The Blanton Museum of Art has won the lottery.
Dallas art collectors Nona and Richard Barrett have more work than they know what to do with. So in 2010, with the help of the Dallas Museum of Art, the philanthropic couple established a lottery to disperse over three hundred works across the state to prominent Texas museums.
In this year's lottery, the Blanton's curator in attendance's number was drawn first in the selection process, so the first round of choices went to the Blanton.
Among the generous donations from the Barretts include a 1987 oil painting from former University of Texas professor Melissa Miller entitled One Rabbit Feeling the Pain of Another. Other works include paintings and studies by Luanne Stovall, mixed media work by Jesse Amado, Sharon Kopriva, Linnea Glatt and Augie Kuyowa N'Kele. Bill Haveron's creative drawings are included as well.
Amado already has works on display in the museum, and the others enhance or fill important holes in the contemporary collection at the Blanton. As new Blanton Director Simone Wicha stated in a press release Wednesday, "The special selection deepens our holdings of Texas art, adding additional works by some artists, and introducing new ones to our collection."
To get a taste of the new acquisitions, the newest piece by Amado will be on view with the artist’s 1995 installation work, I Pray, Then I Play in the Collective Landscape on August 19th in The Blanton’s Lowe Gallery.
