84R23660 JGH-D
By: Meyer H.R. No. 2452
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, The Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University
in Dallas is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its founding in
2015; and
WHEREAS, Inspired by visits to the famed Prado Museum in
Madrid during the 1950s, the Texas philanthropist and oil financier
Algur H. Meadows began to collect Spanish art, and in 1962, he
donated funds to endow a museum to house his collection on the SMU
campus as part of a new arts center; and
WHEREAS, The Meadows Museum opened its doors in 1965, and it
quickly won renown for having one of the largest and most
comprehensive collections of Spanish art outside of Spain; spanning
1,000 years, from the 10th century to the 21st, the collection
contains masterpieces by El Greco, Velazquez, Goya, Miro, and
Picasso, as well as Renaissance altar pieces and a selection of
twentieth-century sculptures by Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore, Claes
Oldenburg, and others; the plaza outside the museum is graced with
Santiago Calatrava's giant moving sculpture, Wave; the museum
offers visitors guided tours of its collection, as well as public
lectures, gallery talks, and symposia by leading scholars and
artists; and
WHEREAS, Through the years, the Meadows Foundation has
continued to provide generous support to the museum, contributing
$18.5 million for a new building that opened in 2001, as well as
funds for acquisitions, exhibitions, curatorial staff, and other
purposes; in March 2015, the foundation contributed $25 million to
the museum and $20 million to the Meadows School of the Arts, the
largest single gift in SMU's history; and
WHEREAS, This festive anniversary year is being marked at the
museum with a series of special exhibitions and events, including a
retrospective display of archival material, artworks, and
photographs documenting the museum's history, The Meadows
Collects: 50 Years of Spanish Art in Texas; and
WHEREAS, With the founding of the Meadows Museum, Algur
Meadows fulfilled his dream of creating a "small Prado for Texas,"
and in the half-century since, the museum has offered countless
Texans as well as visitors from around the world the opportunity to
view and enjoy some of the great masterworks of Spanish art; now,
therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 84th Texas
Legislature hereby commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Meadows
Museum in Dallas and extend to its staff and volunteers sincere best
wishes for continued success; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
prepared for the museum as an expression of high regard by the Texas
House of Representatives.