Articulations
The LBJ Library swaps paintings with the National Gallery of Art, the Blanton Museum of Art gets $1 million for a new gallery, and Patsy Cline teaches you how to apply make-up
By Robert Faires, Fri., March 19, 2004
A Tale of Two Diegos
When the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., was looking for artwork to include in its exhibition "The Cubist Paintings of Diego Rivera: Memory, Politics, Place," it came calling on Austin. Seems the LBJ Library and Museum had a fine example in its head-of-state gift collection: a 1915 oil painting titled Still Life With Gray Bowl that Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz presented to Johnson during his presidency. Alas, the LBJ wasn't inclined to loan its Diego because it is a head-of-state gift, but then the National Gallery offered to replace the painting with one of its own Rivera works for the duration of the show – one that's never been displayed publicly. The presidential library agreed to the swap, and on March 2, a truck rumbled up to the LBJ, dropped off Montserrat, a 1911 work in the pointillist style painted by Rivera while he was living in Paris, and carried away Still Life With Gray Bowl for display in D.C. April 4-Aug. 8 and in Mexico City (at the Museo de Arte Moderno) Sept. 19-Jan. 16. Montserrat, which came from the collection of Eugene and Agnes Meyer (parents of the late Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham) and was given to the National Gallery in 2001 by their daughter Elizabeth Meyer Lorentz, goes into the Gifts of State exhibit this month with a special label explaining its presence. For more information, call 721-0200 or visit www.lbjlib.utexas.edu.
On the Funding Front
The Blanton Museum of Art is $1 million closer to its $83.5 million goal thanks to an exceptional gift from the ever-generous Ernest and Sarah Butler. The philanthropic couple made their million-dollar donation in support of a 1,500-square-foot gallery in the new facility that features changing exhibitions of work from the Blanton's collections as organized by faculty, graduate students, and guest curators. Museum director Jessie Otto Hite said that this space, to be named the Sarah and Ernest Butler Family Fund Gallery in recognition of the Butlers' gift, "will be the intellectual heart of the museum," allowing the people of Austin to "explore our exceptional collection from new perspectives." The Blanton has raised over $66 million toward the cost of the new museum. Currently, work on the gallery building is under way, with the concrete slabs and walls for the subbasement and basement levels and construction of the ground floor completed, and construction of the second floor begun. For more information, visit www.blantonmuseum.org.
Make-Up the Patsy Cline Way
Rather, make yourself up the Jessica Welch way, when the star of the Zachary Scott Theatre Center's Always ... Patsy Cline presents a workshop teaching techniques for refining make-up applications, creating theatrical and evening looks, and looking "different" with minimal make-up. In addition to performing Patsy for 15 years, Welch has applied make-up professionally for magazine photo shoots. The lecture and demonstration will take place Monday, March 22, 7-9pm, at ZACH's Arena Stage, 1510 Toomey. Cost: $35. To register, call 476-0594 x236.
