Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

A Little Museum in Texas.

Joshua Reynolds, Portrait of a Woman, possibly Elizabeth Warren, 1759, Oil on canvas, 238.1 x 147.8 cm, acq1961, formerly in Kay Kimbell's collection

Exterior View of the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth.

Before we jet over to the West Coast and the Californian sunshine, we are required to make a short detour to Texas, to the city of Fort Worth, in North Central Texas.  Fort Worth is home to several museums and collections: the Amon Carter Museum, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the Kimbell Art Museum, and smaller holdings like the National Cowgirl Museum![1] The most well-known is the Kimbell whose origins can be traced back to the years before the Second World War, when a wealthy businessman Kay Kimbell started to acquire art, with the help of the Newhouse Galleries in New York.  Kimbell’s taste was for elegant English portraiture of the 18^th century. For example, he owned a full-length Joshua Reynolds, formerly in the collection of William Randolph Hearst, shown here. Kimbell’s art collecting led to the creation of an Art Foundation named after him. When Kimbell died in 1964, he left instructions for the building of an art museum in Fort Worth. With the financial support of Kimbell’s widow, the architect Louis I. Kahn constructed what has been called “an unpretentious building on a comfortable scale, well in line with post-war architectural thinking and in marked contrast to such museums in the European ‘grand manner’ as the National Gallery in Washington.”[2]

 

Discernment and Quality at the Kimbell: The Permanent Collection.

 Il Guercino, Christ and the Woman of Samaria, . 1619-20, Oil on canvas, 97.2 x 124.8 cm, acq in 2010 in honour of Ted Pillsbury

 Gustave Caillebotte, On the Pont de l'Europe, 1876-77, Oil on canvas, 106 x 131 cm, AP 1982.01

Compared to museum behemoths like the Washington National Gallery and the Met in New York, the Kimbell is quite small. Its permanent collection numbers about 350 works of art, but as the museum’s website states, the gallery “is distinguished by an extraordinary level of artistic quality and importance.”[3] Instead of completion, the Kimbell stresses quality to be judged from an aesthetic standpoint, an outmoded view these days.  The goal of the Kimbell is “definitive excellence, not the size of the collection.” Those who make the decisions about what to acquire practice discernment; in other words they demonstrate keen insight and judgement in their choice of acquisitions like the Guercino and Caillebotte shown above. The Kimbell has been content to leave the task of broadening collections, schools and stylistic surveys to the major museums that have the ambitions, and the financial resources to deepen their holdings.  What the Kimbell does have in common with other American traditional museums, however, is a collection of modern art, though the whole gallery does omit American art which it leaves to its neighbour, the Amon Carter Museum.  The Kimbell is organized into five divisions: Antiquities; European Art; Asian Art; Pre-Columbian Art; and African and Oceanic Art.  As befits the old master theme we shall consider European painting with the particular focus on the seventeenth-century, a solid area of the museum.

Brief Overview of the European Paintings. 

1

Richard Parkes Bonington, The Grand Canal, Venice looking towards the Rialto Bridge, 1826, Oil on millboard, 35.2 x 45.4 cm, acq  2009.Feigens, New York

Ribera, St Matthew, 1632, Oil on canvas, 128.2 x 97.8 cm, acq 1966.

The European collection at Kimbell is organized as follows: schools of British, French, Italian, Northern European (Flemish, Dutch, German) and Spanish. The timeline runs from the early renaissance with artists like Duccio, and ends in the middle of the twentieth century. The British School (14 works) reflects the founding taste of Kimbell with eighteenth-century portraits by Reynolds, Gainsborough and Romney from the age of elegance. The other main genre is landscape with romantic views by Wilson, Turner and Bonington. Counting sculptures, reliquaries with the paintings, the French holdings number about 60 works. These are of whole periods and encompass the classical age of Poussin through the rococo to the early modernism of Leger. The Italian School is about half the number of the French with (including sculpture and objects again just under 40 works) including Mantegna and Caravaggio. The “Northern European” section is quite small but very diverse including a mythology from Cranach and two grid like abstract paintings from the modern Dutch artist Piet Mondrian. The Spanish School is the smallest section, but does boast good examples of Ribera, Murillio and Picasso, - quite a compact but engrossing collection. 

The Seventeenth- Century paintings.

Caravaggio, The Cardsharps, c. 1596, Oil on canvas, 92 x 129 cm, acq. 1987.

Georges de La Tour, The Cheat, c. 1630-34, Oil on canvas, 97.8 x 156.2 cm, acq 1981..

Murillio, Four Figures, c. 1655–60, Oil on canvas, 109.9 x 143.5 cm, acq 1984.

The Kimbell Art museum is famous for its collection of seventeenth- century art, as well as the exhibitions which sometimes act as adjuncts to this part of the permanent collection. In 1988, an exhibition of Poussin’s early works was organized by the late Konrad Oberhuber with the cooperation of the museum’s then director Edward (Ted) Pillsbury. One of the Poussins that the museum had bought in 1984 (Venus and Adonis) was made the centrepiece of the exhibition and corresponding symposium.[4] As remarked by one Poussin scholar, the Poussin exhibition was linked to the Kimbell’s policy of “adventurous buying” in the 17th century.[5] More recently during 2010-11, the Kimbell hosted an exhibition of Salvator Rosa’s paintings in conjunction with the Dulwich Picture Gallery in the U.K. that included the Kimbell’s Pythagoras Emerging from the Underworld.[6] Most of the seventeenth-century art in the Kimbell is French and Italian, with the former easily in the ascendant. There probably wouldn’t be much dispute amongst scholars that Caravaggio’s The Card Sharps is the best Italian early modern masterpiece here, although there are fine canvases by Guercino, Annibale Carracci, Pietro da Cortona and Cavillino from Naples. The strongest French presence here is Poussin, especially with the Kimbell’s purchase of his canonical Ordination from the first set of Seven Sacraments.  Next after Poussin is his friend and Roman neighbour Claude whose Europa and the Bull and Pastoral Landscape are owned by the museum.  Complimenting Caravaggio’s Cardsharps is Georges de La Tour’s own version of the subject; both paintings were shown in an exhibition of La Tour’s art at Washington and Fort Worth in 1998.[7]  In a similar realist vein, the Kimbell owns a painting of peasants by the Le Nain Brothers from Northern France. Amongst the northern European contingent are a Flightinto Egypt by Adam Elsheimer, an equestrian portrait of the Duke of Buckingham by Rubens, a Dentist byCandlelight by Dou, one of Rembrandt’s pupils, and by Rembrandt himself, the Bust of a Young Jew.  The Kimbell seventeenth-century collection is rounded out by Spanish painters like El Greco, Ribera, and Murillio.

A Note on Kimbell’s Renaissance Paintings.  

Fra Angelico, The Apostle St James the Greater Freeing  the Magician Hermogenes, c. 1426-29, Tempera and gold on panel, 26.8 x 23.8 cm, acq 1986.

Andrea Mantegna, Holy Family with St Elizabeth and the Infant John the Baptist,  c. 1485–88, Distemper, oil, and gold on canvas, 62.9 x 51.3 cm, acq 1987.

Ercole di Roberti, Portia and Brutus, 1486-90, Tempera, possibly oil, and gold on panel, 48.7 x 34.3 cm, acq 1986.

 Though the Kimbell renaissance collection is small, it does contain some big names such as Duccio, Fra Angelicio, Giovanni Bellini, Mantegna, Memling and Parmigianino.  One can appreciate the Kimbell’s insistence on quality with these paintings. For example, the Mantegna Holy Family, painted in distemper, is impressive and was deemed important enough to be included in the ground-breaking exhibition of the painter in 1992, staged in New York and London. Its provenance can be traced back to a private collection in Marseilles, after which it was bought at auction by the Kimbell in 1986.[8]   In addition to famous renaissance artists like Mantegna, there are minor painters like Ercole Roberti and other curious works which lend a distinctive flavour to the museum’s collection of renaissance art. In 1969 the Kimbell obtained a three-panelled structure, which due to the nature of its inscriptions, have come to be known as “The BarnabasAltarpiece.” 

Towards the Future. 

View of Piano Pavilion, Kimbell Art Museum, designed by Renzo Piano.

Nicolas Poussin, Ordination, 1638-40, formerly owned by Duke of Rutland, acq by the Kimbell for $24.3 m after it had failed to sell at auction.

On the 27^th of this month the Kimbell will open its newly built Piano Pavilion, directly across the lawn from the main museum. Designed by the architect Renzo Piano, the building in addition to providing an architectural counterpoint to the arches of the Kahn main complex, will also provide extra space for the museum’s expanding collection. Amongst its most recent acquisitions are Richard Parkes Bonington’s oil sketch of a View of Venice, offered to the museum by the dealer Richard Feigen of New York in 2009; Guercino’s Christ and the Woman of Samaria (acq privately in 2010 in honour of Ted Pillsbury who was responsible for securing many masterpieces); and their most spectacular purchase, Poussin’s Ordination in 2011 from his first set of Sacraments acquired after it had failed to sell at auction at Christie’s who had an estimate of £24.3 to 31 m.

From the museum’s website: ‘“The Kimbell Art Foundation was represented in the negotiation of the painting's purchase by Robert Holden Ltd. and Sotheby's. The Kimbell secured an export license in August of 2011. In documents made public, the expert advisor for the British Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest wrote, "Poussin's depictions of these sacred ceremonies represent one of the supreme artistic, intellectual and spiritual achievements in Western art and thought."’ As a Poussin scholar, the author applauds the Kimbell, but laments the departure of yet another Poussin from these shores. At the last count, there were about 32 Poussins in America. The Kimbell’s gain is our loss! With these impressive acquisitions which clearly prove the museum’s discernment, the Kimbell occupies a strong position. It will undoubtedly build on these achievements and its inspiring past exhibition programme by creating a modest, but significant series of future exhibitions and acquisitions. Currently the museum is hosting The Age of Picasso and Matisse: ModernMasters from The Art Institute of Chicago, which is appropriate for the unveiling of the finished, modernist annexe.   

Slides. 

1)      View of Fort Worth skyline at night.

2)      Map of Southern United States with Fort Worth’s location.

3)      Exterior Views of the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth.

4)      Interior showing works in situ.

5)      Joshua Reynolds, Portrait of a Woman, possibly Elizabeth Warren, 1759, Oil on canvas, 238.1 x 147.8 cm, ACF 1961.02

6)      Thomas Gainsborough, Portrait of a Woman, possibly of the Lloyd Family, c. 1750, Oil on canvas, 69.6 x 53 cm, ACF 1946.04.

7)      Unknown Artist, The Barnabas Altarpiece, South-western French or Northern Spanish (?), 13–14th century, c. 1275–1350, Tempera, oil, and gold on panel, Left: 91 x 36.5 cm; Center: 91 x 57 cm; Right: 91 x 37 cm; Framed: 106.4 x 153 x 5.7 cm, AP 1969.06 a,b,c

8)      Fra Angelico, The Apostle St James the Greater Freeing  the Magician Hermogenes, c. 1426-29, Tempera and gold on panel, 26.8 x 23.8 cm, AP 1986.03

9)      Andrea Mantegna, Holy Family with St Elizabeth and the Infant John the Baptist,  c. 1485–88, Distemper, oil, and gold on canvas, 62.9 x 51.3 cm, AP 1987.04.

10)   Giovanni Bellini, c. 1500, Tempera, oil, and gold on panel, 59 x 47 cm, AP 1967.07

11)   Ercole Roberti, Portia and Brutus, 1486-90, Tempera, possibly oil, and gold on panel, 48.7 x 34.3 cm, AP. 1986.05

12)   Hans Memling, Portrait of Jacob Obrecht, 1496, Oil on oak panel, 50,8 x 36,1 cm, AP 1993.02.

13)   Rear, unidentified figure.

14)   Jan Gossart, known as Mabuse, Portrait of a Man, 1520-25, Oil on oak panel, 57 x 46 cm, AP 1979.30.

15)   Adam Elsheimer, The Flight into Egypt, c. 1605, Oil on silvered copper, oval 10 x 7,6 cm AP 1994.01.

16)   Nicolas Poussin, Ordination, 1638-40, formerly owned by Duke of Rutland, acq by the Kimbell at auction 2011 for $24.3 m.

17)   Claude, Landscape with Europa and the Bull, 1634, Oil on canvas, 170.8 x 199.7 cm, AP 1981.08

18)   Salvator Rosa, Pythagoras Emerging from the Underworld, 1662, Oil on canvas, 131.2 x 189 cm, AP 1970.22.

19)   Caravaggio, The Cardsharps, c. 1596, Oil on canvas, 92 x 129 cm, AP 1987.06

20)    Infrared reflectogram showing change of position of young man’s hand.

21)   Il Guercino, Christ and the Woman of Samaria, . 1619-20, Oil on canvas, 97.2 x 124.8 cm, AP 2010.01.

22)   Georges de La Tour, The Cheat, c. 1630-34, Oil on canvas, 97.8 x 156.2 cm, AP 1981.06.

23)   Frans Hals, The Rommel Pot Player, c. 1618–22, Oil on canvas, 106 x 80.3 cm, ACF 1951.01

24)   Ribera, St Matthew, 1632, Oil on canvas, 128.2 x 97.8 cm, AP 1966.1

25)   El Greco, Portrait of Dr Francisco Pisa, 1610–14, oil on canvas, 107 x 90 cm, AP 1977.05

26)   Murillio, Four Figures, c. 1655–60, Oil on canvas, 109.9 x 143.5 cm, AP 1984.18

27)   Chardin, Portrait of a Young Artist Sketching, c. 1738, Oil on panel, 21 x 17.1 cm, AP 1982.07

28)   Richard Parkes Bonington, The Grand Canal, Venice looking towards the Rialto Bridge, 1826, Oil on millboard, 35.2 x 45.4 cm, AP 2009.02

29)   Delacroix, Selim and Zuleika, 1857, Oil on canvas, 47.6 x 40 cm, AP 1986.04.

30)   Claude Monet, La Pointe de la Hève at Low Tide, 1865, Oil on canvas, 90 x 150 cm.

31)   Gustave Caillebotte, On the Pont de l'Europe, 1876-77, Oil on canvas, 106 x 131 cm, AP 1982.01

32)   View of Piano Pavilion, Kimbell Art Museum, designed by Renzo Piano.

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[1] On the Modern Art Museum, see Catherine Craft, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, editorial, The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 145, No. 1201, (Apr., 2003), pp. 263-264.

[2] K.R, The Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 114, No. 837, (Dec, 1972), pp. 889- 892.

[3] link.

[4] Konrad Oberhuber, Poussin, the Early Years in Rome: The Origins of French Classicism, (Fort Worth, 1988).

[5] Elizabeth Cropper, Early Poussin: Fort Worth, The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 130, No. 1029, (Dec, 1988), 958-962.

[6] Helen Langdon, Xavier F. Salomon, Catherina Volpi Salvator Rosa, exhibition catalogue, (Dulwich Picture Gallery, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, (2010-11), no. 31.

[7] Philip Conisbee and others, Georges de La Tour and his World, (National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 1997), nos. 18 (La Tour), 41 (Caravaggio).   

[8] Andrea Mantegna, (ed Jane Martineau), Met, New York, Royal Academy, London (1992), no. 51.