Nona and Richard Barrett of Dallas have given more than 100 works from their collection of contemporary Texas art to The Dallas Museum of Art and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The DMA gets more than 40 pieces by 31 artists, including 11 firsts: Jesse Amado, Steve Dennie, David Gibson, Lucas Johnson, Sharon Kopriva, Michael Miller, Kermit Oliver, Al Souza, Dick Wray, and Judy Youngblood, and a 1971 assemblage sculpture by sometime-Texan Ed Kienholz. 20 of the artists are already represented in the DMA’s collection, Joe Glasco, Vernon Fisher, John Alexander, David Baker, David Bates, Julie Bozzi, Patrick Faulhaber, Joe Havel, Terrell James, Luis Jimenez, Bill Komodore, Annette Lawrence, Jim Love, David MacManaway, Melissa Miller, Linda Ridgway, Peter Saul, Lee N. Smith, Gael Stack, and Danny Williams. This new gift follows the Barretts’ gift in March to the DMA of more than 60 works from their collection of early Texas art (primarily from the 1930s-50s).
Houston gets 57 paintings, drawings, photographs, and sculptures, including works by Helen Altman, The Art Guys, Julie Bozzi, David Bates, Vernon Fisher, Harry Geffert, Virgil Grotfeldt, Sam Gummelt, John Hernandez, Terrell James, Lucas Johnson, Annette Lawrence, Lisa Ludwig, Bill Komodore, Melissa Miller, Michael Miller, Kermit Oliver, John Pomara, Linda Ridgway, James Surls, and Danny Williams, Patrick Faulhaber, George Green, Hung Ju, Ted Kincaid, Annabel Livermore, James Magee, David McManaway, Peter Saul, Roger Winter, and Xiaoxe Xie.
John R. Lane, the DMA’s director, called the gift "a landmark in our collecting history." Peter C. Marzio, director of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston called the Barrett collection "a complex and nuanced overview of the extraordinary talent that has flourished statewide over the past three decades."
