Amon G. Carter, Sr., a major owner and publisher of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and promoter of Fort Worth, began collecting the art of western America in 1935. Following his death in 1955, Carter’s will directed the Amon Carter Foundation to construct a museum to house his collection of painting and sculpture by western artists Charles M. Russell and Frederic Remington. Since its founding, the museum has broadened the scope of the collection with outstanding works of nineteenth and early twentieth century American Art. It now houses a premier collection of American paintings, sculpture, prints, and photographs. A triangular site was acquired in several stages bordering the cultural district north of Will Rogers Memorial Center (3301 W. Lancaster Avenue). Facing east across a terraced landscape, Philip Johnson’s design for the Amon Carter Museum of Western Art was competed in 1961. Henry Moore’s totemic sculpture Upright Motives is permanently installed on the east end of the plaza. Thomas S. Byrne Construction Co. of Fort Worth was responsible for the contracting work. The east elevation of the rectangular great hall features five segmental arches on tapered columns. Set behind the shellstone arcade, a glass curtain wall screens the galleries from the outside. In 1964 and 1977, Johnson returned to designed further additions for storage, office and library functions to the west on a lower level than the gallery block, keeping the 1961 elevation intact. In 1985 the museum changed its name to the Amon Carter Museum.
