Kaleta A. Doolin Acquisitions Fund for Women Artists
In August, the Nasher Sculpture Center proudly announced the formation of a new fund for the acquisition of work by women artists: the Kaleta A. Doolin Acquisitions Fund for Women Artists. Established with the generous seed gift from the foundation named for author, artist, and arts patron Kaleta A. Doolin, the fund will provide an initial $750,000 toward the purchasing of work by women artists, helping substantially grow both the Nasher Sculpture Center’s collection of work by women artists and, with a keen focus on living artists, its contemporary art holdings.
“It is the Nasher Sculpture Center’s great fortune to be granted this generous acquisitions gift, and we could not be more grateful to Ms. Doolin or excited about the possibilities this gift affords,” says Director Jeremy Strick. “To be able to expand and enrich the Collection’s holdings of work made by women artists is of paramount importance, helping round out the permanent collection and highlight the tremendous contributions that women have made, and continue to make, to sculpture.”
The first work to be purchased with the fund was a work by the British artist Phyllida Barlow, whose exhibition ‘tryst’ opened at the Nasher in May and ran until August 30, 2015. The acquired work, called untitled:hangingmonument2015, features a large, wrapped, tubular form that hangs horizontally from a tall steel structure. Held aloft by a black rigging strap, the long, heavy column is rendered weightless. For Barlow, the horizontal form in the piece stems from an experience in Texas in 2003 during an artist residency with University of Texas at Dallas when she and her husband, on a drive through the oil fields, witnessed an enormous, amorphous form being extracted from the ground, dripping with oil and muck. Like the other works featured in ‘tryst,’ Barlow made untitled:hangingmonument2015 specifically for the exhibition at the Nasher.
“To begin with the purchase of a work by Phyllida Barlow—an artist at the height of her career, of great influence to younger generations of artists, and with deep ties to the Nasher—is very meaningful for the museum,” continues Mr. Strick. “We look forward to other such tremendous additions to the Nasher Collection that can now be made thanks to this focused and important fund.”
Works acquired through the Kaleta A. Doolin Acquisitions Fund for Women Artists will augment the Nasher Collection’s important sculptures by women artists, including Magdalena Abakanowicz, Nancy Grossman, Barbara Hepworth, and Beverly Pepper. The fund has also been structured so that other contributions may be made to it by others who desire to support and honor women artists.
To learn more about the Kaleta A. Doolin Acquisitions Fund for Women Artists, and for information on how to make a charitable contribution to it, please contact Martha Hess, Director of Development, at +1 214.242.5153 or [email protected].
