In commemoration of the 5oth anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art will exhibit the artworks installed in the president’s suite at the Hotel Texas during his visit to Fort Worth in 1963. On view from October 12, 2013, through January 12, 2014, Hotel Texas: An Art Exhibition for the President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy is presented in association with the Dallas Museum of Art, which organized the exhibition.
The original installation, orchestrated by former Amon Carter Board President Ruth Carter Stevenson (1923–2013) and a small group of Fort Worth art collectors, was created especially for the president and first lady in celebration of their overnight visit to the city. It included paintings by Thomas Eakins, Lyonel Feininger, Marsden Hartley, and Franz Kline, and sculptures by Henry Moore and Pablo Picasso, among others. The exhibition highlights the diverse and thoughtful installation of artworks brought together for the presidential couple.
Hotel Texas will reveal for the first time the complete story of the presidential suite 850 installation and examine the significance of art both to the Kennedys and to the Fort Worth and Dallas communities. It will bring to light related materials, most of which have remained in private collections since 1963, including photographs, videos and other archival materials ranging from images of the suite prior to the couple’s arrival to documentation relating to the president’s assassination.
Hotel Texas: An Art Exhibition for the President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy is organized by the Dallas Museum of Art in association with the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. The Fort Worth presentation of the exhibition is supported in part by generous contributions in memory of Ruth Carter Stevenson from Shirlee J. and Taylor Gandy and Bob and Patricia Schieffer. www.cartermuseum.org