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During your Dallas vacation, don't miss these great establishments and attractions:
Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art
This exceptionally displayed collection is the product of one of Dallas's best-known real estate developer's fascination with the arts of Japan, China, and India. The 500 pieces on display (taken from a collection of more than 7,000 objects) range from 1000 B.C. to the 20th century. The first floor is dedicated to the arts of Japan; its galleries hold Japanese scrolls and screens, as well as ceramics and bronzes. The Chinese galleries focus mostly on painting, sculpture, and decorative arts from the last Chinese empire, the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Across a sky bridge is the third gallery, dedicated to Indian culture, with Hindu sculptures and features of Indian architecture, including a large residence facade in elaborately carved red limestone. There are also a number of sculptures from Cambodia -- a standout is the pre-Khmer 7th-century figure of Vishnu -- and Nepalese and Tibetan objets d'art. Allow an hour or two to see it all.Crow's non-Asian sculpture collection is on display at the Trammell Crow Center, located at 2001 Ross Ave. at Harwood. It includes 19th- and 20th-century French bronzes (by Rodin and Maillol) throughout the office building and in the garden.
Dallas Museum of Art
Though a substantial notch below a world-class institution, this I. M. Pei-designed museum contains impressive collections of international art, especially from the Americas, Africa, and Asia and the Pacific. The Arts of the Americas section is the largest and most impressive, with valuable contributions from pre-Columbian lost civilizations of the Aztec, Maya, and Nazca peoples and Spanish colonial arts. The more limited Art of Europe gallery exhibits a handful of works by the biggies -- van Gogh, Monet, Cézanne, Gauguin, and Degas -- while the small 20th-century collection includes Picasso, Mondrian, and Giacometti, among others. The contemporary collection includes works by Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, the Texan Robert Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns. In the Wendy & Emery Reves Collection is a curious re-creation of Coco Chanel's French summer home, complete with her collection of furnishings and paintings by French Impressionists like Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Degas. The DMA puts on interesting occasional shows, such as the recent, colorful "Day of the Dead" installation and the blockbuster "Splendors of China's Forbidden City" exhibit. In the atrium, where jazz combos play for free on Thursday evenings, hangs a gorgeous, monumental blown-glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly. A couple of hours should be sufficient, unless you're a dedicated art hound.
Nasher Sculpture Center
Despite its status as the principal art museum in a city of considerable wealth, the rather modest permanent collection of the Dallas Museum of Art is proof that either north Texans don't collect much great art or they don't donate it on a grand scale to local institutions. One notable exception to that rule is Raymond Nasher, one of the world's foremost collectors of contemporary sculpture. A local businessman, by way of New York, who made his banking and real estate fortune in Dallas (with the shopping mall NorthPark Center, among other properties), Nasher decided, after years of being wooed by the Dallas Museum of Art as well as major institutions like the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., to establish a public sculpture garden in his adopted city. The $50-million project was entirely funded by the private Nasher Foundation.The Nasher Sculpture Center opened in 2003 on a 2 1/2-acre site adjacent to the Dallas Museum of Art, in a glass-and-marble structure infused with natural light, designed by the renowned architect Renzo Piano. The center should change the way art aficionados think about Dallas and make it an art destination. The collection, which includes high-quality pieces by virtually all of the great modern masters and was amassed over 4 decades by Ray and his wife Patsy, is considered by some art experts to be the finest private sculpture collection in the world. The tasteful 54,000-square-foot center, a place of quiet refuge in downtown Dallas, features an outdoor sculpture garden landscaped by Peter Walker, with pieces from Nasher's immense collection exhibited both indoors and out. The collection includes some of the finest individual works from the likes of Pablo Picasso, Auguste Rodin, Joan Miró, David Smith, Constantin Brancusi, Henry Moore, Alberto Giacometti, Henri Matisse, Alexander Calder, Isamu Noguchi, Richard Serra, Mark di Suvero, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Joseph Beuys, Roy Lichtenstein, and many others. Among the monumental pieces in the open-air museum there are too many highlights to mention, though James Turrell's "skyspace" Tending (Blue), perhaps deserves special recognition as a site-specific piece commissioned for the museum. At the back of the garden, near the bathrooms, it is a walk-in box open to the sky, with optical effects and an unexpected perspective. Although the Nasher Sculpture Center -- which has some of the biggest names in art and architecture attached to it -- opened with big publicity and truly ought to be one of Dallas's most highly prized treasures, it is sadly and inexplicably having some difficulty attracting visitors, especially locals. If you're at all a fan of modern art, don't miss the opportunity to see this spectacular collection.
Bradford at Lincoln Park
Upscale Boutique Hotel located in the park cities/north park area. Featuring daily expanded continental breakfast. The Bradford at Lincoln Park offers the flexibility and essential services of a typical hotel, but with the space, comfort and conveniences of a completely furnished apartment.The Bradford's spacious architectural design and stylish interior give the property a sophisticated residential appearance and appeal. Each suite features separate living, dining, bedroom, bath and fully ...
Renaissance Dallas Hotel
Indulge in a Dallas luxury hotel that combines landmark style with rich sophistication. The exquisite Renaissance Dallas Hotel is located in the heart of Market Center near downtown Dallas and the city's top attractions. The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School is one mile north of the hotel. This modern thirty story pink granite tower houses over five hundred guest rooms and suites and features the world's largest free standing chandelier cascading three stories in the lobby. Enjoy ...
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