I’m late in getting to this. The “print product” is a demanding mistress. Plus, there was this near-death experience I had with a double espresso that I ordered caffeine free but which was not prepared that way (fun with heart arrhythmia!). In any case, yesterday the DMA hosted a number of journalists for a proper introduction to its two newest employees: Olivier Meslay, head of the departments of European and American art; and Jeffrey Grove, the Hoffman Family Senior Curator of Contemporary Art. Jump like Jack for a few details.
Meslay spent the last 16 years at the Louvre. Maybe you’ve heard of it. France? The Mona Lisa? Oui? Meslay himself is French, though I did not see him smoke a single cigarette during the luncheon. He’s the good kind of French. Funny, kind, unpretentious. And probably the best dad in the whole world. He told me he kept his flat in Paris, where his 19-year-old daughter is now holding down the fort. When I expressed grave concern over this state of affairs, Meslay said in his accented English, “Not to worry. She has many friends. She will not be lonely.” To which I replied, “That’s what I’m worried about, Olivier! The friends! The exact opposite of loneliness! Please, give me the address immediately.” (I didn’t actually ask for the address. But I wanted to.) More proof that he’s a good dad: he has two boys at Highland Park High School. Said Meslay, who confessed during his speech later that he himself was not a good student, “I do not care that they make good grades. Now it is more important to make friends. But do not tell them I said this.”
Important aside to the Meslay boys: I am making this up, the stuff about the grades. The DMA served me a free lunch yesterday, establishing a deep, personal material connection between the museum and me. I cannot be trusted. Your father didn’t actually say to me that he didn’t care about your grades. What he actually said was the following: “If they do not make honor roll, I will rip off their arms and beat them with their own bloody limbs.” Seriously. Why are you reading this? Go study!
Let’s see. What else? Oh, Meslay pronounces our city’s name like this: dew-LASS. I like it.
I didn’t get any personal time with Jeffrey Grove, so I can’t speak to his parenting skills or whether he even has children or wants children or prefers cats. Who knows? But I can tell you that he’s a sharp dresser, and he’s bald. In his remarks, Grove said that when he first met Meslay years ago, he mistakenly thought he was the director of the Louvre. This got a laugh. So did the following line, which he issued while flipping through slides of shows he has curated throughout his career: “Every curator has to do a Dale Chihuly show at some point. I did mine early and got it out of the way.”
You can read the bios for both the guys if you want to see their (considerable) bona fides, but I’ll draw attention to one line from Grove’s résumé: he was the founding curator of the Spy Museum, in Washington, D.C., which was an effort that many laughed at when it was announced but which, thanks to its immersive environment, has proven immensely popular. Bodes well for the DMA. Oh, one other thing: Groves gave Trenton Doyle Hancock his first museum show. Loyal readers of the “print product” will recognize the name from the recent profile we did on him.
The big takeaway from the luncheon? Besides that there’s a young woman with the run of a Paris flat and no parental interference? It’s the reason these two guys came to dew-LASS. They both said the environment here is unique. The way the local collectors (e.g., Rachofsky, Rose, Hoffman) work in collaboration with each other and with the museum — that doesn’t happen everywhere. It certainly doesn’t happen at a place like the Louvre. These guys are jazzed by the energy, the scene in Dallas. Too: they both have found amazing works in the DMA’s vaults that have not been on display for decades. They’re eager to show us what we’ve been missing in new and inventive ways.
Just to give you an idea: Bonnie Pitman, the DMA’s director, said that since 2001, the museum has been given 2,500 works of art. Then there’s the stuff they’ve bought. There’s a lot to see. Pittman said they’ve been waiting for the PAC to finish its work. Now it’s the DMA’s turn, the institution that started it all in the Arts District. Look for a major fundraising campaign sometime in the near future.
Go, art!
