Helen Brooks, Profile, about 1935, charcoal, Dallas Art League Purchase Prize, Seventh Annual Dallas Allied Arts Exhibition, 1935.13
Eighty-five years ago, on March 24, 1935, the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts opened its seventh annual Dallas Allied Arts Exhibition. That same day, an illustrated spread in the Dallas Morning News announced the show’s 12 first-prize winners, all but two of which are now in the DMA’s collection. Helen Brooks’s Profile, the only self-portrait of the bunch, appears at bottom center, adding a touch of humanity to a roster of mostly landscapes and still lifes. Reviewing Dallas’s 1934-1935 art season for the Dallas Morning News a few months later, artist, critic, and future Museum Director Jerry Bywaters called Brooks’s work “one of the best drawings of the season.”
Clip from Dallas Morning News, “The Prize Winners,” March 24, 1935; clip from Dallas Morning News, January 5, 1936
When a show of self-portraits by 27 local artists opened at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts in January 1936, Bywaters again had nothing but praise for Brooks’s contribution, declaring in the News, “It is hard to imagine a more thoroughly convincing likeness or better drawing than the small work by Helen Brooks.” One can imagine Brooks appreciating Bywaters’ complimentary words; however, she may have raised an eyebrow at an earlier section of the 1936 article, where Bywaters applauded what he saw as the exhibition artists’ lack of vanity: “In most cases,” he wrote, the self-portraits on display “attempt to make a good rendering of a person who may be considered detachedly as a personality or a lemon [something substandard, disappointing].” Ouch, Jerry.
Bywaters’ mixed messaging aside, Profile and the later, three-quarters-view portrait reveal Brooks to be both a talented artist and a woman with a keen sense of style. She skillfully captures distinctive facial features like her sharp cheekbones; bow-shaped, downturned lips; and receding chin. Her glossy black bob with short, blunt bangs and finger waves, as well as her thinly plucked, arched brows, wouldn’t look out of place on a 1920s movie starlet—a photograph that accompanied news of Brooks’s recent wedding in October 1936 could practically double as a Golden Age Hollywood headshot. #HaircutGoals
Clip from Dallas Morning News, “Back from Wedding Trip,” October 18, 1936
Melinda Narro is the McDermott Graduate Intern for American Art at the Dallas Museum of Art.
Do you have a New Year’s resolution to read more books? The Arts & Letters Live team is here to help you jump start your reading goal and keep you updated on exciting new releases. Check out the selections of authors and books we’re looking forward to hearing and reading in our upcoming 29th season. Take a moment to peruse Arts & Letters Live’s 2020 season and consider giving yourself or your favorite bookworms the memorable experience of hearing authors talk about their latest books and share insights about their creative process.
Carolyn Hartley, Administrative Coordinator Erin Morgenstern, Tuesday, January 14 If you loved Morgenstern’s The Night Circus as much as I did, her highly anticipated second novel, The Starless Sea,will cast a spell on you from its very first page. An old book leads graduate student Zachary Ezra Rawlins on an epic quest to a vast underground library with the guidance of Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired painter, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliances. A bee, a key, and a sword emblazoned on the book will lead them on a path to a secret underground world with pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and ships that sail upon a starless sea. Things are never what they seem. Come to the event early to go on a mysterious tour to explore bees, keys, and swords in the DMA’s collection.
Carolyn Bess, Director, Arts & Letters Live Tembi Locke, Tuesday, February 18 After hearing author, actor, and TEDx speaker Tembi Locke at the Texas Book Festival, I immediately invited her to share her poignant story of resilience with Arts & Letters Live audiences. Her new memoir is From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home, both a New York Times bestseller and a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick. It’s also being adapted into a Netflix series directed by Witherspoon. Locke’s story encompasses taking chances, finding love, and building a home away from home. She writes movingly and poetically about loss, grief, and the healing miracle of food, immersing readers in the beauty and simple pleasures of spending three summers in her husband’s hometown in Sicily.
Jennifer Krogsdale, Audience Relations Coordinator Anne Enright, Tuesday, March 10 This season, one of the books I’m most excited to read is Anne Enright’s forthcoming novel Actress (to be released on March 3). According to the pre-publication publicity I’ve read, Enright’s latest book examines the delicate and intricate relationship between a mother and daughter. Norah is grappling with the long-kept secrets that shaped her once famous mother, Katherine, while also coming to terms with unnerving secrets about her own past and what she wants for her future. Intricate family dynamics, a passion for the arts, and a bizarrely committed crime—sounds like my cup of tea.
Lillie Burrow, McDermott Intern for Arts & Letters Live and Adult Programming Erik Larson, Monday, March 30 This winter, DMA gallery attendants may report an intern lingering a little too often in the Winston Churchill gallery inside the Reves Collection, but the frequent visits will be in anticipation of Erik Larson’s newest nonfiction masterpiece, The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz. With a fastidiously researched narrative, Larson promises to deliver a fresh portrait of the famous leader, and I’m prepared to be bamboozled (again) into meticulously studying a significant historical event through the guise of an indulgent narrative. After re-binging two of my favorites, Devil in the White City and In the Garden of the Beasts, I’m eager for Larson to unveil Churchill’s secrets and to imagine myself as his confidante to the drama. So, spill the tea, Mr. Larson. I am ready to learn.
Michelle Witcher, Program Manager, Arts & Letters Live Esther Safran Foer, Tuesday, April 14 I look forward to hearing Esther Safran Foer discuss her forthcoming memoir I Want You to Know We’re Still Here, a poignant account of growing up with parents who were Holocaust survivors, and how their unspoken anguish impacted her childhood. When Esther learns as an adult that her father had a previous wife and daughter who both perished during the Holocaust, she resolves to find out who they were. She travels to Ukraine armed with only an old photo and a hand-drawn map to re-create how her father managed to survive. Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum will be a promotional partner for this event, and touring their stunning new facility deeply affected me.
The plastic sculpture is deteriorating, so slowly you can’t tell, but actively and unavoidably. For two years now, Elena Torok, Assistant Objects Conservator at the DMA, has been researching the repair history and material composition of Constructed Head No. 2 by Naum Gabo (1890–1977), in preparation for a conservation treatment this past spring. The sculpture is now free to see in the European Art Galleries.
Naum Gabo was a Russian avant-garde artist who worked with some of the some earliest forms of plastic in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. Plastic was just becoming commercially available, and Constructivists like Gabo were interested in using new materials to merge art and daily life.
Over his lifetime, Gabo made seven versions of Constructed Head No. 2. They are all similar in design—a geometric bust of a woman made of many combined pieces—but they vary in size and medium. The earliest version was made from painted galvanized iron in 1916, and the latest, in the Nasher Sculpture Center’s collection, was made from stainless steel in 1975. The version in the DMA’s collection, dated 1923–1924, is made from Ivory Rhodoid (a trade name for an early cellulose ester). It is the only version Gabo made in plastic.
Plastic artworks are tricky for museums to preserve. There are many types of plastics, and the materials, still relatively new to the history of art, don’t all age well. Depending on type, they may start to bend, change color, or even break down entirely. Gabo’s early plastic works are known for their sensitivity. A sculpture acquired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art notoriously degraded to the point of being unable to be shown again.
Assistant Objects Conservator Elena Torok with Naum Gabo’s Constructed Head No. 2.
How has the DMA’s sculpture escaped that fate? Torok’s research indicates it has something to do with the color. More specifically, she has identified white pigments in Constructed Head No. 2 that appear to slow the deterioration of this particular plastic. Although the sculpture has discolored slightly and the left shoulder has started to bend and deform, it is still in great condition, especially compared to many other plastic works Gabo made during the same time period.
By 2017 what had not aged so well were materials used in older repairs. Constructed Head No. 2 was repaired at least three times before it was acquired by the DMA in 1981, and some of the glues used had started to yellow and darken (a common occurrence with certain adhesives as they age). This change was not only visually problematic, but also structurally worrisome; as glues discolor, their breakdown can eventually cause older repairs to lose their strength. As a result, this important work in the Museum’s collection has not been displayed in recent years.
Torok treats Naum Gabo’s Constructed Head No. 2.
Torok thoroughly researched the sculpture’s repair history before determining a conservation treatment plan. Earlier this year, she carefully removed the old, discolored adhesive and replaced it with new adhesive that is long-lasting and, most importantly, reversible, meaning it can be removed and replaced if necessary in the future. In August the sculpture went back on display for the first time in five years.
Constructed Head No. 2 is almost 100 years old now. The sculpture is too fragile to leave the DMA, it can’t be displayed too long due to light sensitivities, and it has to be shown in a special perforated case to allow for air exchange. As it slowly breaks down, the plastic releases distinct-smelling chemicals that can actually speed the aging of the sculpture if allowed to remain enclosed in close contact with it over time. Museums continue to acquire works made with plastic, and conservators continue to research the material and fight science with science in order to keep works on view (and intact) as long as possible.
Lillian Michel is the Marketing and Communications Coordinator at the Dallas Museum of Art.
Have you ever looked up information online and discovered that what you were looking for is in a published book, but after a few clicks found out that the book is not actually available online? Perhaps this was your experience—at first it appears that the publisher has made some parts of the book available, and you start browsing it, but just when you get to the good part, the online content stops! That happens a lot with art books, which are usually the best kind of books to browse in person. Nothing can replicate the experience of holding a book in your hand, especially an art book that has a beautiful hardcover binding, sturdy paper, lovely images, and reliable information. There is also a certain thrill of discovery when you are browsing in a library of any kind, and you find out something new that you would not have known otherwise. It can make your day!
In the DMA’s Mayer Library, thanks to a team-based summer moving project, you can now browse 500 more books than before, along with literally thousands of art magazine issues dating from the 1800s up to today. In order to make the items available, new shelves were added and the staff moved almost everything to new locations—over 60,000 items from 2,241 shelves! The library adds an average of 1,500 items every year, but most of them are stored in closed stacks—that means the books are available on request; however, the good news is that as soon as the books are processed and in the online catalog, we display them in a New Books area. New titles are on view every week, so no matter when or how often you visit the library, there is always something new and exciting to discover. Within this expanded browsing area, you can also now find publications by the DMA all together right at the front of the library, along with the current exhibition catalogs. If you don’t see what you’re looking for in the reading room, our reference librarian on duty will be happy to help you find it. We plan to keep adding items to our reading room selection, and your question might help us do that. We look forward to welcoming you to the library—see you soon!
Jacqueline Allen is the Mildred R. and Frederick M. Mayer Director of Librariesat the DMA.
This past weekend, the Dallas Museum of Art officially reached 100,000 followers on Instagram! Since the dawn of our Instagram presence back in April 2013, it has been our pleasure to share with you glimpses into the day-to-day at the DMA: behind-the-scenes peeks, magnificent artworks from our collection, live (and lively) event and program coverage, insights into our exhibitions, and artful just-for-fun content. We are grateful to be able to extend the DMA beyond our walls and into the palms (or desktops) of followers from far and wide, and we thank each and every one of you for staying connected with us.
To celebrate this momentous occasion, here’s a look back at some of our most popular and memorable Instagram posts from over the years:
https://www.instagram.com/p/By–5XzF5Tv/
This spotlight on Lynn Lennon’s 1984 photograph of the beach party at Dallas City Hall is our most-liked Instagram post to date. Post from June 21, 2019
https://www.instagram.com/p/BRbyU5JA-Lk/
Installing The Two Fridas (Las dos Fridas) for the DMA’s landmark exhibition México 1900–1950: Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, José Clemente Orozco, and the Avant-Garde. Post from March 9, 2017
https://www.instagram.com/p/BMCrvFvBFQu/
When technology, science, and art come together. Post from October 26, 2016
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZWZsOtnX8L/
A fantastic first look at the iconic exhibition Yayoi Kusama: All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins. Post from September 22, 2017
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmLwcDpnSTT/
Remember that time we did a bit of off-roading in the galleries? Post from August 7, 2018
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgOu3isA9ks/
When #NationalNappingDay and Ramón Casas’s Tired were all too relatable . . . Post from March 12, 2018
https://www.instagram.com/p/By_82IBhFih/
Celebrating LGBTQ+ pride by putting our best foot forward at the annual Pride Late Night. Post from June 21, 2019
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcpqudkHO87/
Life imitating art. Post from December 13, 2017
https://www.instagram.com/p/YTH-RAS62O/
One for the archives: our first-ever exhibition installation post from our earliest days on Instagram. This one was for the 2013 exhibition The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greece: Masterworks from the British Museum. Post from April 19, 2013
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzZFvynBs1O/
We loved seeing visitors dress for Dior. This gorgeous hand-painted dress was quite the showstopper! Post from July 1, 2019
Here’s to many more years of sharing all of the Museum’s artful happenings with you on Instagram. If you haven’t done so already, stay up-to-date with us by following @DallasMuseumArt!
Hayley Caldwell is the Copy and Content Marketing Writer at the DMA.
Growing up in a Puerto Rican-Panamanian household in Austin, the arts were one of the primary ways that my sister and I learned about our family’s cultural heritage. Our bedtime stories were folktales, vejigante masks and molas—not unlike the one currently on view in the Center for Creative Connections—hung on the walls, and in the evenings, Papi would teach us merengue while Mami would fry tostones.
After my interview at the DMA last summer, I spent time in the Arts of the Americas Galleries, where I stumbled upon a case of golden pendants from Panamá. Despite being miles away from family, it felt like a piece of my mother and the generations that came before her were with me. It felt like a glittering sign that said, I see you, and you belong here.
During national Welcoming Week, an annual event where communities “bring together immigrants and those born within their countries in a spirit of unity,” the DMA is proud to reaffirm our commitment to making the Museum a place where everyone feels valued and welcomed.
Indeed, a core tenet of the DMA’s mission is placing art and diverse communities at the center from which everything radiates. Yet what does that look like in practice? Here are some of the ways:
By recognizing that while museums are spaces of learning and engagement, they are also rooted in colonial structures and are complicated spaces. The Museum’s cross-departmental committee focusing on linguistic and cultural equity is grappling with this tension in earnest. How do we reckon with our institution’s past? What contributes to a sense of belonging? What kinds of internal and external transformations need to occur? What does that mean for our spaces, staff, programming, and exhibitions?
By inviting community members and leaders to help shape the 2020 My/gration C3 exhibition, which highlights the contributions of artists who immigrated to the United States, examines how the movement of people is expressed through art, and illuminates ways cross-cultural connections inform artistic production.
By introducing Estampas de la Memoria, a Go van Gogh® program designed by Teaching Specialist Bernardo Velez Rico and former C3 Visiting Artist Karla García to activate Spanish-speaking elementary students’ voices and experiences through collaborative story writing, theater, and art making inspired by retablos. Learn more about the program’s teaching approach, which reflects a desire to uplift and center the knowledge of immigrant communities.
Teaching Specialist Bernardo Velez Rico facilitates a Go van Gogh® program.
By amplifying the work of organizations that support our local immigrant and refugee communities, like Heart House, which offers social-emotional learning-focused programming for refugee children in Vickery Meadow. Check out last year’s afterschool partnership with Heart House here.
Heart House youth engage in an art-making activity during an after-school program.
By highlighting the creative bridging of cultures through programs like author Sri Rao’s September 20 Late Night talk about his book Bollywood Kitchen, a reflection on food, film, and his experience as a second generation Indian American.
As a museum of Dallas, we strive to celebrate and reflect the diversity of our city. As of 2017, approximately 611,400 of Dallas’s 2.5 million residents were immigrants. Until 2017 Dallas was a major resettlement location, with close to 2,500 refugees arriving annually.
With an art collection that spans time and the globe, the Museum provides windows into other worlds and perspectives, which can promote connection, empathy, and cross-cultural understanding. But perhaps art is most powerful when it functions as a mirror, reflecting our own experiences back to us, saying I see you, and you belong here. On behalf of my colleagues, I extend to you all a warm invitation and welcome, and I hope to see you soon.
Mary Ann Bonet is the Director of Community Engagement at the DMA.
Landscape withSaint Jerome by Herri met de Bles after conservation treatment
Landscape with Saint Jerome, a fantastical landscape by Herri met de Bles, is hanging in the newly reinstalled European art galleries after years in storage. Before it could be displayed, the 16th-century painting required careful conservation treatment in the DMA’s Paintings Conservation Studio. Treatment revealed a remarkably complex scene, with many tiny figures, hidden creatures, and microscopic details.
Little is known of Herri met de Bles, who was born around 1510 and died after 1550. Regardless of his life being shrouded in mystery, Bles was an important Flemish Mannerist landscape painter, known for knitting together realistic landscape scenes with fantastic imaginary elements. In Italy, where his art was popular, Bles was known as “Civetta” (“owl” in Italian), because he liked to paint little owls into his works, acting as a sort of playfully hidden signature. If you look closely in the tree behind St. Jerome, you will see the beak and eyes of a tiny owl peeking through a tree hollow.
Landscape with Saint Jerome before treatment
Landscape with Saint Jerome, although striking, arrived at the conservation studio in need of treatment. Bles applied colorful, thin layers of paint over a prepared wooden support. The wood warped over time, causing cracks in the support and paint simultaneously. A darkened varnish further obscured the beautiful and precise details. Paint applied in a previous restoration campaign, which was likely undertaken in the late 19th or early 20th centuries, had also discolored, creating dissonance in the surface of the work and obscuring the overall harmony evoked by the artist in the landscape.
The painting was examined using various techniques—including microscopes, ultraviolet light radiation, infrared reflectography (IR), and x-radiography—to gain insight into the condition of the work and the artist’s techniques. Armed with this information, treatment began in preparation for the reinstallation of the European Galleries.
Landscape with Saint Jerome during treatment
First, the dark and discolored varnish and areas of overpaint were removed. Cleaning revealed a world of detail previously unknown. Photomicrographs show details hardly perceptible without the aid of a microscope. Tiny creatures emerged in the wooded forest scene to the right of the central figure and in the mountains to the left, including a bear and cub family, stags, tiny figures hiking with a dog, and mountain goats. St. Jerome centers the composition and is accompanied by precisely painted attributes, including the skull and lion. He is surrounded by tiny, lively creatures such as squirrels, snails, lizards, mushrooms, and frogs. Bles also renders architectural features beautifully and goes so far as to depict not only microscopic decorative sculpture and architectural features but also decorative friezes noticeable only with magnification.
The IR images revealed especially interesting technical information. An elaborate underdrawing emerged when IR images were captured. Carbon-based materials absorb the infrared radiation and will appear black in IR images, while other materials that do not absorb the radiation will look transparent. Using this technique, underdrawing materials that contain carbon such as black inks, charcoal, and other carbon-containing black pigments become visible underneath overlying paint layers. Transfer marks, appearing as tiny black dots, were visible throughout the underdrawing, suggesting the use of prepared cartoon drawings. More free underdrawing was also observed, and can also be seen in the detail image. This type of underdrawing has been observed in other paintings attributed to Bles and serves as a fingerprint, in a way, of his working method.
After years of being stored away, this gorgeous painting by a mysterious artist is now on view for visitors to explore as part of free general admission. The landscape’s abundance of details will reward close looking, and the work serves as a dynamic addition to the newly reinstalled European Galleries.
Laura Hartman is the Associate Conservator at the DMA.
UPDATE: This post was originally written with the artwork title Saint Jerome in the Wilderness. As of May 15, 2020, our curators have identified this work’s title as Landscape with Saint Jerome.
Image: Herri met de Bles, Landscape with Saint Jerome, about 1540, oil on panel, Dallas Museum of Art, The Karl and Esther Hoblitzelle Collection, gift of the Hoblitzelle Foundation, 1987.21
In recent years, there has been an increased appetite for
museum partnerships across the world. This unexpected effect of globalization
has led to museums moving beyond loaning timeless pieces of art to museums
loaning their staff, time, and resources to institutions halfway around the
world. It has also resulted in more diverse, unique, and awe-inspiring art
exhibitions and provided rich opportunities for the communities these
institutions serve.
The Dallas Museum of Art’s current exhibition Dior: From
Paris to the World is the perfect example of global partnership and close
collaboration between institutions. The exhibition brought together three
powerful organizations—the House of Dior, the Dallas Museum of Art, and the
Denver Art Museum—to share resources and best practices and, ultimately, build
the iconic exhibition.
The exhibition features more than a hundred haute couture
dresses, as well as accessories, photographs, original sketches, runway videos,
and other archival material that trace the history of the iconic fashion house.
And without global collaboration, this iconic exhibition would not be bringing
thousands of visitors together in Dallas to see Dior designs that have rarely
been seen outside of Europe.
At PNC, we have a national legacy of strategically supporting arts and culture organizations where we live and work because we understand the significant contributions they offer a successful economy. We’re thrilled to support this exhibition as the presenting sponsor and help expand worldviews by bringing “Paris to the World.”
From Pop-Up Art Spots to interactive story times, it’s been a great summer for family fun at the DMA! If you visited the Museum this summer to enjoy some of these activities, you’ve likely met one of our friendly and knowledgeable Teen Ambassadors. We checked in with three Teen Ambassadors—Martina D’Orso, Grace Ling, and Aditi Krishnan—to get a recap on how their summer at the DMA went. Grace and Aditi will be sophomores at the School for the Talented and Gifted at Townview Magnet Center this fall, and Martina will be a junior at Booker T. Washington High School.
Why were you interested in volunteering at the DMA?
Grace: My mom first took me to the DMA when I was a toddler to attend an art workshop. As I grew up I continued to attend the art programs the Museum offers for different ages and visit the traveling exhibits as well as the permanent ones. I thought that volunteering at a place I often went to as a kid would be a good way to give back and experience the Museum from a different perspective.
Martina: Since I am in the visual arts conservatory at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, I am interested in the arts. I wanted to see what it was like to work in a museum leading tours and helping out during events.
Aditi: I actually became interested in volunteering at the DMA because of a previous Teen Ambassador. Five or six years ago, I came to the DMA with my mom and our first stop was the Center for Creative Connections (C3). The activity we were doing had something to do with recycled materials, and a Teen Ambassador helped me pick my materials and complete my project. She explained the volunteer program to me and encouraged me to join when I was old enough. Since I was pretty young, I forgot that conversation for a while, but when my friend Grace mentioned her position as a Teen Ambassador to me, I remembered my excitement from that day and decided to apply.
What does a day in the life of a Teen Ambassador look like?
Aditi: Because each day will have different shifts and schedules, each day in the life of a Teen Ambassador is a little different. I tend to sign up for multiple shifts in the same day, so my day starts in C3. Before the Museum opens, I mostly prepare art materials for the visitors. Once the Museum opens, I typically help children with the activities and straighten out any messy stations. I usually get lunch in Klyde Warren Park with my friend and come back to do a Family Tour or Pop-Up Art Spot. My favorite shift is the tour because I get to talk directly to kids and teach them about a work of art in a fun and interesting way!
Grace: My favorite shift is Family Story Time. I love seeing the kids’ reactions to the story, which can range from humor to bewilderment. We conclude each story time with an art discussion and drawing activity where they make their own art inspired by what they learned. It’s cool how reading a children’s book can help make that connection and take art appreciation to the next level, where they use their creative imaginations and think deeper.
Do you have any stories or stand-out moments that have happened to you while volunteering?
Grace: When I was volunteering for the Late Night Pop-Up Art Spot, a lady came to try out a coloring activity and we started talking. She talked about how she used to sew wedding dresses and loved making art. It is interesting to listen to other people tell their stories and share experiences.
Martina: A stand-out moment that happened to me was on a Family Tour. The kids on the tour were so excited and they decided they were going to become friends after about 15 minutes of knowing each other. It was just so sweet how the kids are so nice and friendly to each other no matter what.
Aditi: When my friend and I were hosting a Pop-Up Art Spot in the Jonas Wood exhibition, a group of around 15 kids and a few chaperones came in looking pretty upset. The chaperones told us that they were supposed to attend a Family Tour, but they had gotten the dates wrong, so they had been waiting near C3 with nothing to do. We gave each child a coloring sheet and some colored pencils from the Pop-Up Art Spot and after they finished coloring, we let them take some coloring sheets home. The kids were overjoyed! I especially enjoyed this moment since coloring was all it took to make the kids happy.
Why should someone be a Teen Ambassador?
Grace: It is a great opportunity to practice communication skills, meet new people, learn about art, have fun, and contribute to the museum visitor experience.
Martina: It is an enriching experience that helps you understand how life in a museum works. You learn facts about artworks that you wouldn’t have known just by walking around the Museum alone. Additionally, you are able to learn how to talk and interact with people, which is a great skill to learn if you are a bit more introverted.
Aditi: I think one should be a Teen Ambassador because of the fun you have. You get to enjoy and appreciate the art around the DMA and help other children do so too! Teen Ambassadors also get to teach little kids about art in an exciting and entertaining manner, as opposed to just spitting out facts. You also get to meet new people and make friends with others who are interested in art as well. Lastly, the communication and collaboration skills you develop as a Teen Ambassador are essential for almost every career.
Applications for the DMA’s summer Teen Ambassador program will open in March 2020. If you’re interested in staying involved with the Museum during the next school year, consider joining the Teen Advisory Council—applications are due by August 19!
Got questions about the volunteer opportunities for teens at the DMA? Email teens@DMA.org and we’ll get right back to you!
Jessica Thompson-Castillo is the Manager of Teen Programs at the DMA.
Andy Warhol walked the René Magritte cloud-inspired runway, but Raf Simons’ Fall 2013 collection borrowed its name, “The Persistence of Memory,” from Salvador Dalí. Simons, drawing on formative moments in his life and in the life of Christian Dior, nods here to their shared journey as art gallerists-turned-couturiers. Simons, Dior Creative Director from 2012 to 2015, was dedicated to continuing the bond between artists and Dior.
Dior closed his gallery in 1934 when the 1929 financial crisis adversely affected the art market. In 1945, Dior turned to Dalí as the inspiration for his Autumn/Winter collection, and in 1950 Dior and Dalí collaborated in Brazil to create the futuristic Costume of the year 2045.
Salvador Dalí, Costume of the year 2045, 1950, blue silk dress and red crutch, Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand
In his debut Dior collection, Simons collaborated with contemporary artist Sterling Ruby. Simons used custom-made silks based on Ruby’s paintings, turning the canvases into haute couture. Ruby was a contemporary of Simons in the same way Dalí was a contemporary of Dior’s.
Looks from Christian Dior by Raf Simons’ Haute Couture Fall-Winter 2012 collection displayed alongside Sterling Ruby’s work SP115.
Throughout his tenure at 30 Avenue Montaigne, Simons revisited Dior’s personal history, weaving Dior’s love of art, and art connections, into the future.
A fortuneteller once told 14-year-old Dior:
“You’ll find yourself penniless, but women will always bring you luck and it is through them that you’ll be successful.”
Dior reportedly had his tarot cards read before every runway show. Pop artist Andy Warhol was also superstitious—and fascinated with Christian Dior. Like Dior, Andy Warhol’s first commission was a Glamour magazine sketch of a stylish woman sitting on the top rung of a ladder.
Simons connected Dior to Warhol through his career as a commercial artist and illustrator for department stores. For his Fall 2013 collection, created in conjunction with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, he incorporated Warhol’s early illustrations into his designs.
A key work exploring the relationship between Warhol and Dior is a painted folding screen for the Miss Dior perfume. The screen was used as a display in the window of the Bonwit Teller department store.
Coming full circle, Warhol goes from creating the Miss Dior perfume ad to being featured on the Miss Dior bag in Simons’ Fall 2013 collection. You can see the Limited Edition Miss Dior handbag from the collection in Dior: From Paris to the World‘s “Total Look” gallery.
Simons also directly referenced Warhol’s 1966 work Silver Clouds as a nod to Warhol, Dior, and Simons’ own shared past. Models displayed reimagined Dior designs and Warhol sketches as they walked past giant silver sculptures; however, when the Fall 2013 collection walked, fashion magazines noted the sculptural resemblance to Cloud Gate by Anish Kapoor, better known as the “The Bean” in Chicago’s Millennium Park.
Perhaps Simons references both—a fleeting reminder that history repeats itself.
