Kimbell Art Museum history

The community began to expand in 1856 when, by popular vote, it displaced neighbouring Birdville (now a part of suburban Haltom City) as the county seat.

The actual transfer of county offices to Fort Worth took place in 1860.

He married Velma Fuller, who kindled his interest in art collecting by taking him to an art show in Fort Worth in 1931, where he bought a British painting.

In 1936 Kimbell established the Kimbell Art Foundation and began collecting paintings with his wife, Velma, his sister, Mattie Carter, and her husband, Coleman Carter.

Ben J. Fortson, beloved niece of Kay Kimbell, was appointed President of the Foundation’s Board of Directors—a leadership role many assumed she would one day have when she was elected to the Foundation Board at the age of twenty-one in 1956.

Kimbell died in April 1964, the collection had grown to 260 paintings and 86 other works of art, including such singular paintings as Hals’s Rommel-Pot Player, Gainsborough’s Portrait of a Woman, Vigée Le Brun’s Self-Portrait, and Leighton’s Portrait of May Sartoris.

With the appointment in 1965 of Richard F. Brown, then director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, as the Museum’s first director, the Foundation began planning for the future museum and development of the collection, both of which would fulfill the aspirations of Mr.

Benjamin L. Bird—adopted a policy statement for the future museum in June 1966, outlining its purpose, scope, and program, among other things.

The Fort Worth Convention Center (1968), spanning 14 downtown city blocks, is a major landmark.

Show image related to Kimbell Art Foundation Board President A.L. Scott and Kay Fortson review a museum model in 1969.

Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport (1974) is one of the world’s busiest.

After Richard Fargo Brown's death in 1979, Edmund "Ted" Pillsbury was appointed director of the museum.

The Foundation acquired the latter at auction in 1980, after Ric Brown’s unexpected death in the previous year, and designated the painting as a memorial to Brown in recognition of his outstanding service to the Foundation and the community.

Alliance Airport (1988) was constructed specifically for industrial use.

In 1989, Pillsbury announced plans to expand the museum's building to accommodate its enlarged collection, but the plan was dropped because of strong opposition to any major alteration of the original Louis Kahn structure.

The former Carswell Air Force Base was re-established in 1994 as Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth.

The Texas Motor Speedway (1997), to the north of the city, is one of the nation’s largest sports facilities.

Designed by Renzo Piano, and relocated to the west lawn, the new structure opened to the public in November 2013.

Fortson served in that position until 2017, when her daughter, Mrs.

Pre-sale, estimated delivery October 10, 2019