The Museo de Arte de Ponce (MAP) in Puerto Rico, has partnered with the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, to organize a traveling exhibition that will debut in Texas in February.
Waldemar Morales Lugo, “Portrait of América,” 1957, oil on canvas, 36 5/16 × 28 13/16 inches. Museo de Arte de Ponce. The Luis A. Ferré Foundation, Inc. 59.0127. Image courtesy of Museo de Arte de Ponce
The Sense of Beauty: Six Centuries of Painting from Museo de Arte de Ponce, presents 60 significant works spanning from the 16th to 21st centuries by artists working in Europe, the U.S., and Puerto Rico. Sir Frederic Leighton, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Gustave Courbet, Elisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, and José Campeche y Jordán, and others are included in the exhibition.
Frederic, Lord Leighton, “Flaming June,” 1895, oil on canvas, 46 7/8 × 46 7/8 inches. Museo de Arte de Ponce. The Luis A. Ferré Foundation, Inc. 63.0406. Image courtesy of Museo de Arte de Ponce
Conceived and developed by Iraida Rodríguez-Negrón, curator at MAP, the traveling show comes as a result of the institution’s ongoing building renovations. In 2020, a series of earthquakes resulted in the temporary closure of the museum’s galleries. During this time of construction MAP has presented exhibitions in its annex building, loaned major works to museums around the world, and organized a small-scale show of Puerto Rican art that has been traveling across the U.S. since 2022. As part of the partnership, the Meadows will lend a piece from its collection, Diego Velázquez’s Female Figure (Sibyl with Tabula Rasa) to MAP when it reopens, though a date has not been publicly announced.
Frederic Edwin Church, “Morning in the Tropics,” 1872, oil on canvas, 28 3/4 × 46 1/2 inches. Museo de Arte de Ponce. The Luis A. Ferré Foundation, Inc. 59.0082. Image courtesy of Museo de Arte de Ponce
In a press release, Deborah L. Roldán, MAP’s Executive Director, remarked, “This tour happens at a pivotal moment for the Museo de Arte de Ponce as we continue renovations on our historic building while also keeping alive our mission to share the beauty of our collection both in Puerto Rico and abroad. We are delighted to inaugurate the exhibition tour of The Sense of Beauty at the renowned Meadows Museum. We are sister institutions in many ways and share parallel histories; both museums were begun by visionary collectors in the late 1950s to bring art to their communities, and both museums opened to the public in 1965.”
Amanda W. Dotseth, The Linda P. and William A. Custard Director of the Meadows Museum and Centennial Chair in the Meadows School of the Arts, SMU, added, “The Meadows is proud to have been the first museum approached to host this exhibition and we have enthusiastically supported its development from the beginning. We look forward to introducing North Texas audiences to the extraordinarily diverse and rich collection of the Museo de Arte de Ponce.”
The exhibition will be on view at the Meadows from February 23 to June 22, 2025. It will then travel to the Brigham Young University Museum of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Oklahoma City Museum of Art; the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art; and the Cincinnati Art Museum.
