exelone31 wrote:I'm really stoked for my alma mater to get this collection and museum. I have no clue about what other universities have in terms of art collections (aside from the Meadows Museum at SMU), but I wonder how this stacks up? It'd be really cool to have a revered art destination up north, besides the Art Barn (RIP).
I really don't get it, it's a nice thing but completely irrelevant to the school. UTD isn't an institution that is known for the arts. To my knowledge they don't even have an Arts or a Music program.
They're known as engineering and business school. Building a museum doesn't do much to promote the universities mission, which is to be a leading research University in STEM.
This gift makes more sense in SMU (private college that already has a collection) or UNT (a renknown college for the performing arts).
I would have rather seen this gift be given to the DMA, for the simple reason that the Meadows museum is generally invisible to most people.
Its bad enough the collection is only limited to Swiss art (talk about a niche segment) now couple that with UTDs campus layout ,a maze of hidden buildings with a fortress like entry way, I can only imagine how much of a ghost town this museum will be.
To be honest this gift seems nothing more than a legacy type of deal. A rich person gives their art away and in return they get a fancy new building named after them.
But nice gesture nonetheless.