Glimpse of Fort Worth Museum District – Part 2

We started on the South Side of Camp Bowie Boulevard the other day,  so now we’ve crossed the street and are approaching the Kimbell Art Museum.  Perhaps an entire post will be devoted to the actual structure that holds most of the Museum’s treasures, but on this day, I’m taking you around the building.

As we approach from the southwest, the first notable item we meet is:

Figure in a Shelter, Henry Moore, bronze 1983.

This is standing alone in the lawn.  I think a lot of visitors miss it.  The Kimbell doesn’t have a large sculpture garden like many fine art museums, but rather has a few eye-popping pieces scattered around the building.  It makes me think of children’s playthings left when they were called in for the night.

Just north of the Moore is this piece:

Running Flower (La Fleur Qui Marche), Fernande Leger, ceramic 1952.

We’re on a schedule, so let’s get on to our next stop.  Since they’re getting ready for the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo across the street, let’s cut through this little space to the south of the Museum.  The limestone steps are crumbling and the water “trough” is clogged with leaves, but let’s continue up toward the building and look back.

In all of the years I have been coming to the Kimbell, I have never come down here.  Perhaps because it’s probably really hot here in the summer.  But it took me a while to find the marker in the grass that told me this collection of basalt monoliths is by Isamu Noguchi, who titled them Constellation (for Louis Kahn).

The tower in the background of the photo is known as The Pioneer Tower (208 feet tall) and part of the Will Rogers Memorial Center complex.  If you look closely, you can see the Moore sculpture at the top of the wall on the right.  Behind us is the south wall of the Museum.  We’re going to keep headed east and get reading to cross the street again. But before that, let’s turn around and see what greets guests at the main entrance to the Kimbell Art Museum.

Woman Addressing the Public: Project for a Monument, Joan Miro, bronze 1981.

I adore this sculpture.  It seems that she has literally opened her heart to the people coming to the Museum.  She is changeable — walk around her and watch the shadows — come in the morning and see one “mood” and then in the evening another.

As I said earlier, the Kimbell is not known for its outdoor sculpture, but just these four installations are enough to draw you inside.  Another day.