UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Dear friends of fine arts,
art collectors and patrons of the arts!
I hope you have enjoyed your "virtual" tour of the Museum on the World Wide Web. Please come back again to visit our Web site from time to time to read about the interesting artists in our collection, and also to find out about our new cultural events and exhibitions. But I do hope that you will visit us personally in the near future.
We are only 20 minutes by car from the renowned Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York, and about 35 minutes from the famous Niagara Falls. This makes it practical to make the short drive to our peaceful and friendly town of Clarence to visit our Museum.
The Museum is located in a historical building on Main Street. Our neighbors are the Clarence Town Park, the Clarence Historical Museum, and the popular Asa Ransom Restaurant & Country Inn. The Museum is located in the Clarence Hollow, an area with many antique shops.
Let me tell you where the Museum stands at at this time:
The Museum has on permanent display a fine collection of bronze and marble sculptures and reliefs, portrait-busts, lithographs, etchings, and paintings by famous European artists of our century. Among them are Kurt Arentz, Salvador Dali, Arno Breker, Ernst Fuchs, Jean Cocteau, Henry Moore, Marc Chagall, Charles Despiau, Paul Belmondo, and others. We have also started archives relative to the artists in our collection, and an art book library.
Through my own active engagement to promote cooperation between Europeans and Americans over the past 12 years, I got to meet some very special and talented European artists, intellectuals, and scientists. Also they are interested in having a cultural dialog with Americans, and they have supported the goals and work of our Museum in many ways over the years.
So at this time, our Museum has a good and highly interesting collection of 20th century art created in the classical-realistic tradition. Since most of the other art museums in Buffalo tend to acquire and show mostly abstract art, the works of art in our collection make us very different from them. In this way, we have created a special niche on the Buffalo and Western New York art scene, and our collection is quite unique.
Visitors tell us again and again how surprised and impressed they are to see such a fine collection in our young art museum. The Museum has been open now for almost two years and is becoming known not only in Western New York, but also in Europe due to our cooperation with other institutions and artists there.
We really feel that now is the right time for us to move ahead with our fundraising to establish a more secure financial foundation for our future work, and also to bring into reality one of our major goals -- a SCULPTURE GARDEN.
We have just the perfect piece of land right behind the Museum, with shady trees and a little brook behind the land; this will make the ideal background for the Sculpture Garden. We already have one large sculpture set up in this area. The "Big Looper" by the young American artist Alan van Every was donated to the Museum by Wilson Greatbatch Ltd, the pacemaker battery manufacturer based in Clarence.
Now we need to grade this land, so that the ground is even and safe to walk on, and landscape it with thick grass, flowers, and bushes. We will also need to set up a path, so that visitors can go through the Garden and view the sculptures also in early spring and late autumn, when the land may be wet at times.
A European architect is designing the layout of the Sculpture Garden and the future placement of sculptures. We have started to have preliminary talks with some prominent artists in Europe to acquire from them some of their large-size bronze sculptures.
Because of my long engagement to support the artistic dialog with Europe, some of these artists would be willing to let us have one or two of their works of art on favorable terms. Of course, these opportunities never last indefinitely. Like with everything else that happens in life, "when the constellations are right" one has to seize the opportunity immediately, before it passes away. From experience we all know that a missed opportunity will never come back again.
In order for our Museum to be able to take advantage of the good relations which I have developed over many years with these artists, we need to have adequate cash on hand. And when the right moment comes and the artist agrees to our request to let our Museum have one of his or her major sculptures, then we can act right away and have the sculpture produced immediately and shipped over the Atlantic.
In this way, in a relatively short period of time we will build up a very valuable collection of large sculptures by prominent European artists. By the year 2000 the Sculpture Garden will become a unique and very attractive addition to our Museum and will contribute in a big way to the Museum's prestige as an important art institution in Western New York.
However, to succeed with this we need your help.
I have put together for your review an outline of the various options that are available to our sponsors. Please take the time to examine them, and then consider your inclinations and your personal situation and decide to what extent you can and will support our work financially.
It is never easy to accomplish something great, something really worthwhile. Those of us who have started the Museum and developed it thus far, have reached the end of our financial possibilities. Now we can go forward only with the help of people like yourself, and reach new accomplishments together.
"Die Zukunft ist heute" - "The future is today" was a motto of a dear artist-friend of mine, and I fully agree with that. What we do today will shape our future tomorrow.
Please do what you can to become a part of this worthwhile effort. I look forward to hear from you soon, and God bless you.
Sincerely Yours,
Consul B. John Zavrel
Director
For most people, a donation of CASH is the most familiar and most frequently used method of charitable giving.
Since the Museum of European Art is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization, deductions are tax-deductible to the donors in the year in which they make them.
But there are other ways in which one can make a donation at this time to the Museum:
In the four preceding cases, the taxpayer get a tax-deduction for the CURRENT MARKET VALUE of the item donated. In case of highly appreciated property (such as stock, for instance), this can result in a substantial tax saving to the donor.
From the LONG TERM perspective, a donor can make arrangements already now for the future:
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1) cash |
2) stocks |
3) limited partnership interest |
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4) real estate |
5) works of art |
6) other valuable property |
Also in these cases, the estate will be able to take a deduction for the charitable donation equal to the CURRENT MARKET VALUE of the item donated.
This can be especially advantageous to the donor when there is a substantial estate which may include assets and property which is valuable, but which cannot be converted to cash on a short notice (such as closely held business, a valuable art collection, an old limited partnership interest, a coin or stamp collection, a collection of rare books, undeveloped land, rental property, etc.)
For the expansion and success of the Museum in the intermediate term (5 - 10 years), and in the long-term (over 10 years), this Strategic Deferred Giving is of VITAL importance.
B. John Zavrel, Director
MUSEUM OF EUROPEAN ART
10545 Main Street
Clarence, NY 14031
Enclosed is my tax-deductible cash donation of $ ______________ to support the work of the Museum as follows (please circle one):
General fund To acquire works of art To establish Sculpture Garden To expand building
I also wish to make a tax-deductible donation of stocks or property to the Museum, as follows (please describe):
Stocks: Est. Value Real Estate: Est. Value Works of Art: Est. Value Partnership Interest: Est. Value Other: Est. Value
Please contact me to make arrangements for the transfer.
I would like to make a Strategic commitment to support the future, long-term development and success of the Museum by making a bequest in my will. I wish to leave the following property as a charitable, tax deductible donation donation to the Museum:
Stocks: Est. Value Partnership Interest: Est. Value Works of Art: Est. Value Rare or art books: Est. Value Coin or stamp collection: Est. Value Land: Est. Value Building: Est. Value Life Insurance Policy: Est. Value Cash: Est. Value Other: Est. Value
Please contact me to make arrangements. Enclosed is a copy of my will and other additional information.
Name _____________________________________
Street ____________________________________
City _________________State ______ZIP _______
Telephone _________________ Fax _____________
THE MUSEUM OF EUROPEAN ART
10545 MAIN STREET, CLARENCE, NEW YORK 14031 (U.S.A)
Tel.: (716) 759-6078, Fax: (716) 759-7925, E-mail: zavrel@meaus.com
World Wide Web: http://www.meaus.com
Non-profit educational organization; tax-exempt under IRC 501 (c) (3).
B. John Zavrel Founder & Director Ron C. Voth Vice-President
HONORARY MEMBERS & ADVISORS: Kurt Arentz (Germany), Renate Stendar (Switzerland), Alessandra Della Valentina (Italy), Ruth Zucker (Israel), Jan Künster (Germany), Ernst Fuchs (Austria), Marco Bodenstein (Germany), Herman Pfattheicher (Belgium), A. Vojtek (Czech Republic), Helga Tiemann (Germany), Prof. Arcadi Nebolsine (New York), Dominique Egret (France), Patrick Adenauer, Prof. Peter Ludwig (Germany), Roger Peyrefitte (France).
Collection: Sculptures, lithographs, marble and
bronze reliefs, paintings, and drawings by important artists
of the 20th century. Archives on the artists in the
collection. Art books and rare books library. Major Goals: Establish the Sculpture Garden
Expand the art collection
Pay off the mortgage & Expand building