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Amon Carter MuseumCelebrating America: Masterworks from Texas CollectionsBy Madelyn MillerI have just moved into a historic building and am now living in the original Dallas Sears Roebuck Building. My loft is where the mail order linens section was, I am told. Living in a historic building and being home this month to unpack has given me time to think about my roots. So this new exhibit fits in perfectly with my frame of mind.
This group of paintings, sculptures, watercolors and photographs celebrates the achievements of those collectors in Texas whose holdings reflect the essential nature of our country’s character. From a pair of 18th-century portraits by John Singleton Copley to important works by great American artists such as Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, David Smith, Alfred Stieglitz and Garry Winogrand, the variety of the objects in the exhibition speaks to the regional, cultural and ethnic diversity of America.
“By bringing together outstanding works by artists in all media, this exhibition celebrates the philosophy of quality that has governed the Carter’s collecting activities since its inception,” says Amon Carter Museum Director Rick Stewart. “And perhaps most importantly, this exhibition celebrates the public and private collections in the state of Texas, where the study and appreciation of American art have flourished for more than a century.” “The depth and caliber of American art located in Texas art collections, as well as the strength and cohesiveness of these collections, was surprising,” adds Chief Curator Jane Myers, whose research for the exhibition began in 1998. “There have been a great number of outstanding collections assembled in Texas since the turn of the 20th century, when the citizens who populated the state’s burgeoning communities began a series of earnest campaigns to bring art to the prairies.” “Celebrating America: Masterworks from Texas Collections” also commemorates the inaugural year of the Carter’s expansion, which increased to nearly 30,000 square feet the gallery space in which to showcase the museum’s collections and special exhibitions of American art. Visitors are now able to view four times the number of artworks that were on display in the pre-expansion building. This exhibition is organized by the Amon Carter Museum. It is made possible by a generous gift from Wells Fargo. The Star-Telegram is the official print sponsor of the Amon Carter Museum. Public Programming in Conjunction with “Celebrating America: Masterworks from Texas Collections” Free admission. All programs are at the Amon Carter Museum. Gallery Talks Thursdays, 12:15–12:45 p.m. September 26: “Georgia O’Keeffe in the 1920s: Her Emotional and Physical Journeys” Shirley Reece-Hughes, Independent Scholar October 24: “Frozen in Time: ‘The Norther’ and Frederic Remington’s Mastery of Bronze” Rick Stewart, Director November 14: “Intimate Impression: Edward Hopper’s ‘House by an Inlet’” Rebecca Lawton, Assistant Curator of Paintings and Sculpture Film Series: “About the Artists” Thursdays, 5:30 p.m. September 19: “John Singer Sargent: Outside the Frame,” directed by Jackson Frost, 2000, USA, 57 minutes November 7: “Ansel Adams: A Documentary Film,” directed by Ric Burns, 2002, USA, 90 minutes Special Lectures Thursdays, 5:30 p.m. October 3: “Edmonia Lewis in Rome: A Nineteenth-Century Black Woman Sculptor” Marilyn Richardson, Independent Scholar October 10: “A Texas Scholar on Texas Collectors: Will Hogg and His Remington Collection” Emily Ballew Neff, Curator of American Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Lecture Series: “Making An American Masterpiece” Sundays, 3 p.m. October 27: “Helen and Tom, Chloe and Sam: ‘Beyond the Power of Words to Tell’” Sylvia Yount, Margaret and Terry Stent Curator of American Art, High Museum of Art, Atlanta For more information, visit the museum’s Web site at www.cartermuseum.org |
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“Celebrating America: Masterworks from Texas
Collections,” a special exhibition organized by the Amon Carter Museum that
brings together 59 American masterpieces drawn from private, public and
corporate collections throughout the state of Texas, opens September 14 at
the Carter and runs through November 17. It is accompanied by a 146-page
catalogue that features an introductory essay on the history of fine art
collecting in Texas.
“Celebrating America: Masterworks from Texas
Collections” is informed by the Carter’s own collecting philosophy. The
museum was founded in 1961 to house Amon G. Carter’s (1879–1955) collection
of 400 works by the two greatest artists of the American West, Frederic
Remington (1861–1909) and Charles M. Russell (1864–1926). Since then, the
museum has broadened its collecting perspective, seeking out the finest
examples of American art and building a collection of masterworks that
emphasizes key moments in American art and culture. A majority of the
artists whose works are in the exhibition are also represented in the
Carter’s collection, which offers visitors a rare opportunity to compare an
artist’s work from different career periods.