Texas Vision: The Barrett Collection: The Art of Texas and Switzerland

by Edmund P. Pillsbury (Editor), Richard R. Brettell (Editor)

This catalogue is occasioned by the first exhibition of the ground-breaking art collection of Nona and Richard Barrett of Dallas, on display November 21, 2004 – January 30, 2005 at the Meadows Museum. The Barretts’ collection is one of the best in the Southwest, featuring Texas art and that of Switzerland. The volume contains 95 color plates of works in their collection and another 23 black and white photographs of other works referenced in the essays.

Richard R. Brettell’s brilliant essay, “Provincial Cosmopolitanism” (describing Swiss art and its analogues in Texas art), and Michael Ennis's "Texas Visions: Through the Looking Glass of History" (describing the history of an indigenous Texas art) anchor the volume, which also contains an appreciation of the Barretts as his patrons by Texas artist Bill Komodore, a member of the SMU Meadows art faculty, and an essay by Kate Sheerin, associate curator of the exhibition, who grapples with a definition of Texas art.

In addition, the volume contains brief biographies of 126 Texas artists and 7 Swiss and European artists.

200 pages, Hardcover

First published December 6, 2004