Curator and scholar William B. Jordan organized the first museum exhibition of Raymond and Patsy Nasher’s sculpture collection; sculptures by John Chamberlain, David McManaway, and Joan Miró are part of a bequest from Jordan and his husband, Robert Dean Brownlee.

About Track 2: For Bill Jordan

These sculptures, on view for the first time at the Nasher, are part of a bequest of works from William B. Jordan, a curator and scholar, and his husband Robert Dean Brownlee. Among his many accomplishments, Jordan also played a crucial role in the history of the Raymond and Patsy Nasher Collection. In 1978, at SMU’s University Gallery (then home to the Meadows Museum, where Jordan was the founding director), he curated an exhibition of works owned by the Nashers—the first public presentation of their sculpture collection, then just over a decade old.

In his catalogue essay, Jordan not only praised the Nashers’ “search for quality and [their] true joy of collecting” but also offered a succinct analysis of the collection. He identified what was to remain one of its most distinctive aspects: the lively generational tension between sculpture past and present and between tradition and innovation. Jordan remained close to the Nashers, and after Patsy’s death, as Ray made plans for the future of their collection, Jordan became a trustee of the Nasher Foundation and a member, until his death in 2018, of the Nasher Sculpture Center Board of Trustees. His impact lives on through his and Brownlee’s generous bequest.

Audio Guides

Hear different perspectives on works in Track 2: For Bill Jordan. 

Overview of For Bill Jordan

Educator Becky Daniels on Bill Jordan

Remix

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