Official behind-the-scenes blog of the Dallas Museum of Art
Did you get a chance to travel to 1950s Dallas this weekend? Flower of the Prairie: George Grosz in Dallas opened on Sunday and will be on view through August 19. Below are a few images from the installation of the exhibition.
Photography by Adam Gingrich, DMA Marketing Assistant.
This past weekend, Souvenir: A 19th-Century Carved Tusk from the Loango Coast of Africa opened in the Museum’s Concourse. Below are a few shots of the installation process.
Photography by Adam Gingrich, DMA Marketing Assistant
A look back at the installation of Form/Unformed: Design from 1960 to the Present, the first comprehensive overview of our modern and contemporary design collections, on view in the Tower Gallery. Work in the gallery began in October 2010 for the Decemeber 19, 2010 opening. Below are a few shots of the installation process.
DMA exhibition staff, including preparators John Lendvay and Lance Lander and exhibitions graphic designer Kevin Parmer, install the newly opened Form/Unformed: Design from 1960 to the Present in the Level 4 Tower Gallery.
Photography by Adam Gingrich, DMA Marketing Assistant.
The DMA was transformed Saturday for the 2012 Art Ball, Wanderlust. Below are images of the preparation for our annual fundraiser.
Our upcoming Late Night on Friday, April 20, will celebrate our exhibition Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties. As we were planning for this event, we learned that Chilton Gallery I would be empty during this time, as staff prepares the space for a new installation, so we inquired about using it for one of our programs. Once we got the green light, we immediately thought: Speakeasy!
The Speakeasy will feature 1920s-inspired cocktails and live music, with an area where visitors can “cut a rug.” But we also wanted to have music playing in-between the live acts, and what speakeasy would be complete without a player piano!
We believed the easiest thing to do would be to rent one from a local piano company, but after placing a few calls we found that they didn’t have any “older-looking” player pianos, and even if they did, it would cost a lot of money to rent one for a night. We thought we were out of luck until one of the companies suggested that it would be cheaper if we just bought one online.
Surprisingly (to us at least), there were quite a few to choose from.
Welcome to Carrollton
After examining all of the listings for pianos for sale we picked our favorite four. We heard back from a couple who was selling a Rubenstein player piano that fit the feel of the 1920s. So we headed to Carrollton to take a look, make sure the player part did indeed work, and check out the instrument’s overall condition.
Checking out the inner workings of the piano.
A box of music rolls for the player piano.
Once we agreed to buy the piano we then had to work out transport to the Museum. After a few more calls, and the brief thought of moving it ourselves with a U-Haul, we ended up working with Piano Movers of Texas.
Bringing the piano into the Museum via our loading dock.
Two weeks after beginning our quest for a player piano we finally have one on-site, where it is waiting in our auditorium greenroom for its move next Friday to the Speakeasy.
Stop by during the Late Night and take a look at the newest addition to the DMA piano family, which also includes a 9-foot Steinway Concert Grand piano and a 6-foot Yamaha G Series Baby Grand white piano.
Stacey Lizotte is Head of Adult Programming and Multimedia Services.
Denise Helbing is Manager of Partner Programs.
Recently I managed to get my hands on an advance copy of Christopher Moore’s newest book, Sacré Bleu. This auspicious event was followed by two days of ravenous reading, skipped meals, and neglected chores. Christopher Moore, the author who has brought us absurdly funny stories about Jesus Christ, vampires, and sassy whales, has cannonballed into the pool of art history–and has made a huge splash!
"Sacré Bleu" by Christopher Moore. On sale April 3, 2012.
When asked about the origin of his latest novel, Moore says, “I simply set out to write a novel about the color blue.” This desire brought him to Paris, London, and Italy, where “it turns out they keep a lot of the art discussed in this book.” The novel opens as the tragic news of Vincent van Gogh’s death reaches Paris. His friends, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and Lucien Lessard, set out to solve the mystery of Vincent’s death after receiving this warning from him:
“P.S. If you see the Colorman, run. Run. You are too talented and too delicate of constitution to endure, I think. I am not mad. I promise.”
–Vincent
To solve the murder, Lucien and Henri will have to hunt down this twisted little Colorman who has a penchant for ultramarine blue. They will find love, heartbreak, forgotten memories, and, ahem, some girls in Moulin Rouge. Ultimately they will uncover the secret of the Colorman and the ordained powers he gets from Sacré Bleu, but not before having a little bit of fun with their impressionist friends.
Here are some examples of uses of Sacré Bleu from Christopher Moore’s novel. Throughout the story, each of these artists is visited by the manipulative Colorman.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, “The Swing,” 1876, oil on canvas, Museé d’Orsay.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, “Rousse dit aussi La Toilette,” 1889, oil on cardboard, Museé d’Orsay.
Claude Monet, “Camille Monet on Her Deathbed,” 1879, oil on canvas, Museé d’Orsay.
Georges Seurat, “Bathers at Asnières,” 1884, oil on canvas, National Gallery.
Sacré Bleu, the “sacred blue,” the truest blue, was at the time the most expensive paint in history. It was extremely difficult to obtain. First, colormen would need the gemstone lapis lazuli, which, for centuries, was more rare and more valuable than gold. On top of that, lapis lazuli is only found in one place in the world, the mountains of Afghanistan–a world away from Europe! Why go to all this trouble to make a little bit of blue paint? Because the pigment derived from lapis lazuli creates the most spectacular, everlasting, ultramarine blue. It does not fade over time or blacken with age like some other blue paints. This quality of ultramarine blue, as well as the significant sacrifice one had to make to obtain it, made it the perfect color to reserve for the Blessed Virgin, the mother of Christ. In many religious scenes, Mary is seen wearing a Sacré Bleu gown.
Michelangelo, “The Entombment,” c. 1500, tempera on panel, National Gallery.
Although he spends most of his time haunting the impressionists in Montmartre, the Colorman does make his way back to 16th-century Italy to visit the masters of the Renaissance. In this example, it appears as though Michelangelo’s The Entombment remains unfinished because he was unable to obtain the ultramarine paint he needed to finish the figure of the Virgin Mary. Of course in reality this is probably due to the high cost of the paint, but in Sacré Bleu, it is a mystery that is waiting to be solved by you!
Christopher Moore will discuss his new book as part of the Arts & Letters Live program at the Dallas Museum of Art on Tuesday, April 1o, at 7:30 p.m. For more information and tickets to this event, visit our website. The DMA’s Museum Store is selling first-edition copies of Sacre Bleu, with beautiful color illustrations of the art discussed in the novel.
Hayley Dyer is the Audience Relations Coordinator for Programming at the Dallas Museum of Art.
Last week we hosted our annual Art in Bloom event at the DMA. Former Metropolitan Museum of Art Floral Designer Chris Giftos spoke at the Floral Symposium and Luncheon before guests bid on floral arrangements from designers throughout Dallas. Below are a few highlights from the day.
Adam Gingrich is the Administrative Assistant for Marketing and Communications at the DMA.
To star in a commercial!
In 1990 a car commercial was filmed in front of the Museum’s Ceremonial Entrance at Harwood and Flora streets. As you can see, he drew quite a crowd.
Hillary Bober is the Digital Archivist at the Dallas Museum of Art.
Hello everyone! Arturo here, the family mascot of the Dallas Museum of Art! I bet you already know that I like spending my time at the Museum painting, drawing, and doing yoga, but did you know that I like to read too? Picture books, chapter books, comic books–I like to read everything! This spring, Arts & Letters Live is bringing some of my favorite authors to the Museum to talk about their work–and I wouldn’t miss them for anything! If you like to read too, then I would love for you to come to a BooksmART event with me. I’ll be sitting on the front row–you can’t miss me!
If you’ve never been to an Arts & Letters Live BooksmART event, let me tell you a little bit about it. Arts & Letters Live is the DMA’s literary series, bringing authors of all kinds to talk to readers (like you and me) about books they have written. After the event, the author meets everyone at the book signing. Last year I met Rick Riordan!
Mark your calendars now for these upcoming events.
On Friday, March 16, as a part of our Spring Break Late Night, author Laura Numeroff will be talking about her new book, The Jellybeans and the Big Art Adventure. Laura is the author of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and If You Give a Pig a Pancake. I’m going to suggest that she title her next book If You Give a Parrot a Paintbrush! She’s going to start at 7:00 p.m. so make sure you get your mom and dad to get you to Horchow Auditorium on time! ickets to this event are FREE with paid general admission to the Museum but a reservation is required.
On Sunday April 15, the legendary author-illustrator Marc Brown will be right here at the DMA talking about If All the Animals Came Inside. You may know him as the creator of Arthur Read, everyone’s favorite aardvark! Did you know that Arthur was born one night while Marc Brown was telling his son a bedtime story? Now his son has grown up and reads Arthur books with his children! Before the event there will be a tour of some of the animals in the DMA’s collection, inspired by If All the Animals Came Inside.
On Thursday, April 19, we are having a huge birthday party at the DMA. No, no, it’s not my birthday! Judy Blume’s book Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing is turning forty this year, so we are celebrating in true BooksmART style. I know you won’t want to miss it! Judy will be here talking about all of our favorite books–Frecklejuice, Blubber, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, and of course, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and the indomitable Fudge. It’s going to be a lot of fun!
To order tickets, you can have your mom or dad call my friends in the Arts & Letters Live office at 214-922-1818 or they can always get them online. For more information about all our events, visit our website. I hope to see you at one of these events soon. Until then, keep reading!
Arturo is the mascot for all Museum family programming. He makes appearances on First Tuesdays and Late Nights; you can also find him on all family related print materials and as a temporary tattoo. He had a bit of help with this post from Hayley Dyer, Audience Relations Coordinator for Programming.
Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties opens this Sunday after an inaugural presentation at the Brooklyn Museum. Preparation for the exhibition began in January, and below are a few images of the installation process.
Adam Gingrich is the Administrative Assistant for Marketing and Communications at the DMA.
