The Dallas Museum of Art has appointed Sabiha Al Khemir, the founding director of the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar, as the Museum’s first Senior Advisor of Islamic Art. Beginning immediately, Dr. Al Khemir will help build partnerships with international art institutions to promote the exchange of Islamic works, and work to enhance the presence of Islamic art within the DMA’s exhibitions and collections and promote the exchange of Islamic works between the Museum and other participating institutions. She lives in New York and will travel to Dallas at regular intervals as part of her appointment, funded by DMA patrons Kay and Elliot Cattarulla.
Not to be outdone, Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts today announced what it called “a historic agreement with The al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait.” MFAH Director Gary Tinterow and Sheikha Hussah Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah, director of the Dar al- Athar al-Islamiyyah (DAI), Kuwait, and co-owner with Sheikh Nasser Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah of The al-Sabah Collection, have signed a 5-year cooperation agreement that will bring 60 objects from the privately held al-Sabah Collection to Houston on a long-term loan.