Chinati Foundation

{{Infobox museum

| name = Chinati Foundation

| logo =

| logo_upright =

| image = Chinati foundation.jpg

| imagesize = 220

| caption =

| map_type = Texas#USA

| map_caption = Location of the Chinati Foundation in Texas

| former_name =

| established = 1986

| dissolved =

| location = 1 Cavalry Row, Marfa, Texas, United States

| coordinates = {{coord|30.298722|-104.027009|display=inline}}

| type = Art Museum

| visitors =

| curator =

| director = Caitlin Murray

| publictransit =

| website = {{URL|http://www.chinati.org/}}

}}

The Chinati Foundation/La Fundación Chinati is a contemporary art museum located in Marfa, Texas, and based upon the ideas of its founder, artist Donald Judd.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/26/arts/art-the-world-according-to-judd.html?sq=Chinati+Foundation&scp=7&st=cse|title=ART; The World According to Judd|accessdate=2009-01-05|author=Roberta Smith|work=The New York Times | date=1995-02-26}}

Mission

The specific intention of Chinati is to preserve and present to the public permanent large-scale installations by a limited number of artists. The emphasis is on works in which art and the surrounding landscape are inextricably linked. As Judd wrote in the foundation's first catalogue in 1987:{{Cite book|url=https://chinati.org/related_reading/the-chinati-foundation-la-fundacion-chinati/|title=The Chinati Foundation: La Fundación Chinati|publisher=Chinati Foundation|year=1987|location=Marfa, Texas|pages=unpaginated}}{{Citation needed|date=February 2020|reason=A direct quote seems to take a citation, and nothing in the refereces or notes section seem to line up with this quote.}}

It takes a great deal of time and thought to install work carefully. This should not always be thrown away. Most art is fragile and some should be placed and never moved again. Somewhere a portion of contemporary art has to exist as an example of what the art and its context were meant to be. Somewhere, just as the platinum iridium meter guarantees the tape measure, a strict measure must exist for the art of this time and place.

History

The Chinati Foundation is located on {{convert|340|acre|km2}} of land on the site of former Fort D. A. Russell in Marfa, Texas, and in some buildings in the town's center.

Donald Judd first visited Marfa, Texas, in 1971, and moved himself from New York to Marfa as a full-time resident in 1977. Construction and installation at the site began in 1979 with initial assistance from the Dia Art Foundation in New York. The Chinati Foundation opened to the public in 1986 as an independent, non-profit, publicly funded institution.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/04/arts/art-architecture-the-last-great-art-of-the-20th-century.html?emc=eta1|title=Art/Architecture; The Last Great Art of the 20th Century|accessdate=2009-01-05|author=Michael Kimmelman|work=The New York Times | date=2001-02-04}}

Chinati was originally conceived to exhibit the work of Donald Judd, John Chamberlain and Dan Flavin. However, the idea of the foundation developed further and its collection was enriched over years, and now the permanent collection has expanded to include Carl Andre, Ingólfur Arnarsson, Roni Horn, Ilya Kabakov, Richard Long, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, David Rabinowitch, and John Wesley. Each artist's work is installed in a separate building or outdoor area on the museum's grounds. In addition to the permanent collection, regular temporary exhibitions feature modern and contemporary art of diverse media.{{cite journal | title=The Chinati Foundation: A Museum in Process | volume=88 |issue=10 |pages=116–126 |journal=Art in America | author=Daphne Beal | year=2000}}

It was Judd's goal at Chinati to bring art, architecture, and nature together in order to form a coherent whole.

In October 2013 the foundation finalized plans for untitled (dawn to dusk), a {{convert|10000|sqft|m2|abbr=on|disp=flip}}, C-shaped concrete structure by Robert Irwin,Tessa Solomon (1 July 2022), [https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/jenny-moore-leaves-chinati-foundation-1234633230/ Jenny Moore to Step Down as Director of Chinati Foundation in Marfa] ARTnews. to join Chinati's permanent collection.{{cite journal |date=2013 |volume=18 |journal=Chinati Foundation Newsletter |author=Jenny Moore |title=Letter from Jenny Moore, Executive Director|publisher=Chinati Foundation |publication-place=Marfa, Texas |pages=2–3; here: p. 2 }} Opened in July 2016,{{cite journal |date=2016 |volume=21 |journal=Chinati Foundation Newsletter |author=David Tompkins |title=Robert Irwin, Untitled [Dawn to Dusk], 2016: The Opening|publisher=Chinati Foundation |publication-place=Marfa, Texas |pages=4–11; here: p. 4}} Available as a PDF on the foundation's [https://chinati.org/information/newsletter website]. this installation utilizes Fort D. A. Russell's ruined former hospital, rebuilding the structure within its original footprint while incorporating several architectural interventions to modify the building's dynamics of light and space.{{cite journal |date=2016 |volume=21 |journal=Chinati Foundation Newsletter |author=David Tompkins |title=Robert Irwin, Untitled [Dawn to Dusk], 2016: The Opening|publisher=Chinati Foundation |publication-place=Marfa, Texas |pages=4-11; here: p. 9-11}}

Also in 2022, the Chinati Foundation—along with the Central Marfa Historic District in Marfa—was officially added to the National Register of Historic Places.Wallace Ludel (6 May 2022), [https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/05/06/marfa-texas-donald-judd-national-register-historic-places-chinati-foundation Centre of Marfa, Texas, including 11 buildings repurposed by Donald Judd, added to US National Register of Historic Places] The Art Newspaper.

=Directors=

1994–2010: Marianne Stockebrand
2011–2012: Thomas Kellein
2013–2022: Jenny Moore{{cite journal |date=2013 |volume=18 |journal=Chinati Foundation Newsletter |title=Staff News|publisher=Chinati Foundation |publication-place=Marfa, Texas |page=110 }} Available as a PDF on the foundation's [https://chinati.org/information/newsletter website].Tessa Solomon (1 July 2022), [https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/jenny-moore-leaves-chinati-foundation-1234633230/ Jenny Moore to Step Down as Director of Chinati Foundation in Marfa] ARTnews.
2023– : Caitlin Murray{{Cite web |last=Marfa |first=The Chinati Foundation PO Box 1135 / 1 Cavalry Row |last2=Foundation |first2=TX 79843 © 2023 The Chinati |title=Caitlin Murray Named Executive Director of The Chinati Foundation/La Fundación Chinati – The Chinati Foundation |url=https://chinati.org/caitlin-murray-named-executive-director-of-the-chinati-foundation-la-fundacion-chinati/ |access-date=2023-05-20 |language=en-US}}

Collection

class="wikitable"

|+

!Artist

!Work

Carl Andre

|Words, 1958–1972

Chinati Thirteener, 2010

Donald Judd

|100 untitled works in mill aluminum, 1982–1986

15 untitled works in concrete, 1980–1984

The Arena, 1980–1987

Ingólfur Arnarsson

|untitled works, 1991–1992

Ilya Kabakov

|School No. 6, 1993

John Chamberlain

|Various works, 1972–1983

Richard Long

|Sea Lava Circles, 1988

Dan Flavin

|untitled (Marfa project), 1996

Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen

|Monument to the Last Horse, 1991

Roni Horn

|Things That Happen Again, Pair Object VII (For a Here and a There), 1986–1988

David Rabinowitch

|Elliptical Plane in 3 Masses and 4 Scales III, 1971–72

6-Sided Bar III, 1969

Robert Irwin

|untitled (dawn to dusk), 2016

John Wesley

|Al Capone Flouting the Law, 1970

Chateau, 1983

Choir, 1988

Day Titanic, 1984

Hannah in Shades, 1989

Hunting Dogs, 1985

Jack Frost, 1971

Mattress Cloud, 1981

Panoply: Eight Silkscreens Inspired by the Splendours of the Great War, 1971

Six-Legged Sheep, 1993

Tour de France, 1982

{{Cite web|title=Chinati Foundation Collection|url=https://chinati.org/collection/|website=Chinati Foundation|access-date=2020-04-30}}

Community

The Chinati Foundation sponsors art and education programs, establishing close links to the local community and other cultural institutions and universities in the United States and abroad. Started by Judd in 1989, Chinati's Artist in Residence Program provides artists from around the world an opportunity to develop and exhibit their work in a stimulating environment."[https://chinati.org/programs/artists-in-residence Artist in Residence]". Chinati Foundation. Retrieved 2017-06-03. Its Internship Program offers students from a variety of disciplines hands-on museum experience."[https://chinati.org/information/internships Internships]". Chinati Foundation. Retrieved 2017-06-03. Each summer the museum hosts art classes for local students. Chinati has been producing an annual newsletter in English and Spanish since 1995 (some of the back issues are available at the Chinati bookstore and all can be downloaded at foundation's website."[https://chinati.org/information/newsletter Newsletter]". Chinati Foundation. Retrieved 2017-06-03.

Residencies

John Beech (artist) 1998

Visiting

The Chinati Foundation has reopened, after being closed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.{{Cite web|last=Marfa|first=The Chinati Foundation PO Box 1135 / 1 Cavalry Row|last2=Foundation|first2=TX 79843 Wed-Sun 9am–5pm map {{!}} plan your visit © 2021 The Chinati|title=Plan your Visit – The Chinati Foundation|url=https://chinati.org/visit/plan-your-visit/|access-date=2021-02-02|language=en-US}}

The closest airports to Marfa are in El Paso and Midland/Odessa. It is about a three-hour drive from either airport.