June Mattingly, One of the City's Great Art Advocates, Has Died

One of the city's great supporters of visual art, June Mattingly, died the afternoon of February 1 at Baylor Hospital in Dallas. She was 83 years old. 

For decades, Mattingly was at the heart of the Dallas art world. She was the owner and co-founder of the Mattingly Baker Gallery, which from 1979 to 1988 promoted the work of Texas artists like Jesus Moroles, Mary McClearly, Melissa Miller and more. She covered artists living and working in the Lone Star State as both a journalist and an author. Her book, The State of the Art: Contemporary Artists in Texas, highlighted the work of 37 artists including Vincent Falsetta, Ted Kincaid, Ricardo Paniagua, Francesca Fuchs and Pam Nelson.

Mattingly was an avid collector herself, and her interest in the art and the artists themselves was evidenced in her commitment to attending numerous gallery shows in a weekend. She was acquainted personally with the likes of Jackson Pollock and Ellsworth Kelly, while never losing interested in the Dallas-based artists. She started the Dallas Art Dealers Association (DADA) and was one of the founding members of Emergency Artists' Support League (EASL). In the last few years, she worked with artist Jeremy McKane to return the original Pegasus sculpture to downtown. It can now be found on the lawn in front of the Omni Hotel.

When news of her passing broke, numerous friends and artists took to social media to describe her endless curiosity and enthusiasm for downtown Dallas, where she resided, and her sustained interest in the arts.

If you're interested in Mattingly, in 2012, curator Leigh Arnold conducted an interview with her as part of the DallaSITES exhibition.