-- $800,000 of Support Pledged for DMA’s Inaugural Years of
Exhibitions and Installations of This Rarely Shown Collection --
-- Spirit and Matter: Masterpieces from the Keir Collection
of Islamic Art Premieres September 18 --
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep. 9, 2015--
The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) today announced that Kosmos Energy has
been named the Presenting Sponsor of the Keir Collection of Islamic Art
for its inaugural years of exhibitions and installations. The
partnership between the Museum and the Dallas-based international oil
and gas exploration and production company will provide $800,000 of
support for the Museum’s forthcoming series of special exhibitions,
installations in its collection galleries, and a prospective touring
exhibition over an initial multi-year period. The sponsorship also
includes resources to facilitate loans of items from the Keir Collection
to other domestic and international institutions for related exhibitions
and installations.
Kosmos Energy chose the DMA for its first cultural sponsorship due to a
shared vision of building cross-cultural understanding. The partnership
is an extension of the corporation’s ongoing efforts to engage with the
communities in which it operates, and foster appreciation for the art
and culture of these communities.
Assembled over the course of five decades by the noted art collector
Edmund de Unger (1918–2011), the Keir Collection is recognized by
scholars as one of the world’s most geographically and historically
comprehensive, encompassing almost 2,000 works in a range of media that
span 13 centuries of Islamic art making. In February 2014, the DMA
announced that this rarely exhibited collection will debut at the DMA on
a 15-year loan, advancing the Museum’s growing focus on new models for
collection-building and cultural exchange and transforming its Islamic
art collection into the third largest of its kind in North America.
Opening on September 18, the exhibition Spirit and Matter:
Masterpieces from the Keir Collection of Islamic Art will showcase
more than 50 masterworks from the Keir Collection, marking the first
time that any of the featured works have been exhibited in North
America. The first treasure from the collection, the carved rock crystal
ewer from late 10th- to 11th-century Fatimid Egypt (969–1171), is
currently on view in a special installation on the Museum’s third level
and will be reinstalled as part of Spirit and Matter.
“Through this partnership, we look forward to sharing with millions of
visitors the peerless creativity of artists working in the Islamic world
from the 9th to the 19th centuries. No less important to the DMA is the
ground-breaking research that will elucidate the importance of hundreds
of masterworks in the Keir Collection, and we are very pleased to have
the support of Kosmos Energy in making this possible,” said Maxwell L.
Anderson, the DMA’s Eugene McDermott Director.
“The preservation of historic artifacts is integral to helping
communities understand and appreciate all cultures. Kosmos supports the
DMA’s commitment to protecting and celebrating these great artistic
treasures of the past and is proud to be a part of their efforts,” said
Andrew G. Inglis, Kosmos Energy’s Chief Executive Officer.
As Presenting Sponsor, Kosmos Energy will support all displays of the Keir
Collection of Islamic Art, which will be curated by Dr. Sabiha Al
Khemir, the DMA’s Senior Advisor for Islamic Art. Spirit and Matter
will remain on view through July 2016. In 2016, additional works of art
from the collection will be installed in the DMA’s collection galleries
in a series of rotating installations planned to be on view until 2029.
An international traveling exhibition commemorating Edmund de Unger’s
100th birthday will premiere at the DMA in the fall of 2018 and is
expected to be available to tour to various U.S. and international
venues beginning in summer 2019.
Named after the 18th-century British mansion where it was once housed,
the Keir Collection includes textiles, carpets, ceramics, rock crystal,
metalwork, and works on paper. Its geographic range extends from the
western Mediterranean to South Asia. It is considered an indispensable
resource for scholarship in the field of Islamic art. On long-term loan
to the DMA, the Keir Collection supports the Museum’s emphasis on
cultural exchange and is part of the DMX program, which is designed to
foster international communication and collaboration.
About Kosmos Energy
Kosmos Energy is a leading independent oil and gas exploration and
production company focused on frontier and emerging areas along the
Atlantic Margin. Their assets include existing production and other
major development projects offshore Ghana, as well as exploration
licenses with significant hydrocarbon potential offshore Ireland,
Mauritania, Morocco, Portugal, Senegal, Suriname, and Western Sahara. As
an ethical and transparent company, Kosmos is committed to doing things
the right way. The company’s Business
Principles articulate our commitment to transparency, ethics, human
rights, safety, and the environment. Read more about this commitment in
the Kosmos 2014
Corporate Responsibility Report. Kosmos is listed on the New York
Stock Exchange and is traded under the ticker symbol KOS. For additional
information, visit kosmosenergy.com.
About the Dallas Museum of Art
Established in 1903, the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is among the 10
largest art museums in the country and is distinguished by its
commitment to research, innovation, and public engagement. At the heart
of the Museum and its programs is its global collection, which
encompasses more than 23,000 works and spans 5,000 years of history,
representing a full range of world cultures. Located in the nation’s
largest arts district, the Museum acts as a catalyst for community
creativity, engaging people of all ages and backgrounds with a diverse
spectrum of programming, from exhibitions and lectures to concerts,
literary events, and dramatic and dance presentations. Since the
Museum’s return to free general admission in 2013, the DMA has welcomed
more than two million visitors, and enrolled more than 100,000 people in
DMA Friends, a free program available to anyone who wishes to join
focused on active engagement with the Museum. For more information,
visit DMA.org.
The Dallas Museum of Art is supported, in part, by the generosity of DMA
Members and donors, the citizens of Dallas through the City of Dallas
Office of Cultural Affairs, and the Texas Commission on the Arts.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150909005560/en/
Source: Kosmos Energy & The Dallas Museum of Art
The Dallas Museum of Art
Jill Bernstein, 214-922-1802
JBernstein@DMA.org
or
Kosmos
Energy
Thomas Golembeski, 214-445-9674
tgolembeski@kosmosenergy.com
