UCLA Receives Donation of African Art Valued at More Than $14 Million

The Fowler Museum at the University of California at Los Angeles has received a donation of 92 pieces of African art from the collection of  Jay T. and Deborah R. Last of Beverly Hills. The collection, valued at more than $14 million, includes wood and ivory figures, masks, tools, and spoons made by the Lega people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Lasts have now given the museum more than 300 works of art from the Lega people. The couple also helped fund the construction of the Fowler museum and a donation of $1 million endowed the position of curator of African arts.

Jay T. Last, who holds a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was one of eight original founders of the Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation.