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later, "Balenciaga in Black" — with its crates of museum-worthy haute couture dating from 1937 to 1968 — made a mad dash across the pond. The exhibition of 115 monochromatic dresses, hats, and necklaces, highlights Balenciaga's full artistic and architectural process, from structure and construction to final product, in a way often lost in a mess of color and pattern. With an all black presentation — including the exhibition walls, pedestals, and display furniture — distraction melts away. One is forced to focus on the craft; the eye is drawn intently to detail, shape, and form. "This is a show of dresses done as we would do a show of a great sculptor, a great painter, or a great draftsman," Shackelford says. "It has a subject and a point of view. You could do a show about Van Gogh and the color yellow — and it would be organized just like this." Perhaps no part of the exhibition exemplifies Balenciaga's skill as a sculptor of textiles more than five toiles on display at the entrance, surrounded by the designer's own sketches. "You can see his method," says Jennifer Casler Price, the Kimbell's curator for Asian and non- Western art. "The toiles are marked with chalk, and there are little notes. And, because these were patterns for dresses that were going to be made in black, the toiles are black muslin instead of the regular ecru beige." It's all a reiteration that this is not a story of flashy fashion, but rather one of elegance, timelessness, and purity. T o highlight Balenciaga's scholarly approach and reinforce his impact as an artist, the Kimbell organized a tandem show with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, "Goya in Black and White," a showcase of more than 85 of artist Francisco de Goya y Lucientes' works on paper. "Once your eyes are accustomed to the notion of black, you walk out of Balenciaga and into black Goya prints. We're making an equivalency between the two," Shackelford says. "Balenciaga is a sculptor and a painter," he continues. "He was visionary in a way that I don't think exists anymore. We needed to do something like this. He is the master." PHOTO © JULIEN VIDAL/GALLIERA/ROGER-VIOLLET; PHOTO © PIERRE EVEN photo by karen sachar © 2018