The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) recently announced a significant expansion to their collection, programming, and commitment to Latin American art. As more and more institutions seek out works of Latin American art, the DMA has received three gifts to further solidify its focus on the field. In a March 26th press release, the DMA announced that it had received funding for a new curatorial position, $1 million to be put towards acquiring works, and five artworks by Latin American artists for their collection.
A major gift from Jorge Baldor, a local entrepreneur and civic leader, will be used to create the Jorge Baldor Curator of Latin American Art. The new curatorial position will focus specifically on exhibitions and programming that highlights artists from the Caribbean, North, Central, and South America. In 2017, Baldor was the lead funder for the museum’s ‘México 1990-1950‘ exhibition, which became the museum’s second most visited exhibition in its history.
In addition to the new curatorial position, the DMA announced a gift of $1 million from Linda Marcus, dubbed the Stanley and Linda Marcus Endowment for the Acquisition of Latin American Art, earmarked for acquisitions. Stanley Marcus, the late husband of Linda Marcus and once president of the Neiman Marcus department store, was a trustee for the DMA for more than 60 years. During that time, he gifted over 300 works of art in various mediums to the museum greatly shaping the DMA’s collection. Of the works given by the Marcus’ in the past, El Hombre, a 1953 large-scale painting by Rufino Tamayo remains one of the most notable. Linda Marcus, former trustee to the DMA as well, continues to collect works by Latin American artists and has promised a number of works to the museum.
To round out the gifts announced by the museum were five artworks added to the museum’s collection thanks to various donors. Baldor, the Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., the de Unger Family – a trustee of the Keir Collection of Islamic Art, and an anonymous donor gave artworks to the DMA. Additionally, DMA trustees Nancy and Jeremy Halbreich have promised an artwork to the museum.
‘The DMA’s encyclopedic collection is the anchor for sharing and exploring the stories and cross-influences of cultures around the world and illustrating the undeniable ties between them. With Latino and Latin American culture embedded in the fabric of Dallas, as well as the United States, the DMA’s strength in Latin American art is core not only to expanding the narrative of art history, but to reflecting the histories of the Museum’s audiences, locally and nationally,’ said DMA director Agustín Arteaga in the museum’s press release. ‘These gifts form the cornerstone of an exciting new chapter in the history of the DMA’s engagement with Latin American art, and position the Museum to excel in bringing underrecognized narratives of art history to the fore. We are enormously grateful for the transformative gifts.’
