SPOTLIGHT KIMBELL MUSEUM

WORDS BY DARCEL ROCKETT

ART SMART

Kimbell Art Museum
3333 Camp Bowie Boulevard

Fort Worth, Texas (817-332-8451)
www.kimbellart.org

Tuesdays-Thursdays & Saturdays 10am–5pm
Fridays noon–8pm
Sundays noon–5pm

Closed Mondays, New Year’s Day, the Fourth of July,
Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

Man in a Blue Smock,
c. 1896-97
Paul Cézanne
Oil on canvas
32 / x 25 / in.The small but influential Kimbell Art Museum houses “the best of the best” works from antiquity to the 20th century, gathered from across the globe. The building, designed by illustrious architect Louis I Kahn, also serves as inspiration for building buffs, who often make the pilgrimage to Fort Worth to study it.

The museum is frequented by locals and tourists alike, depending on what’s on view at the time,” says Mindy Riesenberg, director of marketing, development and PR for Kimbell. “We bring in many traveling exhibitions and are often the only US venue for some of them.”

The Kimbell collection includes Egyptian, Near Eastern, Greek, Roman, Asian and Mesoamerican antiquities, as well as a small collection of African art, but is best known for its outstanding collection of European masterpieces, from Fra Angelico and Caravaggio to Cézanne and Matisse. Picasso, Degas, El Greco, Miró, Velázquez, Goya, Boucher, Canaletto, Monet and La Tour also adorn the walls of the museum, which works closely with world-class institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Tate in London.

The Cardsharps (I Bari)
c. 1594
Michelangelo Merisi
da Caravaggio
Oil on canvas
37 / x 51 / in.

The Kimbell Foundation’s policy of collecting pieces of the highest quality from any and all periods of history, and in any medium or style, has resulted in a small, but perfectly formed collection. “The Kimbell has become a byword for quality and importance at the highest level,” Riesenberg says. “We bring in only the finest special traveling exhibitions and best works from their respective periods and genres.”

The Kimbell Art Foundation was established by Kay Kimbell, a Texan industrialist and art collector, in 1936. On his death in 1964, Kimbell bequeathed his outstanding art collection and monies to establish and maintain a first-class, public art museum in Fort Worth. The building was commissioned in 1966, and the public finally got to enjoy the results in 1972, when the museum opened its doors.

“None of the museums in Fort Worth overlap with their collections,” Riesenberg says. “The Amon Carter Museum collects American art, the Modern collects post-World War II art from any culture, and the Kimbell collects from everywhere but the US. The quality of our collection is what sets us apart.”

The building is renowned for Kahn’s classic modern lines and was one of the late architect’s last projects, as well as being the first major Fort Worth museum to be designed by a well-known architect. Tadao Ando, architect of the later Modern Art Museum, just across the street, spent many days inside the Kimbell absorbing the atmosphere while working on his project. An enduring source of inspiration, the Kimbell is unique inside and out.