PORTLAND, ME.- The Portland Museum of Art has been awarded two grants totaling $285,000 to support the Winslow Homer Studio Campaign from the Henry Luce Foundation. The grant of $200,000 is in support of the Museum’s September 2012 exhibition and catalogue Weatherbeaten: The Late Paintings of Winslow Homer, curated by Chief Curator Thomas Denenberg. As part of its American Art Renewal Fund initiative, the Luce Foundation has also approved a grant of $85,000 to support the Chief Curator’s position. The Weatherbeaten exhibition will celebrate the opening of the Winslow Homer Studio in 2012 and the Luce Foundation is currently spotlighting the Studio restoration project on its website for the month of March.

“The recognition of the exhibition Weatherbeaten: The Late Paintings of Winslow Homer by the highly regarded Henry Luce Foundation is further confirmation of the significant contribution that the exhibition and the Winslow Homer Studio project will make to the study of American art,” said Museum Director Mark Bessire. “We are thrilled to count the Luce Foundation as one of our supporters.”

Weatherbeaten: The Late Paintings of Winslow Homer, on view September 20 through December 30, 2012 at the Portland Museum of Art, will feature 40 major oil paintings and watercolors painted during Winslow Homer’s tenure in his Studio on Prouts Neck. Celebrating the opening of the Winslow Homer Studio, the exhibition will serve as a lasting record of the research that guided the project and an opportunity to introduce new perspectives on Homer’s life and late work.

The Portland Museum of Art purchased the Winslow Homer Studio from Homer’s heirs in 2006. The Museum is currently engaged in a major campaign to raise $10.5 million to preserve and interpret this National Historic Landmark, which gave rise to Homer’s most famous images, and to continue the relationship that connects the institution to the artist.

The Henry Luce Foundation was established in 1936 by the late Henry R. Luce, co-founder and editor in chief of Time Inc. The Luce Foundation supports projects in American art, higher education, Asian affairs, theology, women in science and engineering, and public policy and the environment. Through the Program in American Art, begun in 1982, the Foundation has distributed over $130 million to some 250 museums, universities, and service organizations in 47 states, the District of Columbia and internationally.

The Henry Luce Foundation developed the American Art Renewal Fund to respond to the economic downturn and the current need to strengthen American art activities at the nation’s museum. This short-term initiative, offered through the American Art Program, provides support for operating expenses related to American art.