The Menil Collection The Menil Collection

Donna De Salvo, Dia Art Foundation’s Senior Adjunct Curator of Special Projects, discusses the work and career of American artist Walter De Maria (1935–2013). The program is presented in conjunction with the Menil’s exhibition Walter De Maria: Boxes for Meaningless Work.

A reception at the Menil Bookstore will take place from 6–7 p.m., and the lecture will begin promptly at 7 p.m. The bookstore will also remain open for 30 minutes at the conclusion of the lecture. Copies of the recently published monograph, Walter De Maria: The Object, the Action, the Aesthetic Feeling, (Gagosian, 2022), will be available for purchase.

This program is generously sponsored by Gagosian.

This lecture takes place in the main building, located at 1533 Sul Ross Street, followed by a reception in Menil Bookstore, located at 1520 Sul Ross Street. Additional information regarding accessibility and parking can be found here.

As always, Menil programs are free and open to all.

Donna De Salvo has spent more than three decades in curatorial and senior leadership positions in museums in the United States and the United Kingdom and is known for her close collaborations with artists and artist and context-driven approaches to exhibition. She spent fifteen years at the Whitney Museum of American art and was its first Chief Curator and Deputy Director for Programs and was instrumental in the design of its new building and curatorial program. She returned to the Dia Art Foundation in 2020 as Senior Adjunct Curator, Special Projects, having previously been a curator from 1981-1986, where she met Walter De Maria. She is the co-curator, with Matilde Guidi-Guidelli, of Jack Whitten: The Greek Alphabet Paintings, currently on view at Dia Beacon, and a contributor to the recently published monograph, Walter De Maria: The Object, the Action, the Aesthetic Feeling.