Dallas Museum of Art Bulletin, Spring 1984 Page: 5
29 p. : ill. ; 26 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The new structure (IDMA) is a handsome limestone complex
capped by a central arch. Inside and out the arch provides a
distinctive profile for the main gallery; a 40-foot chamber, giving
unparalleled distinction to the contemporary works.
Frank Lipsius
Financial Times of London
11/1/83
Of the score of recently completed museums across the country
Dallas' may well provide the best answer to the question of what
a major art museum ought to do... The result is a gracious and
witty building that is at peace with itself, confident... Art lovers
throughout Texas are lucky... in fact, the museum is one build-
ing that people will like more than architects will.
Eleni Constantine
Texas Monthly
February 1984
The Dallas Museum of Art is a product of the cooperation of the
public through bond issues for its land and construction and for
regular support of its operation. Private donors have matched
city funds for land and building, made individual gifts for
acquisition and activity and have given their own collections.
Patsy Swank
The Dallas Downtown News
January 23-29, 1984
(Architect) Barnes is all for getting away from the elitist aura that
surrounds museums by bringing them downtown, where they
are more accessible to the public, but he still feels a museum
should be a place for quiet contemplation and enjoyment... an
institution with a social conscience. It has a library which is
open to everyone instead of just to scholars, the best educa-
tional facilities for young people of any museum in the country
and a separate children's bookstore, and at least one study
collection - prints, drawings, photographs and textiles - that
is open to the public.
Frederick M. Winship
United Press International
2/12/84
The new Dallas Museum of Art... is an understated building with
a daring location and a grandiose mission... No other American
city has ever attempted an arts project (Dallas Arts District) so
massive... Whatever the long-term prospects of the district, the
fate of the new building that houses the museum seems secure.
Initial reviews have been enthusiastic, and Barnes has built the
sort of quiet, deferential civic monument whose stature only
increases over time.
Paul Taylor
The Washington Post
1/30/84
By providing a giant tabula rasa in Dallas, by inviting artists to
"speak" in his wide-open galleries, (DMA architect) Barnes is
responding to the hidden cultural seriousness of the '80s.
Douglas Davis
Newsweek
1/30/84The Dallas Museum of Art... bespeaks a kind of self-assurance
that is altogether different from the image most Easterners have
of Dallas. This is not a nouveau riche museum, or a pushy one,
or a glittery one. It is a museum built by people who know
about art and who know about monumentalit; and who have
shown a respect for both.
Paul Goldberger
The Neu, York Times
1/23/84
What was being celebrated was not just the opening of a big
new museum. It was a new beginning for downtown Dallas, and
the triumph in a very good cause of a community that had set its
mind on something that was just too good to pass up. It was, in
fact, an American success story of the kind that is good to read
about and even better to experience firsthand.
John Russell
The Neu, York Times
1/23/84
(The) Dallas Museum is a joy precisely because at a time of
architectural razzle-dazzle, it is so endearingly simple. It is
thoughtfully and beautifully designed architecture in the service
of art... It does not look monumental, let alone massive, but it is
self-assured and virtually throbs with energy... The museums
interior is designed for unusual ease of movement... Arranged
on three levels, the permanent collection flows through the
history of art like a calm river. As Barnes (DMA architect) and
the museum's chief curator, Steven Nash, have designed the
displays, there are no needlessly harsh and categorical bound-
aries between cultures, ages and styles... Barnes, with important
help from Museum Director Harry S. Parker III and his curators,
has created more than an exceptionally fine museum. Along
with the proposed cultural district, it promises to make down-
town the civilized center of the growing Dallas region.
Wolf Von Eckardt
Time
February 13, 1984
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Dallas Museum of Art. Dallas Museum of Art Bulletin, Spring 1984, periodical, Spring 1984; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth224954/m1/7/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Dallas Museum of Art.