Ambassador

Art in Embassies Kuala Lumpur

Art in Embassies

Foreword

Dear Friends,

Art connects people, and we are delighted to share an exhibition that has special meaning for us. Catherine’s family has a long-standing interest in art. Her parents donated a personal collection to the National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., and her mother, of Russian heritage, owned an art gallery in Boston featuring Russian art. Artists are among Paul’s British ancestors, including Alfred Fripp, whose works hang in the Tate Gallery.

The American art now on display at the Ambassador’s residence features three New York artists who lived on the rural road north of New York City, where Paul was raised. Paul’s boyhood memories include walking down the steep hill to a charming little farm house where Wally Putnam painted and his wife Connie Putnam took photographs, developed and printed in her darkroom. Walking the other direction led to the home where Brookie Maxwell, a contemporary family friend, grew up, painting and drawing, before moving to New York City, where she studied art and opened her own gallery. 

We hope you enjoy these works as much as we do.

Catherine and Paul Jones

Kuala Lumpur
March 2011