Dallas, Texas---Now open, the Nasher Sculpture Center is one of the few institutions in the world devoted to the exhibition, study, and preservation of modern sculpture. Envisioned as an urban oasis of art and nature, the Center consists of a 55,000-square-foot building designed by architect Renzo Piano and a two-acre sculpture garden created by landscape architect Peter Walker.

Conceived by collector and philanthropist Ray Nasher in consultation with museum professionals and scholars, the Nasher Sculpture Center includes a garden and building for the display of Mr. Nasher’s collection, considered one of the foremost collections of modern sculpture in the world. It also houses the Nasher Institute for Modern Sculpture, a new research and educational resource dedicated to the study of modern sculpture.

The Center occupies a full city block in the Dallas Arts District, adjacent to the Dallas Museum of Art. The main floor of the building is divided into five equal-sized, parallel pavilions, with side walls clad in travertine. The end walls are clear glass, thus visually extending the pavilions into the garden. The barrel vaulted roof of the Nasher building is made of clear glass overlaid with perforated metal panels that diffuse light and act as a weather shield.

The three center pavilions serves as galleries for the display of the collection’s smaller and environmentally-sensitive sculptures, as well as related paintings, prints and drawings drawn from the Nasher Collection. One of the remaining pavilions houses a café and multi-use room and the other pavilion the director’s office, boardroom, and bookshop.

The lower level contains the Nasher Institute for Modern Sculpture offices, a smaller gallery for light sensitive works, an education room, an auditorium, and service and storage space.

The sculpture garden features settings that frame the outdoor works and include stone walls and walkways, ponds, scattered groves of trees and small meadow areas. Approximately 20 larger scale sculptures from the Nasher Collection are on view in the garden at any one time. Installations for the garden and galleries are drawn from the Nasher Collection and will be rotated periodically.

Fifty years ago Raymond Nasher and his late wife Patsy began collecting art and together formed one of the finest collections of modern sculpture in the world. The Nasher Collection, comprised of more than 300 sculptures, is one of the foremost collections, private or public, of 20th century sculpture. The collection has been presented at major museums across the United States and around the world, including the Reina Sofia in Madrid, Spain, Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

“We are creating a place to learn about sculpture that will also be an oasis within the city,” Mr. Nasher said. “This project is infusing new life into the Dallas Arts District, continuing a downtown rejuvenation that was begun nearly 20 years ago.” The Nasher Sculpture Center is expected to attract national and international visitors, enhancing Dallas’s reputation as a cultural destination.

Raymond Nasher chose Renzo Piano to design the Sculpture Center in August of 1999 after a research and selection process that lasted over two years. Piano is known for designing the Georges Pompidou Centre in Paris (in collaboration with Richard Rogers) and has also designed several other renowned museum buildings, including the Menil Collection in Houston, the Cy Twombly Gallery in Houston and the Museum Beyeler in Basel, Switzerland. He is also the architect of the Kansai Air Terminal in Osaka, Japan and is the master architect for the mammoth Postsdamer Platz development in Berlin, as well as being the designer of 11 of the 17 main buildings in the project. The Italian architect was awarded the Pritzker Prize for Architecture in 1998.

In May of 2000, landscape architect Peter Walker was selected to design the sculpture garden in collaboration with Piano. Mr. Walker, principal of his firm Peter Walker and Partners of Berkeley, California, designed the landscapes at the Federal Triangle in Washington, D.C. (with I.M. Pei Architects); in Disney City in Orlando, Florida; at the Sony Center Berlin (with Murphy/Jahn Architects); and at the Toyota Municipal Museum of Art in Toyota City, Japan. He also designed the Tanner Fountain at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Library Walk at the University of California at San Diego. Mr. Walker has also been teaching for more than 40 years and has served as chairman of the Landscape Architecture Department at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and at the University of California at Berkeley.

The Nasher Foundation fully funded the construction of the $70 million project. The Nasher Sculpture Center is collaborating with the adjacent Dallas Museum of Art on exhibitions and other programs.

Raymond D. Nasher was one of the first real estate developers to place art in his commercial complexes. His first retail shopping center in Dallas, NorthPark Center, was designed with the space necessary to display large-scale sculpture. For this, NorthPark received the American Institute of Architects award for “Design of the Decade - 1960’s.”

Mr. Nasher has played a leading role in the development and growth of all major arts organizations in Dallas. He established the Dallas Business Committee for the Arts in 1988 and has served as a director of the Dallas Museum of Art, The Dallas Opera, The Dallas Symphony, the Dallas Theater Center, Ballet Dallas and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Mr. Nasher’s involvement in the arts extends beyond Dallas. Three presidents, George H.W. Bush in 1990, Bill Clinton in 1999, and George W. Bush in 2002 have appointed him to the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. He has also served on various committees and councils of numerous museums including the Guggenheim in New York and the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.

For more information contact:
Krista Farber, 214-891-8571, kfarber@nasher.org
David Resnicow, 212-671-5151, dresnicow@resnicowschroeder.com