February 24, 2005

METHODISTS AND CATHOLICS
TO HOLD DIALOGUE ON UNITY

DALLAS (SMU) — The Meadows Foundation recently awarded a grant of $700,000 to the Meadows Museum at SMU. The grant provides $500,000 for the museum’s acquisitions fund and $200,000 to support its exhibitions program. Added to a $300,000 grant for exhibitions awarded last March, the new grant makes a total of

$1 million in the past year from The Meadows Foundation for the museum, half of it designated for acquisitions and half for exhibitions.

“The generous support of The Meadows Foundation through the years has helped to make the Meadows Museum an international resource and a leading cultural asset of the city and region,” said SMU President R. Gerald Turner. “We are grateful for this latest grant, which reflects the continuing bond between the foundation and the university.”

Carole Brandt, dean of the Meadows School of the Arts, said, “This gift brings essential sustenance to the core and mission of the museum and its programs. It affords us opportunities to continue evolving as a place of seeing, learning and knowing; to involve diverse communities; and to affirm ourselves as a cultural institution of significance.”

The Meadows Museum houses one of the finest collections of Spanish art outside of Spain. The Meadows Foundation provided $20 million for design and construction of a new, greatly expanded museum building, which opened in 2001.

“The lifeblood of the museum is its permanent collection, and the quality of its exhibits keeps the visitor experience fresh and exciting,” said Linda Evans, president of The Meadows Foundation. “We are happy to assist the museum advance in both critical areas.”

The Meadows Museum recently purchased a 15^th-century Hispano-Flemish masterpiece by Joan Reixach and three working studies by 20^th-century Spanish sculptor Julio González. The museum also has acquired a still life painting by SMU graduate David Bates, a gift from the artist. Ten masterworks of medieval and early renaissance art of Spain are on long-term loan to the Meadows from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

A series of Meadows exhibitions devoted to Dallas’ architectural heritage will begin with an examination of the architecture of Mark Lemmon, on view from Feb. 23 to May 1. Future exhibitions in the series will feature the work of architects George Dahl, O’Neil Ford, Howard Meyer and others. Also opening in the Meadows this spring are exhibitions of “The Art of the Book: A Centennial Tribute to Stanley Marcus, Bibliophile,” and recent New York City works of Roger Winter, former faculty member of Meadows School of the Arts. Both will run from April 20 to July 31.

The Meadows Museum is currently preparing for a major international loan exhibition to open in December, “The Rebirth of Spanish Art: Cosmopolitan Painting from Fortuny to Picasso,” curated by Mark Roglán, senior curator of the Meadows Museum.

The internationally renowned permanent collection of the Meadows Museum presents a broad spectrum of art covering a thousand years of Spanish heritage. Works dating from the 10^th to the 20^th century include masterpieces by some of Spain’s greatest painters, such as El Greco, Goya, Miró, Murillo, Picasso, Ribera and Velázquez.

The Meadows Museum and its distinguished collection were developed through the generosity and dedication of the late Algur H. Meadows of Dallas. The Meadows Foundation has continued to support the museum through the years.

The Meadows Foundation is a private philanthropic institution established in 1948 by Algur H. and Virginia Meadows to benefit the people of Texas. Foundation grants support work in the fields of arts and culture, civic and public affairs, education, health and human services. Since the foundation’s inception, its assets have grown to a current value in excess of $800 million, and it has dispersed more than $430 million in grants and direct charitable expenditures to over 2,000 Texas institutions and agencies.