Displaying items by tag: amon carter museum of american art

The title of the exhibition of American Indian art at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, “Indigenous Beauty,” reminds us that there were centuries-old traditions of art-making in the Americas long before Europeans arrived, traditions that continued even as the new settlers’ expansion threatened to engulf them.

Valerie and Charles Diker, an American couple, have spent a good deal of their lives developing a wide-ranging collection of Indian art from one corner of North America to the other.

On February 2, 2015, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas, will start renovating portions of its Philip Johnson-designed building. The museum will remain open during the process, though some galleries will be inaccessible. The project is expected to last four months, with all galleries scheduled to reopen in June 2015.

The Amon Carter Museum was designed by Johnson in the International Style --- a straightforward and unadorned aesthetic that expresses classical structure through the use of modern materials. Although the museum was initially conceived as a small institution, its collection continued to grow, necessitating a number of subsequent expansions, which Johnson spearheaded.

The Amon Carter Museum of American Art announces that it has cataloged, digitized and published online more than 35,000 artworks of eight prominent American photographers of the 20th century—Carlotta Corpron (1901–1988), Nell Dorr (1893–1988), Laura Gilpin (1891–1979), Eliot Porter (1901–1990), Helen Post (1907–1979), Clara Sipprell (1885–1975), Erwin E. Smith (1886–1947) and Karl Struss (1886–1981). This project was made possible by a $75,000 digitization grant the museum received from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in 2012.

The Amon Carter owns the archives of these photographers, and the newly digitized works include all of the prints in these collections. Also digitized are 12,000 very fragile glass negatives, nitrate negatives and autochromes. Most are never-before-seen negatives that the museum is unable to display in the galleries due to format and fragility.

The Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth has acquired the painting, Peaches and Grapes in a Chinese Export Basket (1813), by artist Raphaelle Peale (1774-1825). It’s the first work by Peale to enter the museum’s collection, a still life purchased in memory, Carter officials say, of museum founder Ruth Carter Stevenson, who died in 2013.

The painting, which carries an estimated $1 million value, will be on view beginning Tuesday.

“Raphaelle Peale is considered the first American still-life artist,” Carter director Andrew J. Walker said in a statement. “His paintings established the tradition in this country, and they remain among the most magnificent images of their kind ever created. Adding this superb painting by Peale gives depth to the collection, and it also provides us an opportunity to tell the story of how still life became a respected art form.”

Three Texas museums -- the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, the Dallas Museum of Art, and the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas -- are adding more than a combined 1,700 high-resolution works of art to the Google Art Project. The Art Project, which is part of the Google Cultural Institute, allows users to virtually explore works of art from international museums, institutions, and archives. Currently, there more than 57,000 high-resolution images of works ranging from oil on canvas paintings to sculpture and furniture.

The Amon Carter Museum has submitted 1,200 images to the Google Art Project, showcasing works by American artists such as Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent, and James McNeill Whistler. The museum also contributed 200 photographs from its collection. The Dallas Museum of Art submitted around 500 works from its collection including “Sheaves of Wheat” by Vincent van Gogh. The Nasher Sculpture Center, which houses a collection of modern and contemporary sculpture, submitted images of works by Auguste Rodin and Mark di Suvero.

The exceptional quality of the images coupled with the Google Art Project’s custom-built zoom view, allows users to explore the finest details of  each object. Visitors can browse works by artist, title, medium, museum, country, time period, or collection. Virtual guided tours by experts are available on the site so that users can learn more about a particular work or topic.

To view works from the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, the Dallas Museum of Art, and the Nasher Sculpture Center, visit the Google Art Project.

The Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, TX has received a $70,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support the exhibition ‘Navigating the West: George Caleb Bingham and the River.’ Andrew J. Walker, the museum’s director, said, “Receiving this prestigious NEA grant is certainly an honor. The support will help us create an exhibition that engages and resonates with our diverse audiences.”

George Caleb Bingham, who captured American life in the frontier lands along the Missouri River in the Luminist style, was relatively unknown until his art was rediscovered in the 1930s.‘Navigating the West’ brings together 17 river paintings and nearly 40 drawings that collectively tell the story of how Bingham created his art and artistic persona during a time when American painting, as well as the country, was rapidly changing.

‘Navigating the West’ will be on view at the Amon Carter Museum from October 2, 2014 through January 18, 2015. 

The Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas has acquired a portrait by John Singer Sargent depicting Edwin Booth, the renowned 19^th century Shakespearean actor and brother of Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth. The Players, a private club for actors founded by Booth and his peers, commissioned the full-length portrait in 1890.

Edwin Booth was housed at The Players club until 2002, when debt forced the organization to sell the work to a private collector. The painting had only gone on public display twice before being acquired by the Amon Carter Museum: once in 1926 as part of Sargent’s memorial exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and from November 2003 to February 2004 at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Andrew Walker, Director of the Amon Carter Museum, said, “Sargent is one of the most important American artists and we are thrilled to add another one of his masterpieces to our collection. We are particularly intrigued by this painting as it is among his most brilliantly conceived full-length male portraits.” The museum also owns Sargent’s Alice Vanderbilt Shepard, which was acquired in 1999.

Edwin Booth, which was purchased for about $5 million, is currently on its first extended display in the museum’s main gallery.

In November 2013, the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) will unveil its new Paintings Conservation Studio as part of the institution’s initiative to establish a more comprehensive on-site conservation program. Three long-term research projects that will utilize new analytical techniques and technologies will inaugurate the space.

The DMA’s new conservation studio features cutting edge technology including a digital x-ray system and will serve as a center for study and research as well as conservation treatments. The studio, which is enclosed by a glass wall, will be open to visitors so that guests of the museum can observe daily conservation activities.

As part of its efforts to improve its conservation capabilities, the Dallas Museum of Art has embarked on a number of projects with museums and universities in north Texas. The DMA is currently working with the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of North Texas in Denton on various initiatives including the study of ultramarine pigment discoloration, the pigment and medium analysis of a work by Paul Gauguin, and the development of atomic sampling techniques for silverplated objects.

Maxwell L. Anderson, the Dallas Museum of Art’s Eugene McDermott Director, said, “The launch of these new conservation initiatives supports the DMA’s commitment to responsible stewardship of our collection, and the advancement of conservation research and practices in the region and across the museum field. We look forward to strengthening the DMA’s culture of conservation with the opening of this new facility and integrating conservation into the fabric of the Museum experience for the benefit and enjoyment of our community.”