Fort Worth is one of the most admired cities for its cultural achievements. The Cultural District encompasses six museums: Kimbell Art Museum, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, Cattle Raisers Museum, and Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. While what lies inside these structures shines, the architecture is often just as magical.
Designed by the architect Tadao Ando to house mid-20th-century to contemporary art, the 53,000-square-foot Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth celebrates masters such as Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol. It’s known internationally as the second largest contemporary art museum, second to New York’s MoMA. Its architectural design embodies the pure, unadorned elements of a modern work of art, with massive planar walls of concrete and immense cantilevered cast-concrete roofs.
Designed by renowned architect Louis I. Kahn, the Kimbell Art Museum is known for its architectural significance, as well as for its impressive collection. In 2013, the Kimbell debuted a $125 million new building by Renzo Piano. Opened in 1961, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art is known for its collection of Western art, particularly of paintings and sculpture by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, and also for one of the largest and most significant American photography collections. In 2001, the museum added almost 20,000 square feet of new gallery space, enabling four times more art to be on view. For more paintings by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, as well as some additional late-19th-century works about the American West, the Sid Richardson Museum sits in historic Sundance Square and exhibits the late oil patriarch’s personal collection of artwork.
Right outside the Cultural District sits the 166,000-square-foot Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. Designed by architects Legorreta + Legorreta with Gideon Toal, it houses the Noble Planetarium and the Omni Theater, as well as interactive science exhibitions. Open since 1975, the 33,000-square-foot National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, designed by David Schwarz, honors women of the American West who have displayed a pioneering spirit and courage. Expect exhibits, a research library, a rare photography collection, and a hall of fame featuring women from Patsy Cline to Sacagawea.
Fort Worth Area Galleries:
Artisans’ Haven at Vagabond Treasures
4236 W. Vickery Boulevard
(817) 377-0909
artisanhaven.com
Fort Worth Art Dealers Association
916 Norwood Street
(817) 735- 0301
fwada.com
Thomas Kinkade Gallery
302 Main Street
(817) 335-1140
William Campbell Contemporary Art
4935 Byers Avenue
(817) 737- 9566
williamcampbellcontemporaryart.com