Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Dallas Morning News - March 18, 2005
Janet Kutner, jkutner@dallasnews.com
The Rachofskys included it in an irrevocable bequest of 800 contemporary artworks donated by them and two other Dallas couples, Marguerite and Robert Hoffman and Deedie and Rusty Rose.
Mr. Rachofsky, who built the house before his marriage, envisions its being used as a study center. It's serving that purpose now.
School groups troop through on a regular basis, seven or eight a week. Visiting scholars stop by, as do museum curators, directors and patrons from other cities. The Rachofskys also make the house available for benefits by nonprofit organizations. Last fall's Two by Two auction raised $1.6 million for AIDS research and the Dallas Museum of Art.
Each spring they sponsor a think tank called "Thinking Out Loud." The one being held today promises to be the most provocative yet.
Three people from New York, painter Eric Fischl, psychologist Donald Moss and art historian Carol Squiers, will discuss hidden and overt meaning in a Rachofsky Collection installation titled Selves, keyed toward work of a decidedly personal nature.
The talk will take place in front of Mr. Fischl's Beata Ludovica (1996), a steely gray painting of a draped figure, cold as stone. Based on a famous Bernini statue, it was created in the classical surroundings of Rome, shortly after Mr. Fischl's father died.
Dr. Moss will analyze several works, including Robert Mapplethorpe's self-portrait of his eyes, defiant and distant, reflecting awareness of his impending death from AIDS, and a text piece by the African-American artist Glenn Ligon that was inspired by Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man .
The free event is always overbooked weeks in advance, with seating limited to 115 people. This year's audience is broader than before, however. "There are fewer out-of-towners, and we invited more graduate students and local art professionals," says Mr. Rachofsky. "We're trying to really reach out more to the community. That's part of our mission."
He hired Thomas Feulmer, former assistant curator of education at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, as director of educational programming. Mr. Feulmer is developing a Web site for the Rachovsky House. For now, learn more by calling 214-373-3157.
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