Lifestyle
NM @ Marfa
Categories: Lifestyle » Culture, Leisure & Travel
Tagged art, Elizabeth Taylor, Marfa, Prada
You may remember the desolate Marfa landscape from the movie Giant, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean. Or from There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men. Or perhaps you remember the “insider’s” trip to Marfa, starting at $9,500 per couple, in the 2010 Neiman Marcus Christmas Book. Thanks to the late artist Donald Judd and his Chinati Foundation, the little far West Texas town of Marfa, with a population of 2,121, is considered one of the world’s most important destinations for large-scale contemporary art. This art oasis, nestled high in the Chihuahuan Desert, hosts artists, galleries and cuisine to impress the discerning traveler looking for something off the beaten path.
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One of two massive repurposed artillery sheds, which along with 30 other buildings on the former Fort D.A. Russell military base, house the extensive Chinati Foundation art installations. -
Donald Judd’s Untitled, 15 freestanding works, each comprised of two to six concrete cubes, configured in rows. The installation uses the length of the former military runway, the only flat surface on the otherwise sloping terrain of the Chinati Foundation. -
No two of the 100 large aluminum cubes housed in the two former artillery sheds are the same. Each is designed to interact, function as a part of, and reflect its environment and the barren West Texas landscape seen through the large glass walls echoing Judd’s concrete installation in the distance. -
One of Dan Flavin’s Untitled large-scale light installations, which take up six buildings of the Chinati Foundation. -
Monument To The Last Horse, by Claes Oldenburg & Coosie Van Bruggen -
The Chinati Foundation’s Chamberlain building was originally the Marfa Wool & Mohair Co. factory. -
It now houses 23 of John Chamberlain’s painted and chromium-plated sculptures. -
The Hotel Paisano, dating from the 1930s, hosted Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean and Rock Hudson when they filmed Giant. -
Inside the Hotel Paisano. -
The Thunderbird hotel was designed by the same hotelier that created the cool Hotel St. Lucia and Hotel San Jose in Austin and Hotel Havana along the River Walk in San Antonio. -
The Thunderbird -
The hotelier Liz Lambert also created El Cosmico, a quirky, retro trailer park/campsite/hotel. -
A refurbished trailer at El Cosmico. -
Outside Marfa sits the restored 1857 fortress at Cibolo Creek Ranch, now a resort located on 30,000 acres. It appeared on the cover of Architectural Digest. -
Deer and buffalo roam the grounds of Cibolo Creek Ranch. -
One of the most beloved places to eat is the Food Shark, a 1970s food truck parked four days a week under the central pavilion. The New York Times and Bon Appetite raved about the Marfalafel. -
Ballroom Marfa, a converted dancehall, houses a contemporary art space that hosts visual arts, film, music and performance events. -
Restaurants like Cochineal (shown here) and Maiya’s give Marfa culinary flair to match its art. -
The Presidio Courthouse viewed from the main street. -
The water tower, a common feature of small-town Texas. -
The offices of the Judd Foundation, established by Donald Judd to maintain his buildings, which hold his extensive collections of modernist furniture and paintings by 20th century greats. -
Northwest of Marfa, on U.S. Route 90, rests Prada Marfa, the Elmgreen & Dragset installation stocked with Prada’s 2005 collection.
