She sold her Liechtenstein to fight mass incarceration: New film documents one woman’s “philanthropy by justice not generosity”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By EMILY WILSON<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n -DECEMBER 28, 2020 (48hills.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Agnes Gund<\/a>, philanthropist and president emerita of the Museum of Modern Art, saw Ava DuVernay\u2019s documentary, 13th<\/sup>,<\/em><\/a> about criminal justice and mass incarceration, she experienced a revelation. The movie so affected her that she sold her favorite Roy Lichenstein painting, Masterpiece<\/em><\/a>, and used $100 million dollars from the sale to start Art for Justice<\/a>, which grants money to artists and activists working to reducing the prison population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For years people had told Gund\u2019s daughter, filmmaker Catherine Gund (<\/em>Dispatches From Cleveland<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>Chavela<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>What\u2019s On Your Plate<\/em><\/a>?) <\/em>that she should make a movie about her mother, a heavy hitter in the art world who started Studio in a School<\/a> in the 1970s, after funding for arts programs in New York City public schools was cut. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now she\u2019s made that movie. Aggie<\/em> explores her mother\u2019s world view and commitment to social justice. Gund didn\u2019t just donate her money to the fund, Catherine says\u2014she encouraged other collectors and gallerists to do the same. She didn\u2019t want to ask artists, who are often asked to donate work, Catherine says. But people like Julie Mehretu<\/a> and Mark di Suvero<\/a> made donations anyway. So did Mark Bradford<\/a> after a group of people from Art for Justice Fund (Catherine is on the board, along with DuVernay), including formerly incarcerated artists visited his studio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was a beautiful watershed moment,\u201d Catherine said. \u201cWe were at his [Bradford\u2019s] wonderful studio with all those huge canvases sharing stories, and he was so blown away by them, he sold them all and raised $1 million. Art for Justice is different from a traditional charity. Like the Ford Foundation\u2019s Darren Walker<\/a> says, it\u2019s philanthropy by justice not generosity. It\u2019s seeing a better world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n