Photograph by Jeffrey Sturges, courtesy Alexander Gray Associates, New York; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London
WHERE TO GO FOR: SCULPTURES
NASHER SCULPTURE CENTER / DALLAS
While viewing a painting may elicit a feeling of connection to the person, place or thing represented in the work, standing next to—in close proximity—an actual 3D sculpture is a much different experience. The Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas has more than 300 pieces in its permanent collection, but welcomes a variety of exhibits throughout the year. Now through May 10, the Melvin Edwards: Five Decades exhibit will be on display at the Nasher. Working primarily in welded steel, Edwards is perhaps best known for his Lynch Fragments, an ongoing series of small-scale reliefs born out of the social and political turmoil of the civil rights movement.
Above Photo: Steel Life, 1985–91
Welded steel
12½ × 18 × 17¾ in. (31.8 × 45.7 × 45 cm)
Jacqueline Bradley and Clarence Otis
© 2015 Melvin Edwards / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
WHERE TO GO FOR: AMERICAN ART
AMON CARTER MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART / FORT WORTH
With a swipe of your thumb and the press of a “button” you're able to record as many moments in history as your smartphone's memory will allow. Not so centuries ago. America's early history was recorded through illustrations and paintings. Books with hand-drawn illustrations show first encounters with the flora and fauna of the landscape, and paintings captured countrysides devoid of buildings and sidewalks. American art at the Amon Cater is as diverse as it comes, but still united by one theme. Step back in time to browse through these snapshots of history depicted by American art.
WHERE TO GO FOR: THE CLASSICS
KIMBELL ART MUSEUM / FORT WORTH
Museums can be intimidating with wall after wall, and hall after hall of paintings and drawings. And that's exactly what the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth wanted to avoid. With quality over quantity in mind, the museum's permanent collection is made up of fewer than 350 works of art. The Kimbell's holdings of antiquities range from the Egyptian Old Kingdom of the third millennium B.C. through ancient Assyria, Greece, and Rome, and to the Early Christian Church in the fifth century. The Kimbell also houses European, Asian, Precolumbian, and African and Oeanic art.
WHERE TO GO FOR: MODERN ART
MODERN ART MUSEUM OF FORT WORTH / FORT WORTH
A complete 180 from the museums listed above, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth is the art equivalent of a great 70s and 80s radio station. Of course displaying more than just representations from this time period, The Modern—as it is nicknamed—includes all major, international movements: Abstract Expressionism; British, German, French, and American Pop; Color Field Painting; Minimalism; Conceptualism; Post- Minimalism; New Image Painting, and Neo-Expressionism. It just so happens that Pop and Minimalism are particularly strong, as is German art of the 1970s and 1980s.