In conjunction with the creation of the new role, Dr. Agustín Arteaga, The Eugene McDermott Director of the DMA, has appointed Julien Domercq, the DMA’s Lillian and James H. Clark Assistant Curator of European Art, to serve as the Museum’s Interim Curator of Works on Paper while an international search to fill the new position is conducted. Prior to joining the DMA, Domercq was co-curator of an acclaimed 2017 exhibition of Degas’ works on paper at London’s National Gallery that highlighted the importance of drawing for the Impressionists.
“The DMA’s holdings of over 5,600 works on paper are currently featured throughout our encyclopedic collection. While these works have always been integral to enriching the study of art across the Museum, they have yet to receive the benefit of ongoing, dedicated study or exhibition,” said Dr. Arteaga. “We are tremendously grateful to the William B. Jordan and Robert Dean Brownlee Estate and Allen and Kelli Questrom for their vision and generosity in enabling the DMA to expand our exhibitions, programming, and scholarship in works on paper, an aspect of the Museum’s collection that is incredibly rich and wide-ranging. With these remarkable gifts and the creation of this new department, we continue to expand on the DMA’s commitment to building exhibitions and programs around the strength of our encyclopedic collection, and to using that collection as an anchor for sharing and exploring the stories and cross-influences of cultures around the world.”
Dr. Jordan and Mr. Brownlee have provided major philanthropic support to the arts in Dallas and nationally, particularly to art museums. An important cultural leader in Dallas and renowned historian of Spanish art, Dr. Jordan served as the adjunct curator of European art at the DMA from 1977–1982. His impeccable curatorial aptitude helped create several masterful exhibitions, the most recent of which was, along with its accompanying publication, Mind’s Eye: Masterworks on Paper from David to Cézanne, for which he served as co-curator in 2014. In 1967, at age 26, he became the first director of the Meadows Museum in Dallas, holding this esteemed position for 25 years prior to serving as Deputy Director at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth from 1981 to 1990. Jordan was a member of the DMA Board of Trustees for six years, a member of the Committee on Collections for five years, and served as Chairman of the Committee on Collections for three years.
The major gift from the Questroms builds on their history of exceptional leadership through support of the DMA’s missions and programs. In 2006, they provided a generous $2 million gift to create the Center for Creative Connections (C3) Endowment Fund and support the Museum’s pioneering education department, the epicenter of all educational activities at the Museum. This was followed by a significant gift to endow and create the position of The Kelli and Allen Questrom Director of the Center for Creative Connections. As longtime champions of the arts and education, the couple have also provided vital support to establish the DMA’s Gallery Guides and Visiting Artists project, as well as more than $500,000 to develop a comprehensive evaluation program for C3, which is critical to the department’s ongoing impact. The Questroms’s patronage of the DMA additionally encompasses ongoing, year-round participation in the President’s Council and the Contemporary Art Initiative. Other recipients of their significant philanthropic support and leadership include the Boston University Questrom School of Business, the Aspen Art Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among other nonprofit organizations nationwide.
Said Kelli Questrom, "Allen’s and my admiration for Bill Jordan and Robert Brownlee, compounded by our strong desire for the Dallas Museum of Art to have a Curator of Works on Paper, made us jump at the opportunity that Bill and Robert presented to fund such a momentous enhancement of the DMA’s encyclopedic art offerings, as well as of its educational programming."
