Vatican Searches for Donor for Richard Lippold Sculpture

New York, NY (PRWEB) April 8, 2008 -- When people think of the Vatican's breathtaking art collection - one that attracts 3 million visitors per year - Renaissance masterpieces naturally spring to mind. Michelangelo, da Vinci, Caravaggio, Raphael. However, the Vatican has begun a quiet quest for the ultimate in contemporary works from the latter part of the 20th century to bring its collection, begun in 1503, firmly into the modern age. With this in mind, the Lippold Foundation has retained Grand Marketing Group of New York, Seattle and Phoenix to begin a search for a donor interested in presenting the Vatican with "Ex Stasis" or "Ecstasy," a sculpture by the world-renowned artist, Richard Lippold.

Among Lippold's most sought-after works, the 1988 piece is a maquette. (A maquette is a smaller version of a planned larger finished sculpture.)

Indeed, the Vatican is in good company when it judges Lippold's work as amongst the most desirable in the world.

Constructed of gold wire, stainless steel, aluminum and other metals, Lippold creations are part of the permanent collections of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum. Also in New York are installations in Avery Fisher Hall and the Met Life building. Two starkly beautiful works, now designated landmarks, are in the Seagram Building where a neighboring work is one of the few tapestries by Pablo Picasso. Lippold's Seagram sculptures were commissioned by famed architects Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson.

Another giant of 20th century architecture, Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus Movement, commissioned Lippold's World Tree for the entrance to Harvard University's Graduate Law Center. And Ad Astra gives visitors aproaching the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum in Washington a tantalizing taste of the aeronautical wonders inside.

Throughout the centuries, the Vatican Museum has turned to art-conscious patrons to fill out its wish list of works. Through the Richard Lippold Foundation in Long Island, NY, the Vatican hopes for a modern-day Medici to step forward to bring Ex Stasis to the grand entryway of its new contemporary wing.

For more information, contact:

Robert DiLallo

Grand Marketing Group

917-655-1953

Available electronically

Appendix I - Lippold Installations

Appendix II - Lippold biography and background

Appendix III - Ex Stasis photos and specifications

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