Eat Art Index

Tomb Raiding, Museum Fishing + Pan Flashing in Fort Worth

Kathy and I were exhausted after seeing and hearing The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt three times through during the press opening at the Kimbell — once with the audio tour that kept jumping into the whiz-bang kiddie version of the Raiders of the Lost Arc; once by ourselves; and then one long time, during which the crowd dwindled from nearly 50 press persons to fewer than a dozen by the time we reached the computer reproduced tomb near the end, (above).

The tour was interesting if abundantly detailed, repetitive and somewhat reminsicent of JR's recent, press opening tour of the Winslow Homer fishing show. (See below.) at the Amon Carter.

an Egyptian symbol of stability

We both thought the Kimbell show might be a better bet for a natural history museum, although some fine pieces are included.

At the Amon Carter, Homer's watercolors are superb, technically varied and supposedly the best of that genre ever. But the tour was largely about fishing, which that youngish curator had taken up seven years ago, and she was still very much in the glow of her fascination with the sport. It showed.

Winslow Homer - Bass, 1900
watercolor over graphite on paper
Note the lush, iridescent colors that
disappear minutes after the fish leaves water.

I didn't learn all that much about the art nor craft of the Homer's personal paintings — and I had hoped to, but I heard way too much about fishing. Which, I suppose, is a handy post to hang the PR hopes for the show on, since anglers are supposedly a fiercely loyal and supportive bunch. But one of the sheer joys of fishing is that doing it is sufficient, and talking about it superfluous. Though not always, of course.

We'd not been invited to these press openings till recently (after Kathy the PR Lady insisted that we formally inform them of DARts' existence), so JR's been careful to attend any that seemed even mildly interesting, just so we'd get invited back — in case some really interesting show comes along.

The still elusive notion of touring new shows before the public — or even most of the private — crowds gets to see them — especially going through them at our own pace, solo — and getting to take pictures along the way — holds mythic promise to the editor of this E-rag.

Besides, it's a public way of seeing the mysterious publicity machine of what I still believe are Dallas' best art museums. Which have always been in Fort Worth.

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Ty Milner - Benny
oil on linen

Soon Y. Warren - Patterns of Oak
original oil painting