Art Collector Nasher Dies at 85

Dallas art collector and philanthropist, Raymond Nasher, died on Friday. Nasher is credited as the first developer to include fine art in a retail project when, in 1971, he commissioned sculptures by Beverly Pepper in North Park in Dallas. Later in life, Nasher built a museum, Nasher Sculpture Center, in downtown Dallas to house his collection of modern and contemporary art, one of the finest private collections in the world. Among the artists represented in the collection are Picasso, Giacometti, Rodin, Henry Moore, Joan Miró, Alexander Calder, Barbara Hepworth, Donald Judd, Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenberg and Roy Lichtenstein. He was 85.




Articles on Raymond Nasher:
New York Times
Letters to Dallas Morning News
DFW Airport to Honor Nasher

Raymond Nasher Bio from the Nasher Sculpture Center website:
(note: it has not been updated since his passing.)

Raymond D. Nasher is one of this country’s leading collectors of modern and contemporary sculpture. He also was one of the first real estate developers in the United States to place art, primarily sculpture, in commercial retail complexes. He did this believing that art nurtures intellectual and aesthetic curiosity and enhances the overall experience of every environment.
Mr. Nasher and his late wife, Patsy, began collecting art nearly fifty years ago. Starting by building an important collection of pre-Columbian art, over time the collection evolved into one of the most extensive and important collections of modern sculpture in private hands. Mrs. Nasher used to say about the couple’s partnership in building the collection, “It’s not that we collected art, but that the art collected us!”

In 1965, when Mr. Nasher opened his first retail shopping center in Dallas—NorthPark Center—he made a commitment to installing art throughout the Center. To do this, he designed a structure inside and out that met the needs of the retailers and had the space necessary to display large sculptures by artists such as Jonathan Borofsky, Mark di Suvero, Henry Moore, Beverly Pepper, and George Segal. The design also included special interior water features, open spaces, as well as exterior landscape, all of which complement the art. NorthPark Center and the nearby NorthPark National Bank (now Comerica Bank)—another project of The Nasher Company—have both won architectural and design awards, and have become models for other developers throughout the world.

Mr. Nasher has played a leading role in the development and growth of many of the major arts organizations in Dallas. He has also focused attention on business support of the arts in Dallas by establishing the Dallas Business Committee for the Arts (DBCA) in 1988, which contributed to increased business support of the arts in Dallas from $4.5 million in 1988 to approximately $24 million annually today.

Mr. Nasher has been a member of the national Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. (BCA) since 1987, and in October 2002, was appointed Chairman. He also serves as a member of The National Council of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and on the International Council of the Tate Gallery in London. He has been a board member of The Dallas Museum of Art, The Dallas Opera, The Dallas Symphony, the Dallas Theatre Center, Ballet Dallas, and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

Mr. Nasher is Chairman of The Nasher Foundation and Chairman of Comerica Bank-Texas. He was appointed to serve on the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, by President William Jefferson Clinton in 1999, and by President George W. Bush in 2002. He is currently Vice-Chairman of the Committee. From 1992-1995 he served on the Texas Commission on the Arts. From 1988 to 1992 he was the Ambassador of Cultural Affairs for the City of Dallas. He received the American Institute of Architects Award for “Design of the Decade—1960’s” for NorthPark Center; the Award for Distinguished Service to the Visual Arts given by the University of North Texas; and the 1994 Flora Award. The Nasher Company received Business in the Arts Awards in 1976 and 1987 in recognition of its outstanding commitment to business-arts alliances.