The Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin is one of the foremost university art museums in the country, and has the largest and most comprehensive collection of art in Central Texas, ranging from Old Masters to modern and contemporary American and Latin American art. At the Blanton, we offer thought provoking, visually arresting, and personally moving encounters with art to visitors from across campus and the community. For this year’s 40 for Forty, we are excited to highlight two transformative projects: Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin and You Belong Here: Reimagining the Blanton.
Austin is a monumental work of art by renowned American artist Ellsworth Kelly that will be realized on the Blanton grounds in 2017. It is the first and only freestanding building designed by the artist and will be his most lasting legacy. This 2,715-square-foot stone building includes luminous colored glass windows, a totemic wood sculpture, and fourteen black-and-white stone panels in marble. Envisioned by Kelly as a site for joy and contemplation, Austin will become a cornerstone of campus and a welcoming place of reflection and calm for students to enjoy.
You Belong Here: Reimagining the Blanton will be a complete re-hanging of the museum’s upstairs permanent collection galleries, slated to open in February 2017. The Blanton will feature many works that have been recently acquired and several objects from the collection that have rarely (or never) been on view. Through the newly installed galleries, updated interpretative materials, and renovated gallery spaces, students will enjoy a brand new experience with the museum’s holdings that illuminates connections across cultures, genres, and periods, and that supports teaching across campus.
Both Austin and our reinstallation will further establish the Blanton as a dynamic site for learning and inspiration.
We are proud to be one of the gems on campus and introduce new visitors from around the world to the Forty Acres!
Image captions
Ellsworth Kelly, Austin, 2015 (exterior rendering)
Artist-designed building with installation of colored glass windows, marble panels, and redwood totem
60 ft. x 73 ft. x 26 ft. 4 in.
Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin
Gift of the artist, with funding generously provided by Jeanne and Michael Klein, Suzanne Deal Booth and David G. Booth, the Scurlock Foundation, the Longhorn Network, and other donors
© 2015 Ellsworth Kelly Foundation
Image courtesy the Blanton Museum of Art
Tavares Strachan
You Belong Here (Yellow), 2012
Blocked-out neon and glass, 24 × 61 in.
Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin
Gift of Jeanne and Michael Klein, 2015
