A special presentation in the Lamont Quadrant Gallery, Walter De Maria: Counterpoint is the first presentation in three decades of Walter De Maria’s 1986 work Large Rod Series: Circle/Rectangle, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13. The DMA jointly acquired the work in early 2016 with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, marking the first such collaboration between the two museums. Presented alongside Circle/Rectangle, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 is a masterwork by Doménikos Theotokópoulos, most widely known as El Greco, titled St. Francis Kneeling in Meditation, generously on loan from the Meadows Museum, Dallas. Both De Maria and El Greco share an acute attention to the principles of geometry that inform the basic human understanding of nature. Completing the installation is a programmed recording of Cricket Music, from 1964, one of De Maria’s rare musical compositions.
Walter De Maria, Large Rod Series: Circle/Rectangle 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 1986, stainless steel, Dallas Museum of Art through the TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art Fund and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (Phyllis C. Wattis Fund for Major Acquisitions),© 2016 Estate of Walter De Maria; El Greco, Saint Francis Kneeling in Meditation, 1605-1610. oil on canvas, Museum Purchase, Meadows Museum Acquisition Fund with private donations and University funds, MM.99.01, Photography by Michael Bodycomb.