Posts Tagged 'Edward Larrabee Barnes'

Hello Again

The DMA Sculpture Garden is a treasure of American urban landscape. It was designed by two giants of 20th century design: architectural pioneer Edward Larrabee Barnes and the visionary Modernist landscape architect Dan Kiley, who said of the project, “For us, setting a stage for art was as crucial as the pieces themselves.”

This courtyard, first opened 35 years ago, features the fantastic sculpture created specifically for this space by the artist Ellsworth Kelly and is the perfect stage for the art. It has been admired by countless visitors from our community and has been host to many DISD student field trip lunches through the years.

1983_56_o4

The Sculpture Garden’s iconic Ellsworth Kelly statue

After six months of renovations, it is such a pleasure to open it up again for their– and your – enjoyment!

CircleReception5-10-18_01_12

At last week’s reopening event for the Sculpture Garden, the Ellsworth Kelly statue – back in the original space that Kelly himself chose – was a popular site to behold.

Celebrating the Silver: The Reves Collection at Twenty-Five

We just celebrated the silver anniversary of the Wendy and Emery Reves Collection and ever since its opening twenty-five years ago, it has been one of our most visited galleries. Featuring more than 1,400 European artworks and decorative objects, including masterpieces by Renoir, Manet, Degas, and Pissarro, this remarkable gift from the Wendy & Emery Reves Foundation, Inc. on behalf of Wendy’s late husband, Emery, transformed the Museum’s collection of late 19th- and early 20th-century European art and European decorative art.

What’s also amazing is that visitors see this collection in a 16,500-square-foot wing made specifically for it.  Built in 1985, this is not the run-of-the mill gallery space. These rooms are a faithful reproduction of the couple’s villa in the South of France. Named La Pausa, it was built in 1927  for that ultimate fashionista Coco Chanel, who directed its design. For example, the patio and the hall were built specifically to remind “Mademoiselle” of the Romanesque convent outside Paris where she boarded as a child. Many of the furnishings in the Museum’s Reves wing, including a chair in the living room, were part of Chanel’s original décor of the villa.

DMA architect Edward Larrabee Barnes meticulously re-created the library, dining room, salon, bedroom, hall, patio, and central courtyard from this  luxurious—and historically fascinating—Mediterranean retreat.

On this silver anniversary here’s a look back:

Today, visitors to the Wendy and Emery Reves Collection can access a DMA smARTphone tour of highlights from the collection. On it, Wendy Reves shares memories of life at Villa La Pausa and of her and her husband’s passion for collecting art.

Martha MacLeod is the European and American Art Curatorial Administrative Assistant at the Dallas Museum of Art.


Archives

Flickr Photo Stream

Categories