Museums across the Dallas-Fort Worth area have announced their summer exhibitions, from Western art that has shaped Hollywood movies to artist depictions of cultural communities. Learn about recently opened and upcoming shows to plan your summer museum visits.
“Stagecoach” movie poster, 1939, lithograph, poster collection, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Earlier this month the Sid Richardson Museum in Fort Worth debuted The Cinematic West: The Art That Made the Movies, an exhibition examining the connection between artists depicting the Western U.S. and Hollywood’s Western film genre. The show includes paintings, sculptures, and illustrations by Frederic Remington, Charles Russell, and others alongside clips from silent Westerns, vintage movie posters, and ephemera.
Scott Winterrowd, Director of the Sid Richardson, wrote, “While numerous books and exhibitions have been dedicated to the influence of Remington, Russell, and other Western artists’ work on the Western film genre in the twentieth century, not much has been said about the influence of their works on early silent films. The discovery of the history of Remington’s painting, A Misdeal and the use of the artist’s work in a group of early silent Westerns became the catalyst for the exhibition, The Cinematic West: The Art That Made The Movies.”
The Cinematic West: The Art that Made the Movies is on view at the Sid Richardson through May 3, 2026.
Yayoi Kusama, “All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins,” wood, mirror, plastic, acrylic, and LED, Dallas Museum of Art, TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art Fund, 2018.12.A–I. © YAYOI KUSAMA. Courtesy Ota Fine Arts, Victoria Miro, and David Zwirner.
Also this month, the Dallas Museum of Art reopened its popular Yayoi Kusama infinity room, All the Eternal Love I have for the Pumpkins. The immersive work was originally on display at the DMA in 2017.
Dr. Vivian Li, the DMA’s Lupe Murchison Curator of Contemporary Art, told Glasstire, “Kusama’s pumpkin Infinity Room is one of the most beloved rooms of this iconic series, and her only pumpkin room where visitors can walk in and become truly immersed in an infinite field of pumpkins.”
Return to Infinity: Yayoi Kusama will be on view at the DMA through Jan 18, 2026.
Nathan Carter, “BROOKLYN STREET TREASURES ALL CITY MTA MASTER-KEY HYPING NEWKIRK AVE TO MYRTLE-WILLOUGHBY,” 2011, steel, enamel and acrylic paint, stainless steel wire, Plexiglas, found objects, 79 x 208 x 4 inches. © Nathan Carter. Gift of Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger, 2024. Courtesy the artist and Casey Kaplan, New York. Photo: Carry Whittier
The Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas has opened Generations: 150 Years of Sculpture, a permanent collection exhibition that presents sculptural works in thematic groupings. The Nasher’s website explains, “Contemporary artists such as Frances Bagley, Julian Hoeber, and James Sullivan share an enduring fascination for the human figure with historical predecessors like Auguste Rodin, Alberto Giacometti and Willem de Kooning. Artists exploring the role of the void in sculpture include Barbara Hepworth (in the garden) as well as Tony Cragg, Anish Kapoor, Tony Marsh, and Beverly Semmes, while Jonathan Borofsky, Jeff Gibbons, and Jean Tinguely consider sound and mechanical movement as elements of their work.”
The show includes 50 pieces, nearly half of which are recently acquired works.
Generations will be on view at the Nasher through August 24, 2025.
Bernice Bing, “Blue Mountain No. 4,” 1966, oil and acrylic on canvas. Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University. Gift of Alexa Young. Funding for the conservation of this artwork was generously provided through a grant from the Bank of America Art Conservation Project, 2020.14, © Alexa Young
This weekend the Amon Carter Museum of American Art opens East of the Pacific: Making Histories of Asian American Art and Richard Avedon at the Carter. East of the Pacific is organized by the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University and features 31 Asian American artists. The show includes ceramics, drawings, paintings, photographs, and prints, created from the mid-19th century to the present day.
Richard Avedon at the Carter celebrates the 40th anniversary of the photographer’s In the American West series, which was originally commissioned by Amon Carter. The exhibition features 40 portraits from the series alongside behind-the-scenes memorabilia.
In a press release, María Beatriz H. Carrión, the Assistant Curator of Photographs at the Carter, said, “Of the many photographic treasures housed by the Carter, Avedon’s In the American West series is perhaps the most influential of them all. The project profoundly impacted the field of U.S. photography. It also shaped the trajectory of the museum by catalyzing its commissioning of living artists. It is an honor and a privilege to work with this series and to shed light on the fascinating history of its making.”
Later this summer, the museum will debut Seven Days: The Still Lifes of Chuck Ramirez. The show comes on the heels of the museum’s acquisition of the San Antonio artist’s 2003 series focused on community celebrations. In addition to the large-format photographs, the show includes a recreation of an ofrenda that Mr. Ramirez made in 2004.
East of the Pacific will be on view through November 30, 2025; Richard Avedon will be on view through August 10, 2025; and Seven Days will be on view from July 26, 2025, through January 4, 2026.
Robert Peterson, “Head in the Clouds,” 2022, oil on canvas, 48 x 72 inches. Collection of Yvonne Cook and Family
In June, the Green Family Art Foundation in Dallas will open Robert Peterson: Somewhere in America. The solo show includes works by Mr. Peterson that depict the beauty and joy of African American life. The self-taught artist has stated his work rejects stereotypes to celebrate the “Black experience as [he] knows it.”
Somewhere in America will be on view at the Green Family Art Foundation from June 7 through September 14, 2025.
Masahiro LaMarsh, “7 Gates,” 2024, 22 karat, Moroccan amethyst. Photograph courtesy of the artist. Courtesy of the artist and Erykah Badu
Also in June, the Dallas Contemporary will present Masahiro LaMarsh: Anticlastic, curated by Alexandra Hulsey, the museum’s Communication and Graphic Design Manager. The exhibition will feature custom-made grillz by Mr. LaMarsh, who is a New York-based jeweler working with traditional metalsmithing techniques. Additionally, two videos illustrating the making process will be on view with the grillz.
According to the DC’s website, “The term anticlastic refers to a surface that curves in opposite directions along perpendicular axes. In metalsmithing, it is a technique that creates dynamic, flowing shapes that suggest movement, tension, and duality. The exhibition’s namesake mirrors storytelling and oral histories: the mouth as both form and function — a vessel for speech, expression, and proclamation.”
Anticlastic will be on view at the Dallas Contemporary from June 21 through August 2025.
“David-Jeremiah: The Fire This Time”
In August, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth will debut David-Jeremiah: The Fire This Time, an exhibition organized by guest curator Christopher Blay. The immersive exhibition will include 28 paintings standing over ten feet tall.
The Modern’s website notes that “Fire is a major motif in David-Jeremiah’s work. Figuratively, fire is the crucible through which the artist has passed. … Birthing new modes of self-reflective determination and urgency, David-Jeremiah brings the fire this time, incinerating what has come before to propose something new.”
The Fire This Time will be on view at the Modern from August 16 through November 2, 2025.
