The opening will be November 27th this year. It comes in a press release about future exhibitions, most of which we already knew — Lords of the Ancient Andes, The Age of Picasso and Matisse — but one we didn’t:  A show of selections of samurai armor from the Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Collection in Dallas. That collection is basically just up the street from KERA, as we learned from Glasstire.

The selections are there, that is , when they’re not, as they currently are, on display in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, making their official US debut.

In fact, according to the release, the Dallas samurai will be the first major exhibition in the Kimbell to open (Feb. 16, 2014) in the Renzo Piano-designed expansion, after it opens in November.

The full release:

KIMBELL ART MUSEUM, FORT WORTH

2013–2014 SCHEDULE OF EXHIBITIONS

Wari: Lords of the Ancient Andes

June 16–September 8, 2013

Organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art

The Age of Picasso and Matisse: Modern Masters from the Art Institute of Chicago

October 6, 2013–February 16, 2014

Organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth

NEW Renzo Piano Pavilion Opens

November 27, 2013

Samurai: Armor from the Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Collection

Opens February 16, 2014

Organized by the Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Museum, Dallas

Selections from the Permanent Collection

Ongoing

* Admission to the permanent collection is always free

Exhibition Descriptions

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Wari: Lords of the Ancient Andes

June 16–September 8, 2013

This is the first North American exhibition devoted to the art of the Wari, the ancestors of the Inca who, between 600 and 1000, created a complex society that many today regard as ancient Peru’s first empire. This momentous exhibition explores the Wari’s artistic achievements through some 145 startlingly beautiful objects in all the major media in which they worked—-polychrome ceramics, ornaments made of precious metals or colorful mosaics, sculpted wood and stone objects, and sumptuous woven garments that are among the finest ever made in the Andes, home of one of the world’s most accomplished textile traditions.

Wari: Lords of the Ancient Andes is organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art and has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor. It is supported in part by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

The Age of Picasso and Matisse: Modern Masters from the Art Institute of Chicago

October 6, 2013–February 16, 2014

Some of the most celebrated works of modern European art are coming to the Kimbell Art Museum this fall in the largest loan of its kind from the Art Institute of Chicago. Among the works—-which span the first five decades of the 20th century—-are 10 by Pablo Picasso and 10 by Henri Matisse, including Picasso’s Old Guitarist and Matisse’s Bathers by a River. The art by these friends and rivals revolutionized Europe at the turn of the century. Also included are canvases by Fauve artists Maurice de Vlaminck and Georges Braque; Cubist paintings by Braque and Juan Gris; and important works by painters Max Beckmann, Vasily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, Kazimir Malevich, Fernand Léger, Piet Mondrian and the sculptors Constantin Brâncusi and Alberto Giacometti. Chicago’s famous collection of Surrealist painting and sculpture will be shown in strength, including pieces by Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Max Ernst, Paul Delvaux, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Paul Klee and Picasso. In all, nearly 100 works from the Art Institute’s famed collection will make the historic journey to the Kimbell Art Museum, the only venue for the exhibition.

The Age of Picasso and Matisse: Modern Masters from the Art Institute of Chicago is organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth. It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

NEW Renzo Piano Pavilion Opens

November 27, 2013

Greatly expanding the Museum’s available gallery space, the new Renzo Piano pavilion will allow the Kimbell to host special exhibitions while keeping its permanent collection on view. In addition, the new building will provide dedicated classrooms, an expanded library, generous underground parking and a 298-seat auditorium with excellent acoustics for music.

The pavilion’s colonnaded structure, located some 65 yards to the west of Louis I. Kahn’s 1972 museum building, is constructed of glass, concrete and wood and is surrounded by elms and red oaks. Similar in scale to the Kahn building, the 300-foot-long, 22-foot high pavilion has two parallel wings that stretch from north to south, connected by two glass passageways. To the rear, the west wing has a green sod roof, which appears to rise out of the ground with berms on either end and concrete retaining walls on the sides. The front, east wing is topped by a glass, steel and wood roof system. The wafer-thin top layer of this system, which features louvered solar cells, hovers above the east wing’s most prominent feature: enormous laminated wood beams that appear to float above the concrete and glass walls and which are held aloft by square concrete columns.

Upon its grand opening, the Piano pavilion will host celebrated works from the Kimbell’s permanent collection, including superb examples of Precolumbian, African and Asian art, as well as a special installation of the Museum’s European masterworks, on view through January 2014. Admission is free.

Samurai: Armor from the Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Collection

Opens February 16, 2014

On view in the Renzo Piano pavilion

Travel back in time and discover the life, culture and pageantry of the revered and feared Japanese samurai warriors through more than 100 remarkable objects from one of the best and largest collections in the world. Samurai: Armor from the Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Collection features the extraordinary artistry of the armor used by samurai—-the military elite led by the shoguns, or warlords, of Japan from the 12th through 19th centuries. The exhibition illustrates the evolution of the distinctive appearance and equipment of the samurai through the centuries and examines the warriors’ history through works of consummate craftsmanship and exquisite design. Among the highlights of the exhibition are warriors’ helmets of lacquered metal, adorned with emblems often inspired by nature, which signaled the status of the wearer, differentiated samurai from each other and frightened the enemy on the battlefield. Combat-ready samurai in full regalia will be shown in suits of intricately crafted armor on similarly armored steeds. The exhibition will also feature beautifully designed accoutrements used for both battle and ceremonies. It will be the first traveling exhibition displayed in the new Renzo Piano pavilion.

Samurai: Armor from the Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Collection is organized by the Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Museum, Dallas.

Kimbell Art Museum

The Kimbell Art Museum, owned and operated by the Kimbell Art Foundation, is internationally renowned for both its collections and for its architecture. The Kimbell’s collections range in period from antiquity to the 20th century and include European masterpieces by artists such as Fra Angelico, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Poussin, Velázquez, Monet, Picasso and Matisse; important collections of Egyptian and classical antiquities; and Asian, Mesoamerican and African art.

Promotional support for the Kimbell Art Museum’s 2013–14 schedule of exhibitions is provided by American Airlines, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and NBC 5.