I am very excited to announce that this Sunday, February 12th is the opening of Face to Face: International Art at the DMA. This exhibition, comprised entirely of works of art from the DMA collection, honors and celebrates the contributions of our generous donors. As a result of their kind philanthropy, the DMA has grown into a diverse international collection. If you are a frequent visitor of the Museum, some or maybe even all of these artworks might be familiar to you, but their intriguing and unusual display design will have you looking at them in all new ways. The works of art will be presented in pairs of two, each coming from a different culture that share some kind of commonality. Through close looking and the guidance of thoughtful label text, the discovery of similarities between two seemingly dissimilar objects will provide a new perspective on the collection. An example of one of these provocative pairings is below.
What do you notice about these two pieces? What kind of connections can you make between them? Why might they be shown together?
Eccentric flint depicting a crocodile canoe with passengers, Mexico or Guatemala: Maya culture, Late Classic period, c. A.D. 600–900, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., in honor of Mrs. Alex Spence, 1983.45.McD
Eros lamp holder, Greek, perhaps from Asia Minor, Hellenistic period, early 1st century B.C., bronze, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., in honor of Anne Bromberg’s 30th anniversary with the Dallas Museum of Art, 2005.12.a–b.McD
Stumped? Come to the exhibition to find out more about these and many other works of art!
Hannah Burney
McDermott Education Intern for Teaching Programs and Partnerships
I’m really excited about the Face to Face exhibition! I really like how they paired the Lokapalas and the Janus reliquary guardian figure.