A current view of the museum’s south portico.
A current view of the museum’s south portico. Photography by Iwan Baan.

The Kimbell Art Museum Celebrates Its Golden Anniversary With Rare Works by Louis I. Kahn

It was 1966 when Kimbell Art Foundation director Richard F. Brown began interviewing architects to construct a museum in Fort Worth, Texas, to house the collection of Kay and Velma Kimbell. On the roster were Marcel Breuer, Gordon Bunshaft, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. But the commission ultimately went to Louis I. Kahn, whose work emphasized natural light, a vital component to Brown’s vision for the institution. Kahn responded with a distinct form composed of cycloid concrete barrel vaults rimmed with narrow plexiglass skylights.

Completed in 1972, just two years before Kahn’s untimely death, today the Kimbell Art Museum is widely recognized as one of the most significant works of modern architecture. To celebrate its golden anniversary, the Kimbell has acquired three of Kahn’s rare pastels from 1951, while he was visiting the Temple of Apollo in Greece, an experience that allowed him to break through the International Style and infuse antiquity into his architecture, which manifested in his design of the Texas museum. They’re on view in “The Kimbell at 50,” the year-long exhibition highlighting its outstanding acquisitions and exhibitions across the decades.

An archival image of architect Louis I. Kahn
An archival image of architect Louis I. Kahn standing against a travertine auditorium wall in the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, before turning it over to its owner, the Kimbell Art Foundation, on August 3, 1972 is part of an exhibit celebrating the institution’s 50th anniversary. Image courtesy of Bob Wharton/© Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth.
Louis Kahn's Temple of Apollo, Corinth, at Midafternoon, a 1951 pastel and charcoal on paper recently acquired by the Kimbell.
Kahn’s Temple of Apollo, Corinth, at Midafternoon, a 1951 pastel and charcoal on paper recently acquired by the Kimbell.
Temple of Apollo, Corinth, at Midday, a 1951 pastel and charcoal on paper recently acquired by the Kimbell.
Temple of Apollo, Corinth, at Midday, a 1951 pastel and charcoal on paper recently acquired by the Kimbell. Image courtesy of Kimbell Art Museum, AP2021.02.
A current view of the Kimball Art Museum's south portico.
A current view of the museum’s south portico. Photography by Iwan Baan.

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