NEW YORK, NY.- Bank of America has announced that it will provide funding to 21 projects in six countries as part of the company’s 2016 global Art Conservation Project. Works that will benefit from this year’s grants include “The Blue Boy” (1770) by Thomas Gainsborough; “Weeping Willow” (1918–1919) by Claude Monet; works by Salvador Dalí; a sixth-century haniwa (terracotta tomb figure) at the Tokyo National Museum - the only haniwa example designated as a National Treasure; and approximately 100 textiles and related objects from the Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University’s South and Central Americas collections.

The unique program provides grants to nonprofit museums throughout the world to conserve historically or culturally significant works of art that are in danger of deterioration. Since the program’s inception in 2010, Bank of America has provided grants for more than 100 projects in 29 countries.

“Our Art Conservation Project allows us to preserve the efforts of artists throughout time and across the globe. Art serves as a record of cultural and human achievement and experience, and is something that should be honored with care and learning,” said Rena DeSisto, global arts and culture executive, Bank of America. “Importantly, the program allows works that otherwise could not travel and be widely seen to be shared anew with the public today and in the future.”

The 2016 grant recipients were recognized at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, where museum and bank executives viewed the oil painting by Édouard Manet, “Woman in Evening Dress” (1877-80) currently undergoing conservation. As a 2015 Art Conservation Project grant recipient, funding allowed treatment of the painting and an in-depth study of the work’s composition and motifs with curators and art historians. The conservation has revealed the richness and form of the painting, as well as insight into Manet’s artistic process. The piece will be featured in the Guggenheim’s exhibition “Visionaries: Creating a Modern Guggenheim,” on view from February 10 through September 6, 2017.

For a full description of the 2016 projects and images, please visit the Art Conservation Project website.

The Art Conservation Project is a component of Bank of America’s global program of arts support and a key element of its commitment to delivering both social and economic value to the community. Its support for the arts is diverse panning both the visual and performing arts – and global. The program includes loans of its private art collection to museums at no cost, sponsorships, and grants to arts organizations for arts education, as well as the preservation of cultural treasures.