SMU’s Meadows Museum to present Face and Form: Modern and Contemporary Sculpture in the Meadows Collection

by PegNews wire

DALLAS — The Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University is internationally recognized not only for its collection of Spanish art, one of the finest outside of Spain, but for its distinguished collection of modern and contemporary sculpture from the 19th to the 21st century. The sculpture collection includes 21 significant works, all of which will be showcased together for the first time in a new exhibition, Face and Form: Modern and Contemporary Sculpture in the Meadows Collection, ongoing beginning October 7, 2009.

The sculptures will be displayed both indoors and outdoors on the museum’s new entry plaza, which has just completed a six-month renovation following several years of planning. The official plaza dedication will be held at 6 p.m. on October 7, and is open to the public.

This year, the Meadows Museum acquired a monumental contemporary work by Barcelona native Jaume Plensa titled Sho (2007), a 13-foot tall openwork mesh sculpture depicting the head of a young girl. It will be installed in the center of the new entry plaza. The internationally acclaimed Plensa is known for his monumental figural sculptures that often incorporate film, light, letters, and unusual materials in order to present familiar objects (such as the human body) in unfamiliar ways. Sho is considered one of his most dynamic and accomplished works.

The museum also will feature two corollary exhibitions in its first floor galleries illustrating the fascinating processes used by Plensa and Calatrava in the creation of their monumental sculptures on display in the Meadows outdoor spaces. Both works required teams of specialists and used a combination of 21st-century technology and impeccable craftsmanship, resulting in meticulously engineered final works of art. Santiago Calatrava: The Making of Wave will include preparatory drawings and watercolors of Wave from different angles, shedding light on Calatrava’s creative process, as well as photographs and other materials showing the more practical details of the sculpture’s creation and installation. Jaume Plensa: The Making of Sho will feature a number of photographs from Plensa’s studio depicting Sho in various stages of production while explaining the creative and construction process in greater detail. It also will highlight the installation of Sho at other venues before it arrived at its final destination in the center of the Meadows Museum’s new plaza and sculpture garden. Both exhibits will be on view through February 21, 2010.

Face and Form: Modern and Contemporary Sculpture in the Meadows Collection will showcase works outdoors on the newly redesigned entry plaza and indoors in the Jake and Nancy Hamon Galleries. The new entry features a fountain and reconfigured access stairs leading up to the sculpture plaza from Bishop Blvd. The plaza’s innovative design features grassy areas, gravel paths, benches, and 15 large movable planters, creating a multitude of possible layouts. A new overlook on the plaza provides a dramatic view of Calatrava's Wave, permanently installed below the plaza at street level.

A publication about the Meadows Museum’s holdings of modern and contemporary sculpture is planned for fall 2010. It will feature photography of the sculpture in the Jake and Nancy Hamon Galleries and in situ on the plaza, and will provide essays on the Elizabeth Meadows Sculpture Collection and its art historical importance.

Face and Form: Modern and Contemporary Sculpture in the Meadows Collection is organized by the Meadows Museum and has been funded by a generous gift from The Meadows Foundation.

Source: Meadows Museum