History of the DMA

In 1903, the Museum originated in the Dallas Public Library with the acquisition of its first four pieces. It officially signed ownership of the art to the city in March of 1909 when the new gallery opened in Fair Park. In 1984, the Museum opened its current downtown location and was renamed the Dallas Museum of Art.

The Dallas Art Association was organized in 1903 as an outgrowth of the Art Committee of the Dallas Public Library. At the suggestion of Frank Reaugh, the well-known Texas artist, an art gallery was provided for in the building.

The members began raising funds to purchase new artwork. In the autumn of 1902, they gave an exhibition in the art gallery that was said to be the best collection that had ever been brought to Texas.

From this collection, two pictures were purchased by the Art Committee. Frank Reaugh also presented to the gallery one of his best paintings, The Road to the Brazos.

Foreseeing the future possibilities for art in Dallas, the Dallas Art Association was formed in 1903.

Mrs. W. H. Abrams
Mrs. J. S. Armstrong
Mrs. A. H. Belo
Mrs. Wm. Charlton
Mrs. S. P. Cochran
Mrs. Geo. B. Dealey
Mrs. Chas. L. Dexter
Mrs. J. W. Everman
Mrs. Henry Exall
Mrs. E. J. Kiest
Mrs. George Noble
Mrs. A. V. Lane
Mrs. Geo. K. Meyer
Mrs. Geo. H. Plowman
Mrs. J. E. Schneider
Mrs. Sidney Smith
Mrs. A. P. Tenison
Miss Ruth DeCapre
Mr. Frank Reaugh
Mr. E. G. Eisenlohr
Mr. Clifton Church

Soon after the organization of the Association, Mrs. Henry Exall presented a check for $1,000 from Mrs. A. H. Belo. Closely following this gift came Mr. Armstrong's check for $500. These gifts enabled the young Association to purchase additional pictures.

The Association was supported by voluntary membership fees of $5 per year and gave to its members an annual exhibition of pictures and a lecture by someone recognized as an authority on art.

Until February 1909, the pictures were hung in the gallery at the Dallas Public Library, which was open to the public every Saturday afternoon from November to May.

With the completion of the beautiful building at the fairgrounds, negotiations were opened with the city to transfer the artwork from the library to the new building. A contract transferring ownership of the art to the city was signed in March 1909, and the gallery was formally opened and presented to the city of Dallas in April 1909.

• 1903 The Dallas Art Association (DAA) was established to support the visual arts in Dallas, with the goal of creating a permanent art organization.
• 1903–1909 Exhibitions were held at the Dallas Public Library. In 1904, the DAA hosted its first annual exhibition.
• 1909 The DAA donated its permanent collection to the City of Dallas and moved into a new arts building, the Free Public Art Gallery of Dallas.
• 1915 The DAA held its first large exhibition downtown at the Adolphus Hotel.
• 1916 The first catalog of the permanent collection was published.

• 1925 The Munger Fund was established by Mrs. S. I. Munger with a $50,000 endowment for art acquisitions.
• 1926 A hailstorm broke the glass roof of the Fair Park Free Public Art Gallery of Dallas, but only one painting suffered minor damage.
• 1927 A city bond issue passed, providing $500,000 in city bonds for building and equipping a new Museum facility.
• 1928 The DAA started annual exhibitions of work by area artists with the First Annual Allied Arts Exhibition of Dallas.
• 1929 The DAA moved its art collection to the Majestic Theatre to better protect it. The first professional director, John S. Ankeney, was hired for the DAA. Ankeney increased the importance of exhibits and the Museum began offering weekly lectures, started a program of children’s classes, and sent members a monthly newsletter, Art Notes. Museum membership reached 650.
• 1930 Museum membership was approximately 700.
• 1933 The name of the Museum was changed from the Free Public Art Gallery of Dallas to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (DMFA).
• 1934–1935 The Depression caused the city to cut the Museum's budget to $5,500 per year. City bonds worth $500,000 were sold to build a new facility in Fair Park.

• 1936 The Texas Centennial was celebrated, prompting renovations and additions at Fair Park. The new Museum building opened in Fair Park and the Centennial Exposition Art Exhibition drew more than 154,000 visitors.
• 1938 The Museum League was established to provide entertainment, print programs, catalog books in the library, keep a clipping bureau, conduct radio programs, cataloging private art collections in Dallas, and more.
• 1939 The DAA hosted its first exhibition devoted exclusively to African-American artists. An education department was started, and Mrs. Maggie Joe Hogue began offering appreciation tours for children of members of the Dallas Art Association.
• 1940 Museum membership was approximately 950. The Junior League provided volunteers for the Education Department to help with Saturday classes. The Museum League held its first annual Hobby Show.
• 1941 The Museum School of Art was created and began offering classes to children and adults. Adult classes were added to the children's programs. The First Annual Texas Print Exhibition was held.
• 1942 Members of the Museum League served as hostesses, sold defense stamps, held gallery tours, and sponsored free music programs on Sundays at the Museum.

• 1943 Jerry Bywaters was hired as director of the DMFA and helped the Museum focus primarily on exhibiting regional art. Museum attendance topped 100,000.
• 1944 The Museum Library opened to the public with approximately 1,200 art books, 400 prints, color reproductions, art annuals, and current periodicals.
• 1948 New membership categories were created based on the amount contributed annually to the Museum. The First Southwestern Exhibition of Prints and Drawings was held. Additional staff were added and annual attendance reached almost 200,000.
• 1949 The Crafts Guild of Dallas co-sponsored with the DMFA the First Annual Texas Crafts Exhibition.

• 1950 The DMFA initiated a weekly television program on WFAA called Is This Art? Exhibitions averaged 40 per year.
• 1951 The Art Rental Program began which supported local artists and allowed patrons to rent works while considering a purchase.
• 1955 The Public Affairs Luncheon Club accused the Museum of exhibiting the work of artists with Communist affiliations. The Board of Trustees issued a statement that they would "exhibit and acquire works of art only on the basis of their merit as works of art."
• 1956 The Society for the Contemporary Arts, which later became the Dallas Museum for Contemporary Arts, was founded. The DMFA signed a new contract with the city that formalized operating procedures.
• 1960 The McDermott Fund was established by Eugene and Margaret McDermott, supplementing the Munger Fund in significant acquisition endowments.
• 1962 The Arts of Man, an exhibition acclaimed by critics as the most significant accomplishment in the Museum's 60-year history, attracted record attendance. Andrew Wyeth's That Gentleman was purchased by the Museum after a communitywide  fundraising effort.

• 1972 Eugene and Margaret McDermott and Algur and Elizabeth Meadows were named the first Lifetime Trustees.
• 1974 Harry Parker III was named the new director of the DMFA and was very effective at fundraising and increasing membership for the Museum. Parker also spearheaded the construction of the current Museum building downtown.
• 1975 Mrs. John B. O'Hara bequeathed $4.5 million to the Foundation for the Arts.
• 1977 James and Lillian Clark gave Brancusi's Beginning of the World to the Museum.
• 1979 A city bond election was passed and Dallas voters pledged $24.8 million toward the construction of a new Museum building downtown. The exhibition Pompeii A.D. 79 was hosted by the DMFA, breaking attendance records at the Museum and increasing membership by 400%.
• 1980 A program of annual awards to young artists in Texas and the Southwest was made possible by the DeGolyer and Kimbrough funds. A groundbreaking ceremony for the New Museum Building was held on November 15, 1980.

• 1981 Richard Shaffer's art was featured in the DMFA's first Concentrations show.
• 1982–1983 Thirty-eight impressionist, post-impressionist, and contemporary American paintings and sculptures were donated to the Museum from the collection of Algur H. Meadows and his wife, Elizabeth. Museum staff moved into the new downtown building, and the Sculpture Garden was opened to the public.
• 1984 The name was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) and the building was officially opened to the public. 

• 1985 The new decorative arts wing, built to house 1,400 objects from the Wendy and Emery Reves Collection, opened.
• 1986 The decorative arts collection was augmented by the donation of the Faith P. and Charles L. Bybee Collection of American Furniture. The DMA organized the exhibit Lone Star Regionalism. Allen Ginsberg conducted a poetry reading at the Museum.
• 1987 The Hoblitzelle Foundation donated 550 pieces of British silver to the Museum, along with a collection of old master paintings.
• 1989 Nancy Hamon donated $20 million for the construction of a new Museum wing.
• 1991 Construction began on the addition of the Nancy and Jake L. Hamon Building.
• 1993 The Nancy and Jake L. Hamon Building, an addition of 140,000 square feet, opened to the public.
• 1995 The Museum League published The Artful Table cookbook.
• 1996 The third floor of the DMA, featuring the arts of Africa, Asia, and the Pacific, was completely refurbished and opened in 1996. Attendance for adult programs increased 20% over the previous year. Museum membership grew to 19,537 members.
• 1999 John R. (Jack) Lane became the director of the DMA. The DMA received an $11 million benefaction from an anonymous donor, the largest single gift in its history specifically for the advancement of programs.

• 2000 Construction began on the Nasher Sculpture Center.
• 2001 The DMA began charging admission on October 2, 2001.
• 2003 The DMA marked its 100th birthday and celebrated by remaining open for 100 continuous hours with 45,000 visitors in attendance. The Nasher Sculpture Center opened.

• 2004 The DMA commemorated the 20th anniversary of moving to the Arts District. The contemporary gallery reopened after renovations. 
• 2005 Unprecedented bequests of private collections were announced. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held for the new AT&T Performing Arts Center.
• 2006 The Museum named Harry S. Parker III Director Emeritus on January 23. Bonnie Pitman was named to the American Association of Museums Centennial Honor Roll on May 8.
• 2007 The DMA celebrated the 20th anniversary of The Hoblitzelle Foundation gift. The DMA announced its highest attendance for a fiscal year with 641,000 visitors.
• 2008 Bonnie Pitman became The Eugene McDermott Director. The Center for Creative Connections opened. The Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts reopened after a major renovation and expansion.

• 2009 Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs completed its run at the DMA as the most popular exhibition in the DMA’s history. The Museum welcomed more than 1 million visitors for the first time.
• 2010 A Framework for Engaging with Art, a groundbreaking seven-year study providing an unprecedented understanding of the preferences and behaviors of Museum visitors, was completed.
• 2012 The Laboratory for Museum Innovation was established to test and develop digital projects, pioneering new ways of engaging Museum audiences, and enriching visitor experience at the DMA and within the broader community.

• 2013 The Museum returns to free general admission. The Marguerite and Robert Hoffman Fund for European Art Before 1700 was established with a $17 million gift from Marguerite Steed Hoffman.
• 2014 The Museum received a $9 million grant from the O’Donnell Foundation and Edith O’Donnell to support the return to free general admission and free online access to the DMA’s collection.

• 2015 The reconfigured and redesigned Arts of Africa Gallery opened, exhibiting more than 170 works from the Museum’s much-admired African art collection. The first presentation of the Keir Collection of Islamic Art goes on view, recognized by scholars as one of the most geographically and historically comprehensive of its kind, transforming the Museum’s Islamic Art holdings into the third largest in North America.
• 2016 The Museum’s renovated north entrance provides new access to the DMA’s main entrance, an outdoor lawn and dining experience, and interior renovations to the atrium.
• 2018-2019 Three new curatorial positions are established through visionary gifts to the Museum, furthering the DMA’s commitment to diversity and inclusion in art: Islamic and Medieval Art, Latin American Art, and Works on Paper.           

• 2019 The DMA became an Open Access institution, allowing anyone with an internet connection access to images of over 10,000 objects from our collection.
• 2020 The DMA launches the first virtual galleries and tours, debuting Flores Mexicanas: Women in Modern Mexican Art and Speechless: different by design. The Inge-Lise Eckmann Lane Paintings Conservation Center serves as the Museum’s base for the study and treatment of works of art, as well as research into cutting-edge conservation methodologies.