Marfa is a town in the high desert of far West Texas and the county seat of Presidio County. Located between the Davis Mountains and Big Bend National Park, the population was 1,981 as of the 2010 United States Census. The town was founded in the early 1880's as a railroad stop, the population increased during World War II, but the growth stalled and reversed somewhat during the late 20th century.
Today Marfa is a tourist destination. Attractions include artisan shops, historical architecture, a classic Texas town square, modern art at the Chinati Foundation, art galleries and the Marfa lights. (Morley Safer did one of his signature pieces on CBS' 60 Minutes on the town, its history and quirkiness on April 14, 2013.)
History
Marfa was founded in the early 1880's as a railroad water stop. The town derives its name from the wife of a railroad executive, who reportedly suggested the name "Marfa" after reading the name in the Fyodor Dostoevsky novel The Brothers Karamazov. The town grew quickly during the 1920s. The Marfa Army Airfield served as a training facility for several thousand pilots during World War II, including the American actor Robert Sterling, before closing in 1945. The base was also used as the training ground for many of the U.S. Army's Chemical mortar battalions.
Arts and cultural life
The area is known for its artists and artisans. Marfa is home to Cobra Rock Boot Company.Modern Art
In 1971, Donald Judd, the renowned minimalist artist, moved to Marfa from New York City. After renting summer houses for a couple of years he bought two large hangars and some smaller buildings, and started to permanently install his art. While this started with his building in New York, the buildings in Marfa allowed him to install his works on a larger scale. In 1976 he bought the first of two ranches that would become his primary places of residence, continuing a long love affair with the desert landscape surrounding Marfa. Later, with assistance from the Dia Art Foundation in New York, Judd acquired decommissioned Fort D.A. Russell, and began transforming the fort's buildings into art spaces in 1979. Judd's vision was to house large collections of individual artists' work on permanent display, as a sort of anti-museum. Judd believed that the prevailing model of a museum, where art is shown for short periods of time, does not allow the viewer an understanding of the artist or their work as they intended.
Since Judd's death in 1994, two foundations have been working to maintain his legacy: the Chinati Foundation and Judd Foundation. Every year The Chinati Foundation holds an Open House event where artists, collectors, and enthusiasts come from around the world to visit Marfa's art. Since 1997 Open House has been co-sponsored by both foundations and attracts thousands of visitors from around the world. In 2008, the Chinati Foundation changed the format of the Open House weekend, eliminating various events. This significantly reduced the number of visitors. The Chinati Foundation now occupies more than 10 buildings at the site and has on permanent exhibit work by artists such as Ingólfur Arnarson, Dan Flavin, and Claes Oldenburg. In recent years, a new wave of artists has moved to Marfa to live and work. As a result, new gallery spaces have opened in the downtown area. Furthermore, The Lannan Foundation has established a writers-in-residency program, a Marfa theater group has formed, and a multi-functional art space called Ballroom Marfa has begun to show art films, host musical performances, and exhibit other art installations. The city is 37 miles (60 km) from Prada Marfa, a pop art exhibit.
Media
Film
Various movie productions have filmed in and around parts of Marfa. The 1956 Warner Bros. film Giant, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Sal Mineo, Carroll Baker and Dennis Hopper, was filmed in Marfa for two months. Director George Stevens actively encouraged the townspeople to visit the set, either to watch the shooting, visit with the cast and crew, or take part as extras, dialect coaches, bit players, and stagehands. In August 2006, two movie production units filmed in Marfa: There Will Be Blood, an adaptation of the Upton Sinclair novel Oil! directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, and the Coen Brothers' adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel No Country for Old Men. Larry Clark's 2012 film Marfa Girl was filmed exclusively in Marfa. Also, Far Marfa, written and directed by Cory Van Dyke, made its debut in 2012. Additionally, various musical artists have filmed music videos in the town, including Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Between the Buried and Me, and Diamond Rings. In 2008, Marfa held the first annual Marfa Film Festival, which lasted from May 1–5.
Marfa lights
Infrastructure
External Links
- Judd Foundation
- The Big Bend Sentinel - local newspaper.
- The Chinati Foundation/La Fundación Chinati
- [1] - Marfa Film Festival
- View Historic Photos of Marfa from the Marfa Public Library, hosted by the Portal to Texas History
- Marfa Chamber of Commerce
- West Texas Weekly- a local weekly newspaper.
- Marfa! Marfa! Marfa! - 1998 article by Magdalin Leonardo
- Marfa Magazine- a local yearly magazine.
- "Far Out Far West Texas" from The Texas Observer
- Image of the Prada Shop in Marfa from "The Art of Texas" by Sean Thomas published on The First Post
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