Press Preview of
Texas Vision: The Barrett Collection
The Art of Texas and Switzerland
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
Remarks at 12:15 by the Director and Curators

Texas Vision: The Barrett Collection—The Art of Texas and Switzerland to be featured at The Meadows Museum in Dallas,
November 21, 2004-January 30, 2005

Dallas (SMU)—The Meadows Museum in Dallas will present Texas Vision: The Barrett Collection—The Art of Texas and Switzerland from November 21, 2004–January 30, 2005, the first public presentation of some 150 works from the extraordinary private collection of Dallas philanthropists Nona and Richard Barrett. During the past two decades, they have been pioneers in assembling outstanding contemporary and historical works by Texas artists as well as significant examples of Swiss and Czech modernism. As a result, they now possess not only one of the largest and most important assemblages of Texas art found in the United States, but one of the most significant private holdings of Swiss modernism outside of Europe.

The exhibition is divided into two sections. The Texas works, which comprise the large majority of the exhibition, trace the development of art in the state since the late nineteenth century. Early works by artists such as Julian Onderdonk, Jerry Bywaters, Frank Reaugh and Otis Dozier show the growth of a Texas visual vocabulary along with the portrayal of subjects including ranchlands, bluebonnet fields, roadrunners and cactus. Issues of identity, place and narrative—central themes in the study of regional art—evolved with later painters and sculptors working in Texas; among those well represented in the Barrett Collection are seminal artists such as David Bates, Bill Komodore, Sharon Kopriva, Melissa Miller and Harry Geffert. The Barretts also collected more abstract, less "regional" paintings and sculptures, including pieces by early Texas abstractionist Ben L. Culwell and contemporary artists John Pomara, Linda Ridgway and Sam Gummelt; these works are less explicit in narrative or reference, giving the Barrett Collection a broad thematic and stylistic range that is one of its hallmarks.

The Swiss section of the exhibition features a select group of about 20 paintings and drawings that invite comparison to the Texas works. Dr. Richard R. Brettell, Adjunct Senior Curator of the Meadows Museum, said, "The modern art of Switzerland, like that of Texas, is both strong and 'provincial.' Texas artists are influenced by the metropolitan art of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London and Paris; by the same token, the Swiss, who turn to Paris, Vienna, Milan and Munich for their aesthetic inspiration, produce a modernism that is decidedly 'Swiss' yet international." The Barretts' focused collection includes masterpieces by late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century modernists from German, French and Italian areas of Switzerland, including Ferdinand Hodler, Cuno Amiet, Félix Vallotton and Giovanni Giacometti (father of the great sculptor Alberto Giacometti). It also includes two works by Czech modernist František Kupka, who developed a distinctive style influenced by both Paris and his native Prague.

Texas Vision is the first systematic effort by a museum to assemble and interpret works produced in Texas and to answer the question, "Is there such a thing as Texas art?" In an essay in the exhibition catalogue, art writer Michael Ennis argues that the answer is an emphatic "yes":

What is Texan about it is not as simple as an affinity for bold strokes, whether emotional or literal. It is a pervading sense of place, a fundamental Texan-ness most directly evidenced in a strong tradition of narrative and landscape art, but which also emerges through a more subtle appropriation of the same language in which so much of Texas's history has been written: the language of myth. Perhaps the mythic images we see in the Barrett Collection do not resemble the historians' vision of Texas, but that is not to say that these images are not exceptionally faithful to their Texas sources. I believe the Barrett Collection represents an authentic vision of Texas: sharp, precise, often complex, but always illuminating, a vision much more profound and consequential than the caricature created by Texas historians. In Texas art we find a window into the soul of Texas and, ultimately, an insight into a singularly American state of mind.

"The Barretts have pursued not only what they love but what they wanted others to love—in the end, what they believe is important," said Meadows Museum Director Edmund P. Pillsbury. "They never bought for financial gain and have never sold or even exchanged works from their collection. Rather, they have made generous donations over the years to share their collection and assist the artists. As Texans, they are in constant search of a more profound understanding of the beauty that distinguishes this region from other parts of the world. Their collection is as much a testament to a passion for art as it is a quest for the essential truth that art conveys of the culture and place that produced it. We are indebted to them for giving the Meadows Museum the opportunity to introduce their collection to the public for the first time."

The Meadows Museum has produced a 200-page catalogue illustrated with 93 color and 27 black-and-white plates to accompany the exhibition. In addition to a listing of the Barretts' holdings and biographies of the Texas artists represented in the collection, the catalogue includes essays by Michael Ennis; Dr. Brettell, on Swiss modernism; artist and faculty member Bill Komodore; and Meadows Museum organizing curator A. Kate Sheerin.

Three public symposia will be held at the Museum in conjunction with the exhibition. Each will be held on a Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Museum auditorium. The first—"Early Texas Art: Regionalist or Mainstream?"—is scheduled for November 20. Historians, art historians and museum professionals will present a full day of programs investigating the history, development, and importance of Texas art over the last century. The symposium has been organized by the Meadows Museum and is sponsored by the Center for the Advancement and Study of Early Texas Art (CASETA) with the support of the Summerlee Foundation.

The second symposium, "Supporting Art at the Grass Roots," will be held December 11 and will examine the support of artists currently working in Texas from the viewpoints of champions of contemporary art from across the state. A panel of artists whose works are featured in the Barrett exhibition will conclude the day's events. The final symposium, titled "Paris? Vienna? Milan? Swiss Painting and Cosmopolitan Europe, 1880-1920" will be held January 15, and will bring together international scholars of Swiss painting and three Dallas authorities on modern art to shed new light on the artistic contributions and legacy of Europe's tiniest multilingual country.

Admission to each symposium, including a box lunch, is $25 per person, $15 for Museum members. Seating is limited; reservations are available on a first-come, first-served basis and may be made by calling 214-768-2727. A complete schedule for each program is available upon request.

The Meadows Museum is located off North Central Expressway at 5900 Bishop Blvd. on the campus of Southern Methodist University, three blocks west of the DART light rail Mockingbird Station. Museum hours are Wednesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, 12 to 5 p.m. The Museum is open by appointment only on Monday and Tuesday for tours, classes and professional groups. Admission is $8 per person for ages 12 and up; $5 per person after 4 p.m.; and free for children under 12, Museum members, scheduled school tours and SMU faculty, staff and students. Ample free parking is available in the garage under the Museum. For more information, please visit the Museum's website at www.meadowsmuseumdallas.org or call 214.768.2516.