and explores how art and architecture have shaped the United States’ diplomatic presence abroad from the Cold War to today. It draws from FAPE’s Site-Specific, Print, and Photography collections and includes maquettes of sculptures commissioned for major embassies, as well as works by leading American artists including Carmen Herrera, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Julie Mehretu, Martin Puryear, Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, Joel Shapiro, Frank Stella, Carrie Mae Weems and many others. A replica of the 1823 William J. Stone engraving of the Declaration of Independence—gifted from David M. Rubenstein to FAPE in 2013, one for each US embassy—will also be on view. A parallel section focuses on the evolution of US embassy architecture, featuring buildings designed by leading midcentury architects such as Edward Durell Stone and Walter Gropius, alongside more recent contributions by firms including Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and KieranTimberlake, among others.
AMERICA ABROAD invites visitors to experience the cultural environments in which diplomacy unfolds. It traces how embassy art and architecture have evolved since the Cold War and draws attention to many original midcentury embassies that are now being decommissioned, with uncertain futures.
The exhibition is co-curated by Laurence Lafforgue, Onera Foundation Executive Director and guest curator Peter Reed, FAPE Professional Fine Arts Committee member, in collaboration with FAPE.
About FAPE
The Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan foundation dedicated to providing permanent works of American art for US embassies worldwide. All artworks commissioned or placed by FAPE are by American artists and are gifts, representing the generosity and patriotism of some of the United States’ greatest artists and donors. Since its founding in 1986, FAPE has raised more than $215 million in art and monetary contributions and works by more than 280 preeminent American artists have been placed in over 140 countries. Bank of America has been FAPE’s official sponsor since 2011. https://www.fapeculturaldiplomacy.org