Nasher Sculpture Center
Opened in 2003, the Nasher Sculpture Center is a museum in Dallas, Texas, that houses the Patsy and Raymond Nasher collection of modern and contemporary sculpture. It is located on a site adjacent to the Dallas Museum of Art in the Arts District, [Dallas, Texas|Dallas Arts District].
Founding
Patsy and Raymond Nasher began collecting sculpture in the 1950s. Together they formed a comprehensive collection of masterpieces by Harry Bertoia, Constantin BrΓ’ncuΘi, Alexander Calder, Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Paul Gauguin, Willem de Kooning, Mark di Suvero, Alberto Giacometti, Barbara Hepworth, Ellsworth Kelly, Henri Matisse, Joan MirΓ³, Henry Moore, Claes Oldenburg, Pablo Picasso, Auguste Rodin, Richard Serra, and David Smith, among others.In 1997, Raymond Nasher acquired a plot of land in downtown Dallas across the street from the Dallas Museum of Art and hired architect Renzo Piano to design the Nasher Sculpture Center. The Nasher Foundation funded the entire $70 million cost of designing and constructing the museum, which includes indoor and outdoor galleries. The Sculpture Center opened in 2003 and features a regularly changing exhibition of works from the Raymond and Patsy Nasher Collection. By placing the facility on what was formerly part of the old Caruth family farm of, Ray Nasher began the realization of the Arts District in Dallas, which has since been enhanced by the construction of the Winspear Opera House and the Wyly Theater.
Architecture and garden
Renzo Piano, winner of the Pritzker Prize in 1998, is the architect of the Center's building; he had been selected after Nasher met him at the opening of the Beyeler Foundation in Basel, Switzerland, in 1997. Piano has designed several critically acclaimed art museums; foremost among them are the Beyeler Museum in Basel, the Menil Collection in Houston, and Georges Pompidou Centre in Paris. He has been praised as an architect who has the genius to meld art, architecture, and advanced engineering to create some of the most remarkable museums in the world.Piano worked in collaboration with landscape architect Peter Walker of PWP Landscape Architecture on the design of the Garden. Walker has exerted a significant impact on the field of landscape architecture over a four-decade career. The scope of Walker's landscape projects is expansive and varied. It ranges from small gardens to new cities, corporate headquarters and academic campuses to urban plazas.
The building was constructed by The Beck Group, which also served as associate architect.
The facility opened in 2003 in a 55,000-square-foot building on a 2.4-acre site adjacent to the Dallas Museum of Art. Reflective glare of the nearby Museum Tower, constructed in 2012, comes in through the glass roof, putting portions of the collection at risk of damage. Artist James Turrell considered his work Tending to be effectively destroyed by the tower's intrusion on its view, and the museum closed the artwork's chamber to the public at his request.
The museum has two levels: the ground level houses four galleries, institute offices, and a boardroom. The garden terraces downward to the auditorium, creating an open-air theater.
Program
The Nasher Sculpture Center features rotating exhibitions drawn from the Nasher Collection as well as special exhibitions in its indoor and outdoor galleries. Among the major exhibitions organized by the Nasher are Matisse: Painter as Sculptor, the first Matisse sculpture retrospective in the U.S. in 20 years; Tony Cragg: Seeing Things, the first major U.S. museum exhibition of the artist in 20 years; and Variable States: Intention, Appearance, and Interpretation in Modern Sculpture, an exhibition and symposium on sculpture conservation organized in conjunction with the Getty. The Nasher Sculpture Center has also presented Jaume Plensa: Genus and Species; Alexander Calder and Contemporary Art: Form, Balance, Joy; and Ken Price Sculpture: A Retrospective.Monthly events include Target First Saturdays for children and families, Til Midnight featuring Al Fresco dining, twilight strolls, bands and movies, and the NasherSalon series which welcomes distinguished speakers for an evening of discourse on art, architecture, and other cultural topics of interest. The Nasher Sculpture Center also participates in the Block Party Series together with the Dallas Museum of Art, the Crow Museum of Asian Art, and others in the Dallas Arts District.
360 Speaker Series: Artists, Critics, Curators
- 2016 Speakers
- 2015 Speakers
- 2014 Speakers
- 2013 Speakers
- 2012 Speakers
- 2011 Speakers
- 2010 Speakers
Exhibitions
Lynda Benglis: May 21, 2022 - September 18, 2022Magali Reus: A Sentence in Soil: May 14, 2022 - October 9, 2022Harry Bertoia: Sculpting Mid-Century Modern Life: January 29, 2022 β April 24, 2022Carol Bove: Collage Sculptures: October 16, 2021 β January 9, 2022Betye Saar: Call and Response: September 25, 2021 β January 2, 2022Guerrilla Girls: Takeover: May 12, 2021 β October 25, 2021Nasher Mixtape: February 6, 2021 β September 26, 2021Barry X Ball: Remaking Sculpture: January 25, 2020 β January 3, 2021Elmgreen & Dragset: Sculptures: September 14, 2019 β January 5, 2020Sheila Hicks: May 11, 2019 β August 18, 2019Sterling Ruby: Sculpture: February 2, 2019 β April 21, 2019The Nature of Arp: September 15, 2018 β January 6, 2019First Sculpture: Handaxe to Figure Stone: January 27, 2018 β April 28, 2018Tom Sachs: Tea Ceremony: September 16, 2017 β January 7, 2018Roni Horn: May 20, 2017 β August 20, 2017Richard Serra: Prints: January 28, 2017 β April 30, 2017Sightings: Michael Dean: October 22, 2016 β February 5, 2017Kathryn Andrews: Run for President: September 10, 2016 β January 8, 2017- Joel Shapiro: May 7, 2016 β August 21, 2016Doris Salcedo: Plegaria Muda: February 27, 2016 β April 17, 2016Sightings: Mai-Thu Perret: March 12, 2016 β July 17, 2016Ann Veronica Janssens: January 23, 2016βApril 17, 2016Sightings: Alex Israel: October 24, 2015 β January 31, 2016Piero Golia: Chalet Dallas: October 3, 2015 β February 7, 2016Giuseppe Penone: Being the River, Repeating the Forest: September 19, 2015βJanuary 10, 2016Phyllida Barlow tryst: May 30, 2015βAugust 30, 2015Melvin Edwards: Five Decades: January 31, 2015 β May 10, 2015Sightings: Anna-Bella Papp: October 24, 2014 β January 18, 2015Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio: September 13, 2014 β January 4, 2015Mark Grotjahn Sculpture: May 31, 2014 β August 17, 2014
- Sightings: Bettina Pousttchi: April 12, 2014 β August 17, 2014
- David Bates: February 9, 2014 β May 11, 2014Return to Earth: September 21, 2013 β January 19, 2014Katharina Grosse: WUNDERBLOCK: June 1, 2013 β September 1, 2013Ken Price: A Retrospective: February 9, 2013 β May 12, 2013Rediscoveries: Modes of Making in Modern Sculpture: September 29, 2012 β January 13, 2013Sculpture in So Many Words: Text Pieces 1960β1980: September 29, 2012 β January 13, 2013Ernesto Neto: Cuddle on the Tightrope: May 12, 2012 β September 9, 2012Sightings: Eric Swenson: April 14, 2012 β September 9, 2012Sightings: Diana Al-Hadid: October 22, 2011 β January 15, 2012Elliot Hundley: The Bacchae: January 28, 2012 β April 22, 2012Tony Cragg: Seeing Things: September 10, 2011 β January 8, 2012Sightings: Martin Creed: March 26, 2011 β August 21, 2011Alexander Calder and Contemporary Art: Form, Balance, Joy: December 11, 2010 β March 6, 2011Sightings: Alyson Shotz: October 1, 2010 β January 2, 2011Revelation: The Art of James Magee: September 4 β November 28, 2010Rachel Whiteread Drawings: May 22 β August 15, 2010Jaume Plensa: Genus and Species: January 30 β May 2, 2010The Art of Architecture: Foster + Partners: September 26, 2009 β January 10, 2010George Segal: Street Scenes: January 24 β April 5, 2009In Pursuit of the Masters: Stories from the Raymond and Patsy Nasher Collection: September 20, 2008 β January 4, 2009Jacques Lipchitz: A Gift from the Artist's Estate: June 21 β September 7, 2008Beyond the Grasp: Sculpture Transcending the Physical: March 15 β August 31, 2008Woman: The Art of Gaston Lachaise: November 17, 2007 β February 17, 2008Matisse: Painter as Sculptor: January 21 β April 29, 2007On Tour with Renzo Piano Building Workshop: Selected Projects: May 13 β August 213, 2006The Women of Giacometti: January 14 β April 19, 2006David Smith: Drawing + Sculpting: April 16 β July 17, 2005Frank Stella: Painting in Three Dimensions: January 8 β April 3, 2005Bodies Past and Present: The Figurative Tradition in the Nasher Collection: September 18, 2004 β August 2005Variable States: Three Masterworks of Modern Sculpture: September 18, 2004 β January 2, 2005Medardo Rosso: Second Impressions: April 3 β June 20, 2004Picasso: The Cubist Portraits of Fernande Olivier: February 15 β May 9, 2004From Rodin to Calder: Masterworks of Modern Sculpture from the Nasher Collection: October 20, 2003 β August 22, 2004
Nasher XChange
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, the Nasher Sculpture Center presented Nasher XChange from October 19, 2013, to February 16, 2014. Nasher Sculpture Center Director Jeremy Strick stated that Nasher XChange focused on public art, which engages the people and culture of Dallas. The Nasher XChange exhibition was made possible in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, Art Works, and a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts.Nasher XChange: Moore to the Point: October 19, 2013 β February 16, 2014Nasher XChange: CURTAINS: October 19, 2013 β February 16, 2014Nasher XChange: Buried House: October 19, 2013 β February 16, 2014Nasher XChange: X: October 19, 2013 β February 16, 2014Nasher XChange: Fountainhead: October 19, 2013 β February 16, 2014Nasher XChange: Trans.lation: October 19, 2013 β February 16, 2014Nasher XChange: Black & Blue: Cultural Oasis in the Hills: October 19, 2013 β February 16, 2014Nasher XChange: dear sunset: October 19, 2013 β February 16, 2014Nasher XChange: Flock in Space: October 19, 2013 β February 16, 2014Nasher XChange: Music : October 19, 2013 β February 16, 2014Nasher XChange: Through the Eyes of Allison V. Smith: October 19, 2013 β February 16, 2014Nasher Prize
The Nasher Prize was established in April 2015. The award is dedicated exclusively to a living artist who has proven excellence in contemporary sculpture.- β Doris Salcedo
- β Pierre Huyghe
- β Theaster Gates
- β Isa Genzken
- β Michael Rakowitz
- β Nairy Baghramian
- β Senga Nengudi
Key people
Nasher Sculpture Center Board of Trustees
- Mr. David Haemisegger, President
- Mr. Stephen Stamas, Chairman
- Mr. Elliot Cattarulla
- Ms. Nancy Nasher Haemisegger
- Mr. John G. Heimann
- Dr. William Jordan
- Dr. Steven A. Nash
- Ms. Andrea Nasher
- Mr. Jeremy Strick
The Director
- Jeremy Strick, Director
Curators
- Jed Morse, Chief Curator
- Catherine Craft, Curator
- Leigh Arnold, Assistant Curator