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Kimbell Art Museum
The Kimbell Art Museum is
located in the cultural district of Fort Worth, Texas and houses a
small collection of Pre-Columbian, Asian and European artworks, plus
host traveling art displays. The structure was designed by Louis
Kahn. The Kimbell Art Foundation was started in 1936 by Kay and
Velma Kimbell, Texas art collectors and industrialists, that wanted
to create an art gallery for the people of the state. When Kay
passed on in 1964, his wife, Velma Fuller Kimbell, gave her share of
the estate, as well as her husband's to the making of an art museum
for the benefit and enjoyment of the people that lived around them.
The museum opened in 1972, and is a wonderful 120,000 square foot
space enclosed in a number of parallel, cycloidal concrete shells
that look like barrel vaults counterpointed by three interior
courts. It is located next to the Amon Carter Museum and the Modern
Art Museum of Fort Worth, in the cultural district. In the marvelous
collection, the European section, there are fantastic works by El
Greco, Michelangelo, Monet, Picasso, Rubens, Gainsborough,
Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Vigee-Lebrun, as well as numerous others.
The only painting by Adam Elsheimer that hangs outside of the
European continent resides here, and two paintings by Piet Mondrian
tell of the modern end of that period. Among the many great
displays, is a collection of classical era antiquities that span
Assyria to the Roman and Greek. Their wonderful Asian collection
contains jars from the Neolithic China as well as works from the
Ming, Tang and Song dynasties. Japanese artworks are also included,
with a particular focus on the Edo and Momoyama eras. One of the
selections from the permanent collections that is on display now, is
100 of the most prominent European paintings and sculptures that
have ever been in private collections in the state, with more than
40 collectors involved and among those highlighted artists are;
Renoir, Guerino, Gaugin, Matisse, Mondrian, van Gogh, Gainsborough,
Monet and Rembrandt, plus many others. Another spectacular painting
on display here is the first painting by Michelangelo: The Torment
of Saint Anthony. Since the museum's collection is relatively small,
their choices have always been the finest works by well known
artisans. The most important principle that drives the acquisition
of pieces is the statue of the museum, where the quality of the
object is more obvious than any historical completeness. With
this in mind, it is understandable why the museum prefers to be
known as one that is defined by the excellence of its holdings,
rather than the size of its holdings. These presently range from the
third millennium BC. to the mid 20th century and therefore include
the wonderful works of artists like the ones named above and others
like; Goya, Cezanne, Duccio, Fra Angelico, Poussin, Velaquez and
Bemini. So as you can see, the collection is full of the most
majestic paintings and artworks of the world today, and that is what
brings so many visitors to this small but exquisite museum. Their
European collection also includes Italian renaissance, Spanish,
Dutch, Flemish, French and Italian works of the 17th century. The
Asian collection includes; paintings, ceramics, sculptures, bronzes
and works of decorative arts that were created in Nepal, China,
Tibet, Korea, Thailand, Japan and Cambodia. The pre-Columbian art is
represented by Maya artworks in stone, shell, jade and ceramics,
Olmec, Aztec and Zapotec sculptures and pieces from the Huari and
Conte cultures. The museum's oceanic and African art is made up of
primarily wood, terracotta and bronze sculptures from Central and
West Africa that contains examples of Angola, Nigeria and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo; while a Maori figure represents
the Oceanic art.
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