Museum news

Egyptian queen and British superstar headline Kimbell Art Museum's next exhibitions

The Kimbell Art Museum will welcome "the most beautiful" queen of Egypt, one of Britain's most renowned painters, and fascinating pieces from a special Rockefeller collection in its 2020-21 lineup of special exhibitions.

The Fort Worth museum unveiled the schedule of upcoming exhibitions in a release July 28. The Kimbell, which was among the earliest Dallas-Fort Worth museums to reopen to the public after its COVID-19 shutdown, is adhering to special health and safety measures, found here. Information and schedules are subject to change, they say.

The museum's current special presentation, "Flesh and Blood: Italian Masterpieces from Capodimonte Museum," will be on view only through August 16. Here's a closer look at the exhibitions that will follow (with descriptions provided by the Kimbell).

"Queen Nefertari’s Egypt"
November 15, 2020-March 28, 2021

Previously announced, "Queen Nefertari’s Egypt" will take a closer look at the wives of pharaohs during the New Kingdom period (1550-1070 BC), the height of Egyptian civilization.

"These women — not just great royal wives, but also sisters, daughters and mothers of pharaohs, and sometimes even pharaohs themselves — are brought to life through some 230 exceptional objects, including majestic statues, exquisite jewelry, decorated vases, papyrus manuscripts, carved steles, mummies, intricately painted wooden coffins and splendid stone sarcophagi, as well as tools and various items of daily life from the artisan village of Deir el-Medina, home to the craftsmen who made the royal tombs," the museum says.

Nefertari, whose name means “the most beautiful of them all,” was one of the most revered queens of ancient Egypt. She was the wife of the great pharaoh Ramesses II. Her richly decorated tomb was discovered in 1904. "The brilliantly painted scenes decorating the tomb depict the perilous and challenging journey Nefertari had to make to appease the gods on her path to immortality," the Kimbell says. "Queen Nefertari’s Egypt will cast light on royal life in the palace, the roles of women in ancient Egypt, the everyday life of artisans and the powerful belief system and ritual practices around death and the afterlife."

The exhibition highlights the journey of discovery made by the Italian archaeologist Ernesto Schiaparelli and his team near the ancient Nile river. The selected masterpieces in the display come from the world-renowned Museo Egizio in Turin, which holds one of the most important collections of ancient Egyptian works outside of Cairo. The exhibition is organized by the Museo Egizio, Turin, and StArt, in collaboration with the Kimbell.

"Turner’s Modern World"
May 9-September 5, 2021

J. M. W. Turner (1775-1851), one of Britain’s greatest artists and a Fort Worth favorite, will be the subject of a Kimbell showcase next spring and summer. "Turner’s Modern World" explores Turner’s lifelong interest in the events, society, inventions, politics, culture, and science of his time, "which resulted in many of his most original works and transformed his way of painting," the museum says.

The description goes on to say, "Born in the late 18th century, Turner witnessed spectacular technological innovations and the industrialization of modern life. As the advances of industry and commerce brought Britain to world power, Turner immortalized these dizzying changes in vivid and dramatic compositions, with skillful brushwork that gave the impression of being wild and uncontrolled. In his last years, he surpassed any other artist by melding his contemporary subjects with a highly innovative style — an accomplishment that established him as one of the founders of modern art."

The exhibition, organized by Tate Britain, will feature oils and watercolors from Tate’s collection as well as works from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Yale Center for British Art, and private collections. It is organized by the Kimbell Art Museum along with with Tate Britain and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

"Buddha, Shiva, Lotus, Dragon: The Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection at Asia Society"
October 17, 2021-January 16, 2022

The arrival of fall brings "Buddha, Shiva, Lotus, Dragon: The Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection at Asia Society" to Fort Worth. This exhibition will present nearly 70 of the finest examples of Asian art in the United States, the Kimbell says.

"This exhibition showcases the extraordinary range of bronzes, ceramics and metalwork that John D. Rockefeller 3rd (1906-1978) and his wife, Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller (1909-1992), thoughtfully assembled between the 1940s and the 1970s," the release says. "With highlights including spectacular Chinese vases, dynamic Indian Chola bronzes and exquisite Southeast Asian sculptures, the exhibition reveals great achievements in Asian art spanning more than two millennia. This selection of masterpieces drawn from Asia Society’s permanent collection is a visually stunning presentation that illuminates social and artistic histories from across Asia and underscores the visual arts’ capacity to encourage cross-cultural dialogue."

It will be a rare opportunity to see the collection outside of its home at Asia Society Museum in New York City. The exhibition will explore the themes of Buddhist sculpture, Hindu sculpture and ceramics and metalwork, but it will also examine the Rockefellers’ collecting and exhibition practices "in an age when political and economic circumstances informed the reception and availability of Asian artworks in the United States," the museum says.

The presentation, co-organized by the American Federation of Arts and Asia Society Museum, is on a national tour supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

All special exhibitions will be on view in the Renzo Piano Pavilion. Tickets are $18 for adults, $16 for seniors, students, K-12 teachers and active-duty military, $14 for children ages 6-11, and free for children under 6. Admission is half-price all day on Tuesdays and after 5 pm on Fridays. (Admission to the Kimbell’s collection is always free.)

Current hours are 10 am-5 pm Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday; 12-8 pm Friday; and 12-5 pm Sundays. Closed Mondays. For more information, visit the museum's website.

Statuette of Ahmose-Nefertari

Photo courtesy of Kimbell Art Museum

Statuette of Ahmose-Nefertari

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Ancient Sculpture News

Fort Worth museum one of only 3 in U.S. to get rare sculpture exhibit

Lorenzo di Masi/Torlonia Collection

The Torlonia Nile

A major exhibition of ancient Roman masterworks is coming to the U.S. for the first time to be viewed at only three museums — including the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth.

Called Myth and Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection, it's an assemblage of works stewarded by the Torlonia Family beginning in the early-19th century, and will be installed at the Kimbell from September 14, 2025 – January 25, 2026.

As part of the Foundation’s mission to showcase these historical works to the public, the exhibition will premiere at the Art Institute of Chicago on March 15 through June 29, before traveling to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. Its third stop will be at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, from March 14 - July 19, 2026.

The Torlonia Collection was established during the course of the 19th century by the Franco-Italian banker Prince Giovanni Torlonia and his son Alessandro, then handed down over generations, eventually growing into the largest private collection of ancient Roman sculptures.

Today, the Torlonia Foundation represents the culmination of the Family’s continued passion for art. Created at the behest of Prince Alessandro Torlonia (1925–2017), the Foundation’s mission is to preserve and promote the Torlonia Collection and Villa Albani Torlonia.

In 1876, Prince Alessandro Torlonia (1800-1886) created a museum to house and exhibit the Family’s holdings, which was open to small groups until its closure at the onset of World War II. The sculptures remained unseen by the public from that time until the Foundation’s first exhibition at the Musei Capitolini in Rome in 2020. That was followed by a stint at the Louvre, the first presentation of the collection outside of Rome, where it has drawn more than 600,000 visitors to date, an unprecedented feat.

The exhibit
The curators of Myth & Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection are Lisa Ayla Çakmak and Katharine A. Raff of the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition is co-organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Torlonia Foundation, in collaboration with the Kimbell Art Museum, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and The Museum Box. All of the sculptures in the exhibition have been restored by the Foundation with the support of Bvlgari.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue co-published by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Torlonia Foundation, edited by Lisa Ayla Çakmak and Katharine A. Raff, with essays by Silvia Beltrametti and Salvatore Settis.

The North American presentation will feature 58 highlights from the Torlonia Collection, including 24 newly restored works that have not been on view in nearly a century. The sculptures date from approximately the 5th century BCE to the early 4th century CE, with the majority of the works dating to the High Imperial period (1st–2nd centuries CE). Highlights include examples of the most emblematic genres of ancient marble sculpture, acquired by the Torlonia Family from the most prominent collections of Rome’s patrician families, as well as from excavations made on the Family’s own estates throughout Italy.

“The Foundation is excited to be sharing the Torlonia Collection with audiences in North America for the first time. This exceptional group of ancient sculptures is a testament to the enduring cultural legacy of ancient Rome, as well as the vision and passion of multiple generations of the Torlonia Family,” said Alessandro Poma Murialdo, President of the Torlonia Foundation.

The presentation is organized thematically in six sections, featuring sculptures found on the Torlonia Family’s properties in Rome and the surrounding suburbs and their estate in Porto, Portugal, as well as a number of exceptional sarcophagi (stone coffins), among the largest sculpted works in marble to survive from ancient Rome.

The tour reinforces the work of the Foundation to advance the appreciation and understanding of this unparalleled collection and the rich cultural heritage it represents. The Foundation’s mission is carried out through a continuous joint effort between the public and private sectors, including with the cooperation of the Italian Ministry of Culture. The Foundation is supported by a longstanding collaboration with Bvlgari as the principal sponsor of the restoration project since its inception in Rome and throughout the global tour, and Chiomenti, who has lent invaluable support to the Foundation’s core activities.

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