--Through Her Unparalleled History of Giving, She Was the DMA’s Single Largest Benefactor--
Dallas, TX – May 3, 2018 – Margaret McDermott was a visionary patron of the arts, education, and healthcare whose generosity of spirit has had an immeasurable impact on the cultural and social fabric of the Dallas community for more than six decades. She was the single largest benefactor in the Museum’s history through her legendary gifts of art and endowment support. Her philanthropic leadership and unflagging commitment to the arts transformed the Dallas Museum of Art from a regional museum into an institution of global stature. Mrs. McDermott’s goal was to build the Museum’s collection for future generations, and her unparalleled support of the DMA included the donation of over 3,100 works of art spanning different cultures, disciplines, and eras.
Mrs. McDermott’s legacy of generosity and grace, as well as her strength of conviction, will serve as an unprecedented model for public service and arts philanthropy for generations to come. The DMA will celebrate her life at a private memorial event. In the coming weeks, the Museum will open a public exhibition of masterworks of Impressionist and modern art from the private collection she built with her husband, Eugene. These works, which were generously bequeathed to the DMA by Mrs. McDermott, highlight her love and support for the arts and the Museum that she helped establish as a leader in the art field.
A trustee of the Museum for 57 years, Mrs. McDermott championed remarkable institutional change at the Museum, and was considered by many to be the Museum’s “guiding light.” In addition to her development of the Museum’s collection, through individual gifts and through the creation of the Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund in 1960 to support the Museum’s active and ongoing program of acquisitions, her support of the DMA encompassed major capital and endowment gifts, including the endowment of the directorship and eight named curatorial and staff positions, funding for educational programs, and support for Museum operations and exhibition development. In addition, Mrs. McDermott regularly made leadership gifts to the Museum’s capital campaigns, including the Campaign for a New Century, launched in conjunction with the DMA’s centennial in 2003–04; new curatorial and educational programs; and capital improvements. She also generously supported the Museum’s internship program, helping college and graduate students foster new careers in the arts.
Mrs. McDermott was married for 19 years to Eugene McDermott, a co-founder of Texas Instruments, a strong philanthropist of the arts and education, and a former Board member of the Museum, who passed away in 1973. The couple’s daughter, Mary McDermott Cook, serves on the DMA’s Board of Trustees and is President of the Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund.
Mrs. McDermott’s formal association with the Museum began in 1949, when she joined the public relations staff at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (DMFA), which, later, under her leadership as a trustee, would become the Dallas Museum of Art. As president of the DMFA during the 1960s, Mrs. McDermott championed the idea for and contributed support to the presentation of the ambitious and nationally acclaimed 1962 exhibition The Arts of Man. This expansive overview of 877 works from around the world laid the foundation for the institution’s cross-cultural presentations and programming. The following year, she led the Museum in the merger of the DMFA with the Dallas Museum for Contemporary Arts, marking the beginning of the Museum’s serious development of a contemporary art collection.
As a trustee, Mrs. McDermott worked with the DMA leadership to grow, shape, and deepen the Museum’s collection—in particular its holdings of non-Western art, European painting and sculpture, and decorative arts. Her gifts were often made quietly and without fanfare, designed to address specific needs in the Museum’s collection.
The first work she, together with her husband, donated to the Museum was Flora, a sculpture by Aristide Maillol in 1960. The following year, they gave van Gogh’s River Bank in Springtime (1887). Additional highlights of the many significant works of art that she donated to or acquired for the DMA include two important works of African art from the Asante peoples of Ghana dating from the first part of the 20th century; two masterworks of Asian sculpture, Shiva Nataraja from 11th-century India and a pair of Chinese ceramic lokapalas (c. early 8th century); Juan Gris’s Guitar and Pipe (1913); Piet Mondrian’s Windmill (c. 1917); John Singleton Copley’s pair of pendant portraits of Woodbury Langdon and his wife, Sarah (1767); David Smith’s Cubi XVII (1963); a Peruvian Paracas mantle (c. 300–100 BC); and a Mexican mask of jadeite from the Gulf Coast Olmec culture (c. 900–500 BC).
Through the Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, the objects that have entered the collection are of the highest quality and significance. They also reflect Mrs. McDermott’s extraordinarily refined eye as she worked with the Museum’s curators to build its encyclopedic collection with masterworks. For example, through the generosity of the McDermott Art Fund, the Museum acquired its first oil paintings by such important and impactful 19th- and 20th-century European masters as Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Yves Tanguy, Eugène Delacroix, Gustave Caillebotte, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Paul Signac. These staggering acquisitions transformed the Museum’s European collection, allowing it to explore the trajectory from Impressionism to early Modernism more fully in the galleries through truly spectacular examples of painting.
Recent acquisitions through the Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund have included a solid silver vitrine made by the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshops) in 1908, originally owned by the Wittgenstein family of Vienna and considered a triumph of early 20th-century design; two outstanding works of African art, including the greatly admired and sought after Songye four-horn community power figure and a rare quality Ejagham headcrest; and Marsden Hartley’s Mountains, No. 19.
Mrs. McDermott’s constant presence, dedication, and leadership at the DMA also inspired countless others to support the Museum through collection gifts and financial support. Notable among these were the gifts in the 1970s of the Wise Collection of Ancient American Art, the Schindler Collection of African Sculpture, and the Stillman Collection of Congo Sculpture—three collections that gave the Museum added significance and stature among scholars and patrons, and that set the stage for the DMA’s move to the then nascent Arts District.
Mrs. McDermott’s dedication to the city of Dallas extended to countless other cultural institutions and organizations, as well as to education, medical research, and community affairs. Among her most visible contributions was a lead gift for the creation of Dallas’s Trinity River bridges, designed by Santiago Calatrava. Mrs. McDermott was also the first major donor to the AT&T Performing Arts Center, served as the founding benefactor of the Dallas Institute for Humanities and Culture, and donated funds for the Eugene McDermott Concert Hall, the principal performance space of the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. The McDermott family has also been tremendous supporters of the University of Texas at Dallas since its inception, with Eugene McDermott serving as a founder of the research center that would later become UT Dallas. Additional contributions to the university made by Mrs. McDermott include the donation of Jim Love’s sculpture Jack in 1976 and the establishment of The Eugene McDermott Scholars Program in 2000 in honor of her husband, for whom the campus library is named.
Stated Agustín Arteaga, The Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art:
“Margaret McDermott’s contributions to the Dallas Museum of Art are unparalleled. She touched every area of the Museum, including a remarkable collection, an amazing facility, a superior staff, and significant support of our endowment. She set an outstanding example of unwavering generosity and personal engagement with the DMA, which served as encouragement for her peers and has inspired generations of philanthropists to invest in our institution and to serve our community. She loved the Museum and everyone loved her, beyond the imaginable. She was knowledgeable, smart, witty, and fun. We will all miss her.”
Stated Melissa Foster Fetter, Chair of the Dallas Museum of Art Board of Trustees:
“Margaret McDermott’s engagement with us for more than half a century ignited the Museum’s growth from a regional museum to one of international prominence. When you consider her work in the Dallas arts community in the larger context of her contributions to other important civic efforts—such as the creation of the Dallas Community College District and the Trinity River project—you realize that Margaret was a true champion of all that is crucial to advancing the human condition: arts, education, and well-being.”
Stated Catherine Marcus Rose, President of the Dallas Museum of Art Board of Trustees:
“Throughout her long and incredible life, Margaret McDermott employed a joyful, strategic philanthropy to acquire and exhibit truly excellent works of art for the public benefit. She was a role model and mentor to generations of patrons, trustees, and staff at the DMA in her commitment to ensuring that our community has access to lifelong experiences with art. Her mark on all parts of our Museum and our city is indelible.”
Stated Harry S. Parker III, Director Emeritus, who served as the Museum’s director from 1974 to 1987:
“Margaret McDermott was the driving force behind the DMA’s move to its new downtown location. She personally raised most of the private funds required and also inspired the 1979 public referendum that approved funding by the City of Dallas. She contended that ‘a great city deserves a great art museum.’”
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 24,000 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 3.2 million visitors. 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.
For more information, please contact:
Jill Bernstein
214-922-1802
JBernstein@DMA.org