Artifacts by Dallas Museum of Art

Member Magazine winter 2016

MELODY MAKER

The Art of Music in Vermeer’s Time POLLOCK’S TEXAS SCIONS ARTS & LETTERS LIVE AT 25 PLUS: A SECRET BEQUEST, AN ARTISTIC DEVICE, AND A CONSERVATION COMPOSITION

director ’ s note

I am honored to have the opportunity to serve as Interim

Museum’s north side, will be revitalized, establishing a new

Director of the Dallas Museum of Art, an institution that I

look for the DMA and creating new ways to enjoy the Dallas

love. When you love the DMA, you have to care not only for

Arts District. These changes and our continued progress

the works of art in the collection but also for the people who

would not be possible without you, our valued advocates and

support and visit the Museum. I am committed to doing

dedicated supporters. You are a group of champions that my

everything I can during this period of transition to continue

wife, Laura, and I are honored to have been among for nearly

the Museum’s remarkable growth in both its notable exhibi-

30 years. Thank you, DMA Members, for everything you have

tions and programs and its diverse audience. As we begin a

given and continue to give to our wonderful and well-loved

new year, the DMA also looks forward to celebrating the

institution.

completion of the Eagle Family Plaza, funded by the extraordinary generosity of Jennifer and John Eagle and the Hamon

Many thanks—

Charitable Foundation. In April, our main entrance, accessed through the Nancy and Jake L. Hamon Building on the Walter B. Elcock

this issue

SWEET, SWEET MUSIC In an Artifacts exclusive, former Dallas Morning News classical music critic Scott Cantrell explores the sounds of Vermeer’s painting.

BESTSELLERS To celebrate 25 years of DMA Arts & Letters Live events, Artifacts asks series founder Kay Cattarulla and a selection of past participants to reminisce.

fiscal year 2015 supporters

Rusty and Bill Duvall Mr. and Mrs. Finley Ewing Mr. and Mrs. Randall S. Fojtasek Mr. and Mrs. Donald S. Freeman, Jr. Julie and Ken Hersh Inge-Lise and Jack Lane Mr. and Mrs. Mark H. LaRoe Patty Lowdon Margaret McDermott Joyce and Harvey Mitchell Bonnie Pitman Karen and Richard Pollock Mr. and Mrs. Robert G. Pollock Mr. and Mrs. Jean-Claude T. Saada Mr. and Mrs. James A. Showers Nancy Shutt Joanna and T. Peter Townsend Donnaartists M. Wilhelm Texas honored Mr. and Mrs. J. McDonald Williams

PAINTERS POST-POLLOCK by The Pollock-Krasner fellow at the DMA Foundation

Anonymous share the impact Kim J. Askew Richard M. Barrett of the legacy of Mrs. Franklin Bartholow Faye C. Briggs Jackson Pollock. Mr. and Mrs. Harris W. Clark Mrs. Robert H. Dedman Jeanne and Sanford Fagadau Gayle D. Fogelson Mr. and Mrs. Jim Gold Joyce Goss and Kenny Goss Dr. and Mrs. Kenneth M. Hamlett Mr. and Mrs. John A. Hammack Mr. and Mrs. Doyle Hartman Lyda H. Hill Kim and Tony Horton Mrs. Murray S. Johnson Mr. and Mrs. J. Luther King, Jr. Irvin and Joan Levy Emily Maduro and Joseph J. Wielebinski Suzanne and Patrick McGee Mr. and Mrs. Peter G. McGuire Mr. and Mrs. Richard T. Mullen Nancy Perot and Rod Cain Jones Janelle and Alden Pinnell Steven Platzman Mr. and Mrs. John C. Rocchio Mr. and Mrs. Jack E. Swindle Christopher J. Vesy and Alan E. Roller Curator Meslay PatriciaOlivier Villareal and Tom S. Leatherbury Martha M. Wells describes discovering Christen and Derek Wilson

LOVELY LEGACY: THE DORACE FICHTENBAUM BEQUEST

works for the collection collector fromAnonymous the surprise bequest.

Sheryl Adkins-Green and Geoff Green Mr. and Mrs. William Armstrong Jill C. Bee Mr. and Mrs. James Bentley Artifacts is published by the Dallas Museum of Art especially for its members and a benefit membership. Brenda H.isBerry andofRobert G. Berry It is a production of the Museum’s Collections and Exhibitions, Communications and Public Curatorial, Mr. and Mrs. Gene Affairs, H. Bishop Education, Marketing, and Membership and Development departments. Mr. and Mrs. Edward O. Boshell, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Briggs Mr. and Mrs. Henri Bromberg III jill bernstein, Editor in Chief Mr. and Mrs. Robert Buford kimberly daniell, Senior Editor Mr. and Mrs. Stuart M. Bumpas queta moore watson, Managing Editor Wilton McPherson Burt rebecca winti, Art Director Mr. and Mrs. E. Nuel Cates, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. William Caudill gregory castillo, Photographer Bonnie E. Cobb Mr. and Mrs. Roy C. Coffee, Jr. The Dallas Museum of Art is supported, in part, by the generosity of DMA donors, citizens of Mr. Members and Mrs.and George W.the Coleman Frances H. Collins Dallas through the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, and the Texas Commission on the Arts. Alessandra Comini for information call 214-922-1200 or visit DMA.org. Mary M. Cook Mr. and Mrs. Clay Cooley Marilyn Corrigan Edwin L. Cox Martin S. Cox cover : Johannes Vermeer, Young Woman Seated at a Virginal (detail), c. 1670–72, oil on canvas, © The Leiden Collection, New York. Gerry Cristol left :

Artist Ushio Shinohara demonstrating his Boxing Painting on the DMA’s Ross Avenue Plaza during the October 2015 Late Night

Mr. and Mrs. William A. Custard Hannah and Stuart Cutshall Helen Buchanan Davis and Christina Seeger Pacetti Mr. and Mrs. H. J. Davitt Peggy Dear Barbara Delabano Bradbury Dyer III Patti Elliott Thomas Fagadau Amy and Lee Fikes Jacqueline Fojtasek Kay R. Franks Mr. and Mrs. James A. Gibbs Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Gibson Betty and James Goble James A. Griffin Linda W. Hart and Milledge Alfonso Hart III Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey M. Heller Mr. and Mrs. Philip C. Henderson Marian Hines Cathy Hudson Mr. and Mrs. Jon Jacoby Debra Hunter Johnson and Lyndon S. Johnson Kim Jordan Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Kaminski Mr. and Mrs. Barron U. Kidd Anne Kimbrough Marilyn Klepak Mr. and Mrs. Peter A. Kraus Mr. and Mrs. John Ford Lacy Mr. and Mrs. John I. Levy Nicole Lidji Elise Longpree John Lunsford Mr. and Mrs. Harry H. Lynch Joy and Ronald Mankoff Linda Marcus Mr. and Mrs. William S. McIntyre IV Mr. and Mrs. John D. McStay Dr. and Mrs. Venu Menon Mr. and Mrs. Howard M. Meyers Retta A. Miller Charles Nearburg Xuan-Thao Nguyen and Erik Hille Lucilo Peña and Lee Cobb Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Popolo, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Martin Price Vin and Caren Prothro Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Rayes Mr. and Mrs. Eric Reeves Mr. and Mrs. Charles R. Ritchey Carol Robbins Mr. and Mrs. Peter H. Roberts Margaret J. Rogers Mr. and Mrs. Daniel G. Routman Mr. and Mrs. Robert V. Rozelle Deborah Ryan Mary Jane and Frank Ryburn Cynthia and Armond Schwartz Jason B. Sowell, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Andre Staffelbach Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Staubach Linda S. Steinberg Jackie and Peter Stewart Mr. and Mrs. Jeremy Strick Jim Strong Mr. and Mrs. Russell Sublette Greg Swalwell and Terry Connor Mr. and Mrs. Michael F. Terry Michael E. Thomas Mr. and Mrs. Chad Vose Thomas B. Walker, Jr. Eugenia G. Whitten and Robert E. Wilhelm Dr. and Mrs. Kern Wildenthal Jean D. Wilson Jennifer Young and J. D. Young John R. Young *Deceased

this season INTERNATIONAL POP | Through January 17, 2016 VERMEER SUITE Music in 17th-Century Dutch Painting

January 17–August 21, 2016 N S HARSHA Sprouts, reach in to reach out

Through February 14, 2016 REBECCA WARREN | March 13–July 17, 2016 WORKS FROM THE FICHTENBAUM COLLECTION March 13–August 7, 2016 JACKSON POLLOCK Blind Spots

Through March 20, 2016 IRVING PENN Beyond Beauty

April 15–August 14, 2016 SPIRIT AND MATTER Masterpieces from the Keir Collection of Islamic Art

Through July 31, 2016 mark your calendar DIVINE FELINES Cats of Ancient Egypt

October 9, 2016–January 8, 2017 I am honored to have the opportunity to serve as Interim Director of the Dallas Museum of Art, an institution that I love. When you love the DMA, you have to care not only for the works of art in the collection but also for the people who support and visit the Museum. I am committed to doing everything I can during this period of transition to continue the Museum’s remarkable growth in both its notable exhibitions and programs and its diverse audience. As we begin a new year, the DMA also looks forward to celebrating the completion of the Eagle Family Plaza, funded by the extraordinary generosity of Jennifer and John Eagle and the Hamon Charitable Foundation. In April, our main entrance, accessed through the Nancy and Jake L. Hamon Building on the

don ’ t forget!

MEMBERS GET MORE. More benefits. More access. More fun.

fiscal year 2015 supporters

giving councils The following donors have supported the Museum with an annual gift greater than $50,000 in FY 2015.

chairman’s council Amy and Vernon* Faulconer Deedie and Rusty Rose

president’s council Anonymous Jennifer and John Eagle/John Eagle Dealerships Marguerite Steed Hoffman Margot and Ross Perot Allen and Kelli Questrom Cindy and Howard Rachofsky Paul and Gayle Stoffel

director’s council Nancy and Clint Carlson Mr. and Mrs. Robert Henry Dedman, Jr. Claire Dewar Mr. and Mrs. Steven H. Durham Laura and Walter Elcock Tim Hanley Catherine and Will Rose Peggy and Carl Sewell

dma circle The following members have supported the Museum with memberships ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 as of June 30, 2015.

benefactor Mr. and Mrs. James P. Barrow Diane and Hal Brierley J. E. R. Chilton Mary Anne and Richard* Cree Arlene and John Dayton Rosemary and Roger Enrico Mr. and Mrs. William C. Estes Melissa and Trevor Fetter Mr. and Mrs. Jeremy L. Halbreich Fanchon and Howard Hallam Julie and Ed Hawes Ann and Lee Hobson S. Roger Horchow Norma K. Hunt Gene and Jerry Jones Mr. and Mrs. William M. Lamont Dr. and Mrs. Mark L. Lemmon Charlene and Tom Marsh Cynthia and Forrest Miller Susan and Bill Montgomery Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Mr. and Mrs. Jay Pack Carolyn and Karl Rathjen Mr. and Mrs. William T. Solomon, Sr. David and Ann Sutherland Sharon and Michael Young

leader Anonymous Ruth and Ken Altshuler Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Bancroft Steven and Carolyn Becker Melanie and Tim J. Byrne Molly Byrne Kay and Elliot Cattarulla Lindsey and Patrick Collins Charron and Peter Denker

fellow Anonymous Kim J. Askew Richard M. Barrett Mrs. Franklin Bartholow Faye C. Briggs Mr. and Mrs. Harris W. Clark Mrs. Robert H. Dedman Jeanne and Sanford Fagadau Gayle D. Fogelson Mr. and Mrs. Jim Gold Joyce Goss and Kenny Goss Dr. and Mrs. Kenneth M. Hamlett Mr. and Mrs. John A. Hammack Mr. and Mrs. Doyle Hartman Lyda H. Hill Kim and Tony Horton Mrs. Murray S. Johnson Mr. and Mrs. J. Luther King, Jr. Irvin and Joan Levy Emily Maduro and Joseph J. Wielebinski Suzanne and Patrick McGee Mr. and Mrs. Peter G. McGuire Mr. and Mrs. Richard T. Mullen Nancy Perot and Rod Cain Jones Janelle and Alden Pinnell Steven Platzman Mr. and Mrs. John C. Rocchio Mr. and Mrs. Jack E. Swindle Christopher J. Vesy and Alan E. Roller Patricia Villareal and Tom S. Leatherbury Martha M. Wells Christen and Derek Wilson

collector Anonymous Sheryl Adkins-Green and Geoff Green Mr. and Mrs. William Armstrong Jill C. Bee Mr. and Mrs. James Bentley Brenda H. Berry and Robert G. Berry Mr. and Mrs. Gene H. Bishop Mr. and Mrs. Edward O. Boshell, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Briggs Mr. and Mrs. Henri Bromberg III Mr. and Mrs. Robert Buford Mr. and Mrs. Stuart M. Bumpas Wilton McPherson Burt Mr. and Mrs. E. Nuel Cates, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. William Caudill Bonnie E. Cobb Mr. and Mrs. Roy C. Coffee, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. George W. Coleman Frances H. Collins Alessandra Comini Mary M. Cook Mr. and Mrs. Clay Cooley Marilyn Corrigan Edwin L. Cox Martin S. Cox Gerry Cristol

exhibitions

SWEET, SWEET MUSIC By Scott Cantrell

Vermeer Suite: Music in 17th-Century Dutch Painting January 17–August 21, 2016

It’s a familiar trope from 17th-century Dutch paintings: a young

the opposite end of the balanced key. When the key is struck,

woman sitting at or standing next to a rectangular keyboard in-

the jack is thrust upward and an embedded wedge of a bird

strument called a “virginal.” Rarely actual portraits, these were

quill (a plectrum) plucks the string.

popular genre paintings, understated celebrations of domestic tranquility—and the newfound prosperity of the mercantile classes during the Dutch Republic. A young woman was practicing her songs, dances, and variations, and all was well with

Harpsichords commonly had at least two sets of strings, to produce contrasting sonorities and even pitches. Virginals had only one string per key. And while harpsichord strings

the world.

extend forward from the keys, virginal strings are stretched

Such is the case with Johannes Vermeer’s Young Woman Seated

keyboards were inset at the left, center, and right of the case,

parallel to the keyboard. In various times and places, the

at a Virginal, part of the exhibition Vermeer Suite: Music in 17th-

producing different sounds from different plucking points

Century Dutch Painting. There she sits, our unknown musician,

on the strings. With their shorter strings and smaller sound-

her shoulders wrapped in a voluminous shawl, both hands

board, virginals have a more rustic tone, with less harmonic

on the keyboard. The book on the music rack may be a hymnal

development, than full-size harpsichords.

or a collection of popular songs. Her cheeks lightly rouged, she gazes impassively at us from another world. The virginal was a kind of harpsichord, a rectangular and more

“It is an earthy sound,” says Berkeley, California, harpsichord builder John Phillips, who has produced five virginals based on a 1650 modification of an earlier Flemish instrument. “I

compact parallel to the more familiar bentside version. In a way,

consider them the truest sort of time machine. It really leads

it was the harpsichord’s precursor of the square piano: a smaller

you to a very different sound world from the usual Flemish

and less expensive instrument for domestic use.

harpsichord. There’s a kind of raw energy to it.”

Unlike the piano, which produces sound by hitting strings with

That’s perhaps surprising for an instrument so much associ-

felted hammers, harpsichords—including virginals—are pluck-

ated with young women. Also popular in England in the same

ing instruments. A small upright piece of wood (a jack) sits atop

time period, from the middle of the 16th century to the

middle of the 17th, it was supposedly played by no less than

The earliest surviving Flemish virginal dates from 1548, the

the “virgin queen,” Elizabeth I. That association, indeed,

last English one from about 1665. By then the instrument

prompts an obvious, but hardly verified, guess as to the

was being supplanted by a new hybrid called a “spinet,” still smaller than a normal harpsichord but with a bentside

origin of the term virginal.

opposite the keyboard. By the time Vermeer painted his young Antwerp, in Flanders, was a great center of harpsichord build-

woman, in the early 1670s, she was playing an instrument

ing from the 16th century to the 18th. The most famous of

well on its way to extinction.

the builders belonged to the Ruckers family, whose workshop exported harpsichords and virginals all over western Europe

Former classical music critic of the Dallas Morning News from 1999 to 2015,

and the rest of the Spanish empire.

also writing occasionally about art and architecture, Scott Cantrell continues to write for the newspaper and other publications.

Virginals came in quite a variety of sizes and pitches; they could be elaborately painted and inlaid, or relatively plain, often with a Latin motto printed on the lid. Some virginals even had smaller secondary keyboards and string sets in smaller cases that could be stored under the main instrument, or placed on top for playing.

Members-Only Events

Related Events

dma circle opening celebration Wednesday, January 13, 6:00 p.m.

For details, registration, and tickets, visit DMA.org.

Open to Contributor level members and above

member preview days Thursday, January 14, 6:00–9:00 p.m. Friday, January 15, 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Saturday, January 16, 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

gallery talk Wednesday, January 20, 12:15 p.m. Lucy McGuigan, graduate student in Art History at Southern Methodist University, will highlight key works in the exhibition Vermeer Suite: Music in 17th-Century Dutch Painting.

Vermeer Suite: Music in 17th-Century Dutch Painting is organized by the Dallas Museum of Art with paintings on loan from The Leiden Collection. images (details): Left: Attributed to Dirck van Santvoort, A Boy Playing the Flute, n.d., oil on canvas, © The Leiden Collection, New York. Above (left to right): Johannes Vermeer, Young Woman Seated at a Virginal, c. 1670–72, oil on canvas, © The Leiden Collection, New York; Jacob Ochtervelt, A Singing Violinist, c. 1666–70, oil on panel, © The Leiden Collection, New York

exhibitions

PAINTERS POST-POLLOCK Jackson Pollock: Blind Spots Through March 20, 2016

In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of The Pollock-Krasner Foundation and the premiere of Jackson Pollock: Blind Spots, the Foundation and the DMA in November celebrated a group of Dallas-connected artists. Six of them shared with Artifacts the impact Jackson Pollock had on the history of art as well as the influence he may have had on their careers.

STEPHEN LAPTHISOPHON

ARTHUR PEÑA

Jackson Pollock’s paintings draw me to them over and over

Jackson broke painting. There is no doubt about it. The thing

again. I have seen and studied them every chance I get.

is I’m not so sure he intended to. It was in the act of working

Films of him painting instruct and inform my students’

in his studio where the paintings were allowed to “have a life

growth and thinking. Sixty years after his death, I continue

of their own.” He followed inclinations, whispers of work, and

to feel Jackson Pollock’s reach into countless aspects of my

hunted those trails relentlessly. He had to learn how to step

work and thought. Pollock’s paintings inhabit my world by

aside; literally if we think about the movements necessary to

refusing to become pictures of anything other than what they

make his drip paintings. I think of Portrait and a Dream, which

are—records of their making—real things made with real

was the first of his paintings I encountered as a youth at the

stuff—lyrical gestures reaching out to describe and demarcate

DMA. The fine line between the inescapable and the inevitable

real space. Truer than a language of the past, they continue

is represented by two distinct forms, both restless and fragile

to push out and forward, marking a place and defining

within the frame. He was willing to go to a place deep within

presence—a continuous now, here, and ever.

the work to find his paintings. There was just no plan on how to come back. That stays with me.

Jackson Pollock: Blind Spots is co-organized by the Dallas Museum of Art and Tate Liverpool. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. The exhibition is co-presented by Bank of America and Texas Instruments. Additional support is provided by the Texas Commission on the Arts and The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Inc. Additional leadership gifts are provided by Marguerite Hoffman and Tom Lentz, Catherine and Will Rose, Deedie and Rusty Rose, Jennifer and John Eagle, Cindy and Howard Rachofsky, Gayle and Paul Stoffel, Laura and Walter Elcock, Allen and Kelli Questrom, and Sharon and Michael Young.

The presentation in Dallas is made possible by TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art, an annual fundraising event that jointly benefits amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research and the Dallas Museum of Art, and by the Contemporary Art Initiative. Marketing support is provided by the Dallas Tourism Public Improvement District, the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau, and Texas Monthly.

state support

images (details): Above: Jackson Pollock, Number 14, 1951, 1951, enamel paint on canvas, Tate, Purchased with assistance from the American Fellows of the Tate Gallery Foundation 1988, © Pollock-Krasner Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York and DACS, London 2016; Right: Jackson Pollock, Convergence: Number 10, 1952, 1952, oil paint on canvas, Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, New York, Gift of Seymour H. Knox, 1956, © Pollock-Krasner Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York and DACS, London 2016

marketing support

KEVIN TODORA

MICHELLE RAWLINGS Pollock’s work is enigmatic. It escapes the cliché of his persona. There is an unknowingness: his paintings can seem suspended in air, uncertain of themselves. Someone once told me that looking at a Pollock is like looking at a tree. Seeking new forms of making—freed from the past—is a goal we no longer pursue as we once did. It’s anachronistic, like the way we once collectively dreamt of space.

When I was young, Jackson Pollock was a defining symbol of what an artist was. I envisioned chaotic battles in the studio laced with turpentine and jazz. My thoughts were overly romantic. I imagine reality was quite different, but find it really hard to separate the man from the myth. I find that my own photographic work toys with these same notions, pushing away from what is considered traditional as well as the nature of the medium.

JEFF ELROD

FRANCISCO MORENO Pollock continuously pushed his work to new frontiers. It fascinates me that he started as a Regionalist painter, studying under Thomas Hart Benton and inspired by Diego Rivera, and would go on to revolutionize Abstract Expressionism. As artists, we shouldn’t be content with the status quo, but rather willing to push and push our work to new and uncomfortable realms. You see him evolve throughout his career, and there is value in that. You get a sense that he is learning something new in each of his works. That’s exciting to me—and a reminder of what

I used to drive down to the DMA from Denton about once a month for at least a year to look specifically at two paintings: Cathedral and Portrait and a Dream. They could rarely be seen together but sometimes they were both on display. Portrait and a Dream represented everything I understood about Modernism and painting at that time. It remains at the very top of my “favorite” paintings of the 20th century. Given my age then, I probably decided to become a painter while staring at it. At that time, it was very meaningful to me to have a Pollock near me that I could hang with.

I need to strive for in the studio.

Related Events For details, registration, and tickets, visit DMA.org.

arturo’s art & me: lines that wiggle January 9, 13, and 14 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. family workshop: action art January 9 and February 13 1:00–2:30 p.m. gallery talks Wednesdays, 12:15 p.m. January 27: Dr. Benjamin Lima February 24: Dr. Anna Lovatt March 16: Gavin Delahunty

first tuesday: squiggles & wiggles Tuesday, February 2 11:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. Arts & Letters Live and Texas Ballet Theater present

jackson pollock: reflections of an iconic artist Tuesday, February 9, 7:30 p.m.* Wednesday, February 10, 7:30 p.m. toddler art: dribbles & drops February 12, 16, and 19 11:00 a.m.–noon *DMA Members and TBT subscribers only

exhibition talk: pollock’s black paintings: a closer look Thursday, February 25, 7:00 p.m. Michael Schreyach Stephanie Straine Gavin Delahunty

late nights at the dallas museum of art Friday, March 18, 6:00 p.m.–midnight Join us for our annual Spring Block Party and the closing weekend of Jackson Pollock: Blind Spots.

spring break family fun

late night talk: dinner with jackson pollock

Tuesday, March 15–Friday, March 18

Friday, March 18, 9:00 p.m.

Enjoy an action-packed week of art making, family tours, story times, and gallery experiences for families inspired by Jackson Pollock: Blind Spots.

Robyn Lea, author of the cookbook Dinner with Jackson Pollock: Recipes, Art and Nature

collection highlights

LOVELY LEGACY By Olivier Meslay

When Dorace Maritzky Fichtenbaum passed away in July 2015,

recent exhibition Mind’s Eye! All these works of art relate to

many of us at the Museum reflected on her amazing dedication to

and complement our Kirchner double-sided canvas Four Wooden

the visual arts, music, and ballet. Dorace was an active member

Sculptures (recto)/Ice Skater (verso) and the Wittgenstein Vitrine,

of the Museum, a vocal supporter of contemporary and Asian art

and they reinforce works in our European collection, specifi-

acquisitions, an avid traveler on DMA tours, and a generous con-

cally those of German origin.

tributor to many of the Museum’s acquisition funds. Almost every anecdote about her revolves around her boldness and fearlessness, her eclectic taste, and an artistic eye that was ahead of her time. Throughout the years, she gave to the Museum many pieces that are now part of the core of our collection: works on paper by Vernon Fisher and Louise Bourgeois, Japanese ceramic pieces, and Gio Ponti furniture. But Dorace’s greatest gift to the DMA was her incredible bequest. In secret, and to our astonishment, Dorace gave us the honor of selecting pieces from her own diverse private collection for the Museum. She was not afraid to collect what she liked even if it wasn’t popular, and she had a very wide range of likes. We spent bittersweet moments choosing key pieces from the works that filled her house on Crooked Lane. Many of our curators,

In Dorace’s contemporary art collection, we were excited to find the famous and extremely rare series of Jasper Johns’ O through 9; Jean Dubuffet’s delicate crayons and pen piece; extremely rare Eva Hesse gouaches; drawings by Brice Marden, Sol Lewitt, and Annette Lawrence; a Joan Mitchell painting; and sculptures by Martin Puryear and David Bates. The walls and shelves of Dorace’s home were full of remarkable works that will now grace ours. Dallas is fortunate to have had a collector like her: generous, modest, tasteful, and passionate. The Dallas Museum of Art is the institution it is today because of people like Dorace Fichtenbaum, who are fond of art, fond of people, and dedicated to the artistic education of our citizens.

some too young to have known Dorace, were surprised to discover

A selection of works from the Fichtenbaum bequest will be on

her remarkable collection of works on paper and that she had

view in the Stoffel Gallery beginning March 13.

collected many works of African, pre-Columbian, and Native American art.

—Olivier Meslay is the Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs at the DMA.

Of special importance, this bequest now transforms the

images: Left: Win Knowlton, Untitled (Koln Nov 15), 1988, mixed media on paper,

Museum’s collection of early modern European works. Drawings,

Dallas Museum of Art, bequest of Dorace M. Fichtenbaum, © Win Knowlton; Yayoi Kusama, Untitled, 1976, shoes, paint, and foam, Dallas Museum of Art, bequest of Dorace M. Fichtenbaum, © Yayoi Kusama; Right: Joan Mitchell, Untitled, 1981, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, bequest of Dorace M. Fichtenbaum, © Joan Mitchell; Face mask (mmuo, “head of a spirit”), Nigeria, Igbo culture, 20th century, wood with kaolin and black paint, Dallas Museum of Art, bequest of Dorace M. Fichtenbaum; Erich Heckel, Woman at the Studio Window, 1913, watercolor and charcoal on paper, Dallas Museum of Art, bequest of Dorace M. Fichtenbaum; Gabriele Münter, Woman and Man with Dog, 1918, lithograph on velin paper, Dallas Museum of Art, bequest of Dorace M. Fichtenbaum

watercolors, and prints by Lyonel Feininger, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Otto Dix, George Grosz, Gabriele Münter, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Käthe Kollwitz, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, and Erich Heckel have suddenly established a new strength in our works on paper collection. We would have been so happy to include them in our

acquisitions

INTO THE ABYSS By Andrea Severin Goins

I was invited to write an article for Artifacts about a unique artis-

This Carpentier painting is a lovely example of mise en abyme, an

tic device subtly—and cleverly—employed by the French painter

artistic effect that translates literally to “place into abyss” and

Paul Claude Michel Carpentier in the DMA’s recent acquisition

projects its own image in infinite smaller iterations. Author

Self-Portrait of the Artist and His Family in His Studio (1833), installed on

André Gide first used the term in the context of the arts in the

Level 2. Olivier Meslay, the DMA’s Associate Director of Cura-

late 19th century. Preparing this article introduced me to the

torial Affairs, took me to a specific spot slightly to the right

term, but the technique was familiar to me, discussed in the

of the work, where you elude the glare of the gallery lighting.

context of Diego Velázquez’ Las Meninas (1656, Museo del Prado,

He pointed out the unfinished canvas depicted on the right-

Madrid), and for its frequency in popular culture (the earrings on

hand side of the painting. A curvilinear form in the bottom left

the Laughing Cow cheese mascot and the opening scene of the

corner, appearing to be the only element approached with a full

popular sitcom Modern Family come to mind).

application of paint, echoes the color, shape, and compositional

Michelangelo Pistoletto uses a similar device in the DMA’s

orientation of the backside of the artist’s wife, who peers at the

Cubic Meter of Infinity (1966). The cube’s interior, covered in

canvas. Above, we see a preliminary drawing or underpainting

mirrors, appears to extend endlessly—the empty box therefore

of a seated Voltaire sculpture like the one in the artist’s studio.

encompassing both nothing and infinity simultaneously.

From where we stood, it was clear that Carpentier depicted himself in the act of painting the very painting that stood before us.

—Andrea Severin Goins is the Interpretation Manager at the DMA.

Should the painterly field be extended such that we could view the entire canvas, we might very well see a second representation of the figure at the canvas, perhaps working on a third representation of the painting.

image: Paul Claude Michel Carpentier, Self-Portrait of the Artist and His Family in His Studio (detail), 1833, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts Collection, Mrs. John B. O’Hara Fund, 2014.38.FA

behind the scenes

RENEWABLE RESOURCES By Laura Hartman

In 1987, the Hoblitzelle Foundation donated a group of

some of the past restorations have now begun to discolor and

paintings to the Dallas Museum of Art—the majority of which

deteriorate. The Hoblitzelle Foundation will provide financial

had already been housed at the Museum and publicly dis-

support for a complete survey of the Hoblitzelle Collection

played alongside the DMA’s permanent collection for almost

to identify the works in need of improvement and prioritize

fifty years. Bearing the credit line of “The Karl and Esther

those most likely to benefit from treatment. All of the paint-

Hoblitzelle Collection, gift of the Hoblitzelle Foundation,”

ings will be returned to public view after the yearlong project.

32 of these pictures remain an essential component of the DMA’s encyclopedic collection and play a key role in the Museum’s presentation of both early European and Texas art. The paintings range from Italian and Dutch masters like the beautiful Bacchic Concert (c. 1625–30) by Pietro Paolini and College of Animals (1655) by Cornelis Saftleven, to American works such as Portrait of George Washington (c. 1850) by Rembrandt Peale and several important paintings by the Texas artist William

One of the first paintings to undergo conservation is the portrait of Grand Duchess Bianca Capello de Medici with her son (c. 1580–1614), a late Renaissance portrait by the Italian artist Alessandro Allori. The painting is historically significant, but its study has been limited by condition concerns and areas of extensive overpaint, which were done at an unknown time. Importantly, the face of the son has always been contentious;

Henry Huddle.

it has a different quality than the beautiful portrait of Bianca.

All of the Hoblitzelle pictures have received conservation

painting, we discovered that the son had originally been

Following examination of an x-radiograph made of the

treatment in the past, primarily during the 1930s and 40s;

portrayed as an infant. Further technical study and research

however, many of the materials and techniques used during

will help unravel the history of this alteration. —Laura Hartman is the Paintings Conservation Fellow at the DMA.

education

BESTSELLERS By Kay Cattarulla

Arts & Letters Live began in 1992, and, unexpectedly, literature was a huge draw. The audience seemed to be saying, “What took you so long?” Robert Coles and poet Tess Gallagher were the opening event, followed by the first Texas Bound program, which featured a Larry McMurtry story read by Tommy Lee Jones. Audiocassettes (now unavailable, alas) included this brilliant reading and “To me the L in Arts & Letters stands for Laundry. I always do a load or two backstage before going on. They offer to fold it for me, but I say no because they have better things to do.” —David Sedaris

Writer and director Steve Lawson, actor Richard Thomas, and Kay Cattarulla

other spectacular ones by Texas-connected actors such as Marcia Gay Harden, Judith Ivey, Julie White, Kathy Bates, and G. W. Bailey. Among the author highlights were Mary Karr, Robert Caro, Molly Ivins, Horton Foote, Michael Cunningham, Sherman Alexie, John Updike, Margaret Atwood, Edwidge Danticat, and Juno Diaz; children’s authors Diane Stanley and William Joyce; and poets Rita Dove and Robert Pinsky. We experimented with literature and film, literature and music; we won awards; and, surprisingly, we made money. Those twelve years, spent in such great company, remain some of my very happiest. —Kay Cattarulla founded Arts & Letters Live and produced its first 12 seasons.

“I was gratified to have my single national event for the publication of Last Kind Words Saloon at the DMA. What better place to preview my book than with a roomful of Texans who seemed familiar with my works and asked smart questions. I suppose my favorite moment of our speaking engagement came when we finished and I managed to stumble off-stage without falling!” —Larry McMurtry

“As an avid reader and fan of great authors, I’ve been privileged to directly participate in several Arts & Letters Live events that have been incredibly rewarding. Interviewing Tony Kushner allowed me to hear him talk about his most pressing project at the time: writing a screenplay for director Stephen Spielberg, which turned out to be Lincoln,

Lost in Paris

for which he was nominated for an Academy

Of all the citizens to arbitrarily trap

Award. As a lifelong fan of novelist John Irving,

It was Piet Mondrian whom I chose

I used the year leading up to my interview with

To ask directions to Place de la Concorde.

him as an excuse to read all of his books in chronological order.” —Kevin Moriarty, Artistic Director, Dallas Theater Center

In the time it took to set up his board I could have found one of those Kiosks that sell Gauloises and maps. But he had already prepped The whole canvas white And painted the first of the rectangles blue. Without their names, every rue Looked like the others, and what did the bright Red and yellow zones represent? No matter—once I had thanked him for His aid and turned a sharp corner to the left, There was no way to go wrong. I zigzagged like a man following a song And thanks to his geometrical gift, Ended up, as you can see, precisely at your door. —Billy Collins

image: David Sedaris by Hugh Hamrick; Larry McMurtry by Diana Ossana; Piet Mondrian, Place de la Concorde (detail), 1938–43, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts Collection, gift of the James H. and Lillian Clark Foundation, 1982.22.FA, © Mondrian/Holtzman Trust c/o HCR International, Washington D.C.

—Roz Chast

art here, there, and everywhere

Home Again This month we will welcome home two works from our acclaimed African art collection, an nkisi nkondi and a wooden figure of a kneeling female with bowl and child. Created by Kongo artists, both works were featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition Kongo: Power and Majesty, which opened last September. The exhibition—hailed as “sensational” by the New York Times—presented more than 140 works from over 50 institutions and private collections across the globe.

Photo by Bruce Guthrie

Irving Penn in the Nation’s Capital

image: Kneeling female figure with bowl and child, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola, Mayombe region, Kongo peoples, Yombe group, late 19th or early 20th century, wood, pigment, and glass, Dallas Museum of Art, The Clark and Frances Stillman Collection of Congo Sculpture, gift of Eugene and Margaret McDermott, 1969.S.22

This past October the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) premiered the exhibition Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty. They welcomed approximately 30 journalists from national outlets at a preview prior to the public opening, including NPR, the Washington Post, and the Economist. “This is an extraordinary experience as a curator to revisit material that you first saw 25 years ago and to be able to think

Room with a View With the opening of the Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History

about this work in a new way,” said guest curator Merry Foresta during the opening events at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. “From the very beginning Penn, by circumstance or deliberate endeavor,

research center, located on Level M2 of the DMA, you may have

juggled the various contexts of fashion, art, and photography. His

noticed a window into the UT Dallas downtown home. The first

expertise in the darkroom demonstrated his commitment to both

installation in the vitrine display features prehistoric objects

beauty and perfection. Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty presents all facets of his

alongside works created by Henry Moore from the DMA’s collection.

artistic approach.” Following its run at SAAM, this exciting exhibition

Artists, including Moore, have often justified their art by its formal

highlighting the prolific career of famed photographer Irving Penn will

resemblance to prehistoric, Cycladic, African, or pre-Columbian

open on April 15, 2016, at the DMA, the first stop on a four-city national

artifacts. This selection of works by Moore alongside some of

tour. Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty will feature more than 140 photographs,

our most ancient artifacts is an opportunity to reexamine the time

including iconic images as well as work that has never been exhibited.

and spirit of these fascinating combinations.

images: Female figure, Iran, Iron Age II, 1000–800 B.C. ceramic, Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts Collection, The Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Marcus Collection of Fertility Figures, 1994.4.5.FA; Henry Moore, Two Torsos, 1981, bronze, Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts Collection, gift of Mildred G. Tippett, 1994.4.5.FA, © The Henry Moore Foundation

capturing you

store

ALEXANDER GIRARD DOLLS Adding color to your New Year! Available in the DMA Store or online at shopDMA.org.

art here, there, and everywhere

Room with a View With the opening of the Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History research center, located on Level M2 of the DMA, you may have noticed a window into the UT Dallas downtown home. The first installation in the vitrine display features prehistoric objects alongside works created by Henry Moore from the DMA’s collection. Artists, including Moore, have often justified their art by its formal resemblance to prehistoric, Cycladic, African, or pre-Columbian artifacts. This selection of works by Moore alongside some of our most ancient artifacts is an opportunity to reexamine the time and spirit of these fascinating combinations.

store

ALEXANDER GIRARD DOLLS Adding color to your New Year! Available in the DMA Store or online at shopDMA.org.

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