Jane Fortune (August 7, 1942 – September 23, 2018) was an American author and journalist. Many of her publications and philanthropic activities were centered on the research,

restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

, and exhibition of art by women in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, Italy.

Writing

Fortune was the cultural editor of ''The Florentine'', an English-language newspaper in

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

, in which she appeared as a regular art and culture columnist from the newspaper's founding in 2005 until her death in 2018. Her original column, ''Mosaics'' (2005–2008), led to her writing a guidebook on the culture of Florence, ''To Florence, Con Amore: 77 Ways to Love the City'' (The Florentine Press, 2007). The book's second edition, reprinted three years later with 13 additional chapters, is entitled ''To Florence, Con Amore: 90 Ways to Love the City'' (The Florentine Press, 2011). Fortune's subsequent books, documentaries, and essays were influenced largely by her efforts to safeguard and promote art by women artists. Her book, '' Invisible Women: Forgotten Artists of Florence'' (2009), documents women painters in Florence and their thousands of works on display or in storage, many of which are in need of restoration. In 2009, the book was presented to the Uffizi Library. This volume was followed up in 2012 by a guidebook she co-authored with Linda Falcone, which describes where to view artworks by women artists in the public collections of Florence: '' Art by Women in Florence: A Guide through Five Hundred Years'' (The Florentine Press, 2012).

Restoring art by women in Florence

In 2005, with the goal of raising awareness about the achievements of women artists and protecting their artworks, Fortune founded the Italian nonprofit organization, The Florence Committee of the National Museum for Women in the Arts. In 2006, under Fortune's leadership, The Florence Committee funded the restoration a painting in the San Marco Museum, ''Lamentation with Saints'', a large-scale

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

painting by Suor Plautilla Nelli, Florence's earliest recognized woman painter to that date. In 2008, her quest continued with the restoration of ''David and Bathsheba'' by seventeenth-century

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

painter

Artemisia Gentileschi Artemisia Lomi or Artemisia Gentileschi (, ; 8 July 1593) was an Italian Baroque painter. Gentileschi is considered among the most accomplished seventeenth-century artists, initially working in the style of Caravaggio. She was producing profess ...

. Following up on these achievements, but wishing to work on a broader scope, in 2009, Fortune founded the American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization,

Advancing Women Artists Foundation Advancing Women Artists Foundation (AWA) was an American not-for-profit organization (501(c)3), with headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Florence, Italy. AWA is committed to identifying and restoring artwork by Florence's female artists i ...

(AWA), dedicated to researching, restoring, and exhibiting art work by women artists, particularly in Florence, Italy.

Other projects in Florence

Since Fortune founded the

(AWA) in 2009, it has carried out several restoration projects for drawings, paintings, and sculptures by women artists in Florence from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries including

Dominican convent The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of ...

painter Suor Plautilla Nelli at the San Salvi's Last Supper Museum, eighteenth-century Florentine poet-painter Irene Parenti Duclos at the

Accademia Gallery The Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze, or "Gallery of the Academy of Florence", is an art museum in Florence, Italy. It is best known as the home of Michelangelo's sculpture ''David''. It also has other sculptures by Michelangelo and a large ...

and nineteenth-century French sculptor

Félicie de Fauveau Félicie de Fauveau (1801, in Livorno – 1886, in Florence) was a nineteenth-century French sculptor who was a precursor of the pre-Raphaelite style. Her multiple sculptural works showcase a variety of techniques and mediums including marble, ...

in Santa Croce, and Santa Maria del Carmine. The foundation also sponsors exhibitions, conference, seminars, books, and documentaries to promote the achievements of historic women artists, in addition to safeguarding their work. The foundation sponsors an honors program, 'The Nelli Awards', dedicated to recognizing modern-day women working in Florence, including women curators, artists, and restorers. In 2010, Fortune established the Jane Fortune Research Program at the Medici Archive Project in Florence, for finding new archival documents regarding the history of women artists, assisting study of this material by scholars, and mentoring young scholars in the field.

Projects in the United States

In 2008, with co-founder Robert Hesse, Fortune established the Indianapolis City Ballet (ICB), a nonprofit organization that supports ballet performances with international dancers from ballet companies from several countries and

master class A master class is a Class (education), class given to students of a particular Academic discipline, discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also science, painting, drama, games, or on any other occasion where skills are b ...

es with these dancers in Indianapolis. Fortune was a member of the board of the

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openin ...

, Washington, D.C.; the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University; the

Herron School of Art and Design Herron School of Art and Design, officially IU Herron School of Art and Design, is a public art school at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is a professional art school and has been accredite ...

; the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openin ...

in Washington, D.C. Fortune was a member of the board of directors of the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Herron School of Art and Design Herron School of Art and Design, officially IU Herron School of Art and Design, is a public art school at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is a professional art school and has been accredite ...

in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was on the board of trustees of the Medici Archive Project (Florence, Italy and New York). In Philadelphia, Fortune co-founded USArtists, an American Fine Art Show and Sale, which benefited the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the founder of the same organization's Special Needs Program that resulted in the establishment of the Women's Board Endowed Scholarship at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, a scholarship for persons with disabilities to attend the PAFA art school. She endowed the Jane Fortune Outstanding Women Visiting Artist Lecture at Herron School of Art and Design. Past lecturers have been Eleanor Antin, Maria Magdalena Compos-Pons, Judy Chicago, Judith Shea, Audrey Flack, Betty Woodman, and Polly Apfelbaum. She was chair of the board of the Deafness Research Foundation in New York City and its volunteer president-CEO.

Recognitions and awards

In 2010, Fortune was awarded an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

for her work as an author and philanthropist in the United States and Italy. In 2007, the Indianapolis Mayor's Advisory Council on Disabilities awarded Fortune their Accessibility Award for her work on accessibility and inclusion for persons with disabilities. Maxwell L. Anderson—the Melvin & Bren Simon Director and CEO of the

Indianapolis Museum of Art The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres, the Gardens at Newfields, the Beer Garden, and more. It i ...

— nominated her for the Accessibility Award, for her leadership and financial support of the museum's accessibility program. In 2008, Dr. Fortune also received the ‘Spirit of Philanthropy Award’ from

Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th st ...

(IUPUI), the

in Indianapolis. In 2013, the documentary, ''Invisible Women: Forgotten Artists of Florence'', based on her 2009

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

by the same title, was awarded a regional

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

as Best Documentary in the Historical/Cultural Program Category. In 2013, for her work in Florence she received the Tuscan-American Association Award. This award, presented annually at Florence's

Palazzo Vecchio The Palazzo Vecchio ( "Old Palace") is the City hall, town hall of Florence, Italy. It overlooks the Piazza della Signoria, which holds a copy of Michelangelo's ''David (Michelangelo), David'' statue, and the gallery of statues in the adjacent ...

, honors an American and an Italian for their contributions to the culture of Florence. Past awardees include

Andrea Bocelli Andrea Bocelli (; born 22 September 1958) is an Italian tenor and multi-instrumentalist. He was born visually impaired, with congenital glaucoma, and at the age of 12, Bocelli became completely blind, following a brain hemorrhage resulting fr ...

Zubin Mehta Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mehta's father was the foun ...

, and

Franco Zeffirelli Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli (12 February 1923 – 15 June 2019), was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer and politician. He was one of the most significant opera and theatre directors of the post-World War II era, ...

Death

2018-10-09 Messa commemorativa in Santa Croce per Jane Fortune 02

Fortune died at her home in Indianapolis on September 23, 2018 at the age of 76. A memorial ceremony was held for her at the

Basilica of Santa Croce The (Italian for 'Basilica of the Holy Cross') is the principal Franciscan church in Florence, Italy, and a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church. It is situated on the Piazza di Santa Croce, about 800 meters south-east of the Duomo. The ...

in Florence on October 9, 2018. She is survived by her son, John Medveckis, her daughter, Jennifer Medveckis, and her son-in-law, James Marzo.

Bibliography

*''The Restoration of Lamentation with Saints.'' Jane Fortune, Rossella Lari, and Magnolia Scudieri. 2006. Arte Media Studio, Florence, Italy (Documentary – DVD). *''To Florence, Con Amore: 77 Ways to Love the City''. Jane Fortune. 2007. Florence: The Florentine Press. *''David and Bathsheba, The Restoration'' by Linda Falcone, Jane Fortune and Serena Padovani. 2008. Art Media Studio, Florence, Italy (Documentary – DVD). *''Invisible Women: Forgotten Artists of Florence''. Jane Fortune. 2009. Florence, Italy: The Florentine Press. *''Continuing the Commitment: A Tribute to Suor Plautilla Nelli'' by Jane Fortune in ''Orate Pro Pictora: Pray for the Paintress''. 2009. The Florentine Press, Florence, Italy. *''To Florence, Con Amore: 90 Ways to Love the City''. Jane Fortune. 2010. Florence, Italy: The Florentine Press. *''Rediscovering Florence's Native-born Female Artists'' in ''Irene Parenti Duclos: A Work Restored—An Artist Revealed''. Linda Falcone, ed. 2011. Florence: The Florentine Press. *'' Art by Women in Florence: A Guide through Five Hundred Years''. Jane Fortune and Linda Falcone, 2012. Florence: The Florentine Press. *''Félicie de Fauveau: Artistic Passion and Political Exile''. Jane Fortune. 2013. In ''Santa Croce in Pink: Untold Stories of Women and their Monuments'', Linda Falcone (Ed.) Florence: Artecelata, pgs. 55–58.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fortune, Jane 1942 births 2018 deaths 21st-century American non-fiction writers Writers from Indianapolis American women journalists 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American women