In honor of the launch of the Fowler Museum at UCLA's 50th anniversary celebration, collectors Jay T. and Deborah R. Last of Beverly Hills have donated 92 stunning wood and ivory figures, masks, tools and spoons made by the Lega people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The combined value of the objects is more than $14 million. This recent donation completes the Lasts' extraordinary promised gift to the Fowler Museum of a total of 318 Lega works of art.
The Lasts, longtime supporters of the Fowler, have made many significant gifts of African art, helped fund the construction of the Fowler's building on campus and recently endowed the museum's position of curator of African arts. They also have established a $1 million matching commitment to increase essential operating support for the museum.
"Jay and Deborah Last have generously donated more than 660 works of art to the Fowler Museum since 1973 — including several distinctive and rare niche collections, such as the Zulu staffs and snuff containers currently on view — and can be counted among the museum's most loyal patrons," said Marla C. Berns, the Shirley and Ralph Shapiro Director of the Fowler Museum.
Jay T. Last, who trained as a physicist and earned a Ph.D. from MIT, is one of the eight original founders (known as the "fathers of Silicon Valley") of the Fairchild Semiconductor Corp. and led the group that made the first integrated circuit chip. He has written books on American graphic arts and is a founder of the Archaeological Conservancy. Deborah Last has a bachelor's degree in art history from UCLA and a master's in journalism from the USC.
The combined value of the objects is more than $14 million. This recent donation completes the Lasts' extraordinary promised gift to the Fowler Museum of a total of 318 Lega works of art.
The Lasts, longtime supporters of the Fowler, have made many significant gifts of African art, helped fund the construction of the Fowler's building on campus and recently endowed the museum's position of curator of African arts. They also have established a $1 million matching commitment to increase essential operating support for the museum.
"Jay and Deborah Last have generously donated more than 660 works of art to the Fowler Museum since 1973 — including several distinctive and rare niche collections, such as the Zulu staffs and snuff containers currently on view — and can be counted among the museum's most loyal patrons," said Marla C. Berns, the Shirley and Ralph Shapiro Director of the Fowler Museum.
Jay T. Last, who trained as a physicist and earned a Ph.D. from MIT, is one of the eight original founders (known as the "fathers of Silicon Valley") of the Fairchild Semiconductor Corp. and led the group that made the first integrated circuit chip. He has written books on American graphic arts and is a founder of the Archaeological Conservancy. Deborah Last has a bachelor's degree in art history from UCLA and a master's in journalism from the USC.
For details, see this Newsroom release.
