Marfa, Texas

Presidio County

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Marfa is a city in the south of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat ( county seat ) of the Presidio counties. Marfa is located near the Big Bend National Park. Neighboring municipalities are Alpine, Fort Davis, Valentine and the Presidio. The city was named after Marfa Petrovna, a female character from Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment. Known worldwide Marfa was the visual artist Donald Judd, who in the 1970s, the art center Chinati Foundation founded here.

History

Marfa was founded in 1883 as a water station for the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway. It has developed since the 1970s to the artist's town after the American sculptor Donald Judd settled in Marfa and thus the city had made ​​known. His Chinati Foundation provides in buildings of the former military base Fort Russell from his own and important groups of works by other artists.

Exhibition Building Ballroom Marfa

In recent years, international artists are able to present in the multifunctional exhibition building Ballroom Marfa. The building is operated by the artist duo Elmgreen and Dragset.

Traffic

In Marfa, the U.S. Highway 67 and U.S. Highway 90 intersect a commercial airport located about six kilometers north of the city center of Marfa Municipal Airport, owned by the Presidio County.

Others

  • Giants, the last film with James Dean, was filmed here.
  • Thomas Hettche novel What we're made plays an essential part in Marfa.
  • Moondog Show, a band from Basel / Switzerland, published in 2007 a ​​CD called " Marfa " - it included the song The Queen on a girl from Marfa Marfa, falling in love during the filming of Giant in James Dean and mourns him today.
  • In Marfa was since 1944 a camp for prisoners of war. German prisoners of war painted there in 1945 an officer's mess with frescoes. 1946, the camp was closed. The paintings were forgotten. 2001 acquired Mona Blocker Garcia the building and had it restored consuming.
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