NOW/THEN/AGAIN: Contemporary Art in Dallas 1949-1989 Page: 13
85 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this book.
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Dallas architect Gary Cunningham
has designed a series of wall struc-
tures for this installation which can
be moved, painted and altered to
form spaces appropriate to all vari-
eties of art.Picasso, Dali, de Chirico, and Matisse were about. Original paintings were hung with
reproductions and lengthy labels so that every visitor could learn about the artists'
intentions. And colorful panels, often with fascinating texts, guided the viewer
through the complexities of modern art. Yet this installation was more than a simple
"educational" experiment to bring modern art to a mass public. It was also a brilliant
exercise in installation design, using many of the techniques then being developed by
graphic designers, industrial designers, and even advertisers. Modern art in 1949 was
integrated into the contemporary experience through dynamic installation design
which helped bewildered viewers to understand what they might at first reject.
The installations which exerted considerable influence on us in the preparation
of this installation were either those designed by Barney Delabano for the Dallas
Museum of Fine Arts, or those executed under the direction of Douglas MacAgy for
the Dallas Museum for Contemporary Art, as well as the traditional canons of
modernist design. Whether quiet and serene, like Delabano's superb installation
for the Mark Tobey exhibition in 1968, or daring and exaggerated like MacAgy's
various installations at the Dallas Museum for Contemporary Art called TO BE
CONTINUED, these earlier efforts were so exciting to us that many of their ideas
have been incorporated into our present collective design.
In studying these many efforts, it became clear to all of us at the museum that
what we call the "permanent" collection is a source of constant fascination and that,
as it grows and as we change, our attitudes toward it continue to change. For that
reason, we have decided to inaugurate with NOW/THEN/AGAIN a series of
temporary exhibitions from the permanent collection that will allow us to explore
various aspects of the collection in depth and to bring fresh perspectives to the
permanent collection using many techniques of display and education normally
reserved for temporary exhibitions. Since the very heart of a museum is its permanent
collection, this decision to change the installation on a regular basis is part of our
collective efforts to focus the attention of the public as much on our own collections
as on our better attended - and more systematically publicized - program ofN\ i
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Brettell, Richard R. NOW/THEN/AGAIN: Contemporary Art in Dallas 1949-1989, book, 1989; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth307668/m1/18/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Museum of Art.