Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1033442
56 W hen dissecting "Balenciaga in Black," the blockbuster exhibition making its Kimbell Art Museum debut this month (through January 6, 2019), we're reminded of what the master couturier once said of his craft: "In underlining the sheer number of skills required, a good couturier had to be an architect, a sculptor, a painter, a musician, and a philosopher all rolled into one, in order to deal with the different problems of planning, form, color, harmony, and proportion." And so it was, decades ago, that Spanish designer Cristóbal Balenciaga inadvertently summarized the thematic impact of this show, which originated in Paris at the Palais Galliera fashion museum. How it arrived in Fort Worth is also a matter of serendipity. George Shackelford, the Kimbell's deputy director, was in Paris on holiday with his nieces when they happened upon the Palais Galliera and saw the exhibition — a rich study of Balenciaga's work, in a striking all-black palette. Wheels spun. 'This must come to Fort Worth,' he thought. The team in Paris agreed. Roughly two years BLACK BLACK BALENCIAGA BLACK BLACK IN BLACK BLACK IN BLACK A DIVINE EXHIBITION OF COUTURE AT THE KIMBELL ART MUSEUM BY CHRISTINA GEYER Cristóbal Balenciaga dress, winter 1967