Issue 10 · Summer 2024

The Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenaeum

From Texas to the World

Common Ground at UT Dallas and the Dallas Museum of Art

Michael Thomas 

In April 2023, The University of Texas at Dallas and the Dallas Museum of Art announced a landmark multi-year partnership to celebrate the opening of the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenaeum. Phase 1 of the O’Donnell Athenaeum, designed by Morphosis Architects, includes not only the Crow Museum of Asian Art as its resident museum, but also two galleries that will display significant works of art on long-term loan from the Dallas Museum of Art, in exhibitions curated by UT Dallas faculty members and guest curators.

The inaugural exhibition in this series is From Texas to the World: Common Ground at UT Dallas and the Dallas Museum of Art, curated by Dr. Michael Thomas, who is Director of the Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History, Richard R. Brettell Distinguished University Chair and Professor of Arts, Humanities, and Technology. From Texas to the World focuses on artworks which came to the DMA’s collection through the generosity and vision of Eugene and Margaret McDermott, Cecil and Ida Green, Erik Jonsson, Rick Brettell, and Bonnie Pitman, all of whom also have also contributed to UTD as founders and members of the academic community.

Athenaeum Review interviewed Dr. Thomas about From Texas to the World. This is an edited excerpt of the conversation; the full interview can be heard on the Athenaeum Review podcast.

To read the conversation, please download the PDF at the link below.

This article appears in Athenaeum Review Issue 10 (Summer 2024), pp. 34-41. Download a PDF copy.
Filed under Art History