Naming Recognizes Eckmann Lane’s Integral Contributions to the
Museum’s Conservation Program
Dallas, TX—October 7, 2020—The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) today announced the naming of its paintings conservation studio as the Inge-Lise Eckmann Lane Paintings Conservation Center, as dedicated by lead donors to the Museum’s conservation program. The Conservation Center, which was established at the DMA in 2013, is named in honor of Inge-Lise Eckmann Lane, a nationally recognized paintings conservator who worked in Dallas from 1999 to 2011 as an independent conservator of modern and contemporary art. Through her dedicated and exemplary work leading the field, Eckmann Lane was foundational to the growth of the DMA’s conservation program.
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. Since its opening in 2013, the Conservation Center, which includes an adjacent Conservation Gallery, has also granted public audiences an unprecedented level of behind-the-scenes access to conservators and their work. The center’s design allows visitors to observe daily conservation activities, providing insight into artists’ original materials and techniques and the lives of artworks after they leave the artists’ hands.
Prior to the 2012 appointment of Mark Leonard as Chief Conservator, and the opening of the Conservation Center one year later, the DMA relied on independent professional conservators in the North Texas region to provide consistent care and treatment for the works in its collection. Notable among these was Eckmann Lane, who, beginning in 2000, partnered with the DMA for 11 years to care for works in the Museum’s modern and contemporary collections. During this time, Eckmann Lane was responsible for the conservation of many important paintings in the collection, with highlights including Jackson Pollock’s Cathedral (1947) and Portrait and a Dream (1953), Franz Kline’s Slate Cross (1951), and Untitled (1943–1948), a late work by Arshile Gorky, as well as many other works in the Dallas community.
Eckmann Lane’s contributions to the practice and study of painting conservation are nationally recognized. Prior to working with the DMA, she served as Chief Conservator and Deputy Director at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), where she spent more than 20 years supervising SFMOMA’s exhibition, collection, conservation, and education programs. Since 1996 Eckmann Lane has held a private practice in contemporary art conservation, serving both museums and private collections.
A Fellow of the American Institute for Conservation and the International Institute for Conservation, Eckmann Lane was one of the Founding Board Members of Voices in Contemporary Art (VoCA, formerly INCCA-NA, the International Network for the Conservation of Contemporary Art – North America) and served as the first Board President from 2007 to 2014. She has also served as Chairman of Heritage Preservation (formerly National Conservation Institute), President of the Western Association of Art Conservators, and Chair of the Membership Committee for the American Institute for Conservation. In 2001 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Conservation Advocacy from the American Institute for Conservation in recognition of sustained public outreach and advocacy to advance the field of conservation.
“The DMA’s conservation program has grown considerably in the 21st century, and the opening of our own in-house conservation studio has been a particularly special asset for our collections, conservators, and audiences. It is tremendously meaningful to us that we can dedicate such a valuable resource to an individual who has given so much to the field of conservation and to the Museum itself,” said Eugene McDermott Director Dr. Agustín Arteaga. “Over her decade of service, Inge-Lise worked with many of our most treasured objects and left a legacy of care and curiosity that has shaped our conservation program into the powerhouse it is today.”
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 25,000 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. With a free general admission policy and community outreach efforts, the DMA served more than 900,000 individuals on-site and off-site in 2019. The DMA is an Open Access institution, allowing all works believed to be in the public domain to be freely available for downloading, sharing, repurposing, and remixing without restriction. 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 Arts and Culture, and the Texas Commission on the Arts.
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For more information, please contact:
Regional Media:
Jill Bernstein
Dallas Museum of Art
214-922-1802
JBernstein@DMA.org
National Media:
David Resnicow / Barbara Escobar / Delaney Smith / Katrina Reynolds
Resnicow and Associates
212-671-5160
dresnicow@resnicow.com / bescobar@resnicow.com / dsmith@resnicow.com / kreynolds@resnicow.com