The Amon Carter Museum: Growing to Fit Its Collection

The Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, is in the midst of a major expansion to house its collection of American art and accommodate new facilities, including a photography conservation lab. The Carter first opened in 1961 to house the collection of paintings and sculpture by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell acquired by Fort Worth publisher and philanthropist Amon G. Carter Sr. (1879-1955). In the 40 years since then, the collection has grown from 400 to almost 250,000 works, including painting, sculpture, photography, and works on paper by leading artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. The added 109,000 square feet will triple the museum's exhibition space.

Construction began in September 1999, and the museum is scheduled to reopen on Sunday, October 2001. Meanwhile, a selection of about 30 of the museum's artworks can be seen at the Carter Downtown through June 10. Others are on loan to various institutions or in climate-controlled storage. A live Web cam of the construction, architect's plans, and more are available on the Carter Museum's Web site at www.cartermuseum.org.

Conservation and preservation have long been at the core of the Amon Carter Museum’s collection stewardship and are closely linked to the curatorial and educational mission of the museum. The Carter has a formal agreement with the Kimbell Art Museum to share a paintings conservation laboratory at the Kimbell. However, despite holding a major paper collection of about 6,800 works and a world-renowned photography collection totalling over 230,000 objects, the Carter’s space limitations have forced the museum to contract out for its paper and photographic conservation needs. The almost completed expansion includes a photography/paper conservation lab, and the museum has applied for funding to establish a permanent endowment for the positions of photograph conservator and paper conservator.

The Carter consulted extensively with senior photograph and paper conservators across the country in establishing the initial design and equipment plans for the lab. The photograph conservator’s first priority will be to examine and treat major works in the collection, beginning with all items whose exhibition or publication is immediately forthcoming. The large scope of the photography collection, and particularly its extensive historical collections and artist archives, will open up new avenues for conservation research that the museum plans to incorporate into exhibition and catalogue planning. In addition, the conservator will establish a long-range plan and work closely with curators to set treatment priorities based on previous collection preservation surveys. Broader responsibilities include assisting with the evaluation of potential acquisitions, consideration of loans and conditions for display, and developing outreach programs with other conservators via symposia, meetings and workshops.

A public tour at the end of April allowed more than 2,100 visitors to view almost all of the new building, including the 160-seat auditorium, the new Lancaster Avenue entrance, library, photography conservation laboratory, atrium, members' lounge (with its panoramic view of downtown Fort Worth), education facilities, art storage vaults and the galleries. The facade and 19,000 square feet of architect Philip Johnson's original 1961 structure remain intact, while additions from 1964 and 1975 have been replaced with the new construction.

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