An Iconic Dallas Photo Dealer Is Heading to Denton — PDNB Gallery’s Major Move Shakes Up Texas Photography World

PDNB Gallery’s Missy Finger rang us up with major news that will leave Dallas without a photography gallery but will create a new destination for photography collectors. Here’s a PaperCity exclusive on PDNB’s next chapter — opening in three weeks. 

In the art world, smaller towns are in. As evidence, one of America’s esteemed photography dealers PDNB Gallery is relocating from the Dallas Design District to Denton — population 169,000 and growing — where owners/gallerists Missy and Burt Finger reside and started more than 30 years ago before moving to Dallas to launch their photo-based gallery in 1995.

“No more commuting!” Missy Finger tells PaperCity. “We looked around for a new space, then had an epiphany that we should move the gallery to Denton.

“The city has grown and improved. Demographics have changed, and the downtown County Courthouse Square has blossomed with restaurants and cultural activities.”

PDNB reopens on Friday, June 6, on Denton’s Downtown Square with a group show of some of its photo luminaries represented through the years; the gallery is a past member of the prestigious Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD).

The Fingers will hold court in an expansive 2,500 square foot space; Burt is the designer. It occupies the basement level of a modernist bank building lining the square whose punctuation point is its 1896 courthouse (now a history museum). Missy says of PDNB’s new home: “The architect that designed our previous spaces was Thomas Krähenbühl — now retired —  who was a great influence on the design of the new gallery.”

The town’s thriving art-centric universities figured in the gallery move: University of North Texas, where Burt Finger studied, and Texas Woman’s University, where avant-garde abstract photographer Carlotta Corpron (a Bauhaus-influenced talent shown by PDNB) taught.

Other stars of the stable, on view after the Denton move: Frida Kahlo portraitist Nickolas Muray, joined by international, national, and Texas notables including Keith Carter, Michael Kenna, 2022 Art League Houston Lifetime Achievement honoree Earlie Hudnall Jr., Patty Carroll, Bill Owens of Suburbia fame, Vadim Gushchin, Esteban Pastorino Díaz, Neal Slavin, and Dallas’ Jeanine Michna-Bales, who mines underknown chapters in American history, from the Underground Railroad to the Suffragette movement.

Of their plan to return to the place where their photography dealing began three decades ago, Missy Finger says: “When we decided to move to Denton, we knew that the gallery should be located either on the Square or a block off the Square. The new environs are quite unlike the Dallas Design District that art galleries have called home for many years. Denton’s Square is much more inviting  — with better foot traffic and a great small-town vibe.”

Respected for their informed eyes — Burt has appeared as an expert on Antiques Roadshow and is a regular FotoFest Meeting Place reviewer, from Houston to Moscow — the couple’s calling cards are integrity, independent vision, and a maverick sensibility. (Burt’s even been known to present a popular recurring show pairing vintage shoeshine stands with photographs of the subject from the same era, plus a quirky exhibition all about portraits of Burt himself.)

The photo-dealing couple, who have been married 37 years (Missy is the straight lady to Burt’s enthusiastic persona) possess a background that is mirrored in their expansive and unique stable.

“Burt has worn many hats in his life: a husband and father. . . a salesman, an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a soldier, a photographer, a detective, a carpenter and contractor, an antique watch dealer, and an art dealer — where he found his calling,” Missy Finger says of her husband.

Missy’s own biography is equally interesting. “I met Burt through a mutual friend in Denton. I am an Air Force brat who received a BBA from U.T. Austin,” she reveals. “In high school I wanted to work in a business representing artists like my best friend — but did not think much of it, a pipe dream.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing all of our old friends and being a part of the Denton community again,” Burt Finger says. “With two universities, Denton has always been a higher learning and cultural city. One of the most important colleges for music is at the University of North Texas (UNT), renowned for its jazz program, and both universities (UNT and Texas Woman’s University) have long-established and notable fine art schools.

“The City of Denton has also done an excellent job of promoting fine arts via the Greater Denton Arts Center, which is now the Patterson-Appleton Arts Center. A little note about this — we had our wedding reception in this Center.”

As to what PDNB brings to Denton, Burt notes, “I think the gallery will offer a strong connection with university and public school art students giving them a chance to see exhibitions that show the history of photography highlighting the masters of the medium like Alfred Stieglitz, André Kertész, Paul Strand — and also contemporary photography by gallery artists that are represented in museum collections all over the world.

“We will continue to offer artist talks and special gallery events that will be free and open to the public. We will be meeting with the local art professors, brainstorming collaborative projects with the students.”

And for Burt Finger, the Denton move is truly a homecoming. “I received my bachelor of science degree in psychology at UNT, then called North Texas State University,” he says.

“When I returned from my tour of duty in the Vietnam War, I studied art; the college had become an extraordinary center of making art in the region in the early 1970s. I immersed myself in the history of photography and was inclined to make a living as an artist specializing in the very popular medium of the time.

“I even rented a studio for my darkroom in the 2nd story of a building on the Denton Square back then.”

“Our artists have been excited about the move,” Missy Finger says. “They are happy to know that we will continue to work with them to discover a new audience while still working with our current patrons, museums, and corporate collections.

“We do believe that this will be a destination visit for many. Burt and I feel quite strongly about bringing our breadth of knowledge about photography to Denton. We have a lot of history in exhibiting this medium.”

The new space promises to be a game-changer for these pioneering gallerists.

“Overall, we look forward in getting to know our community again,” Missy Finger says. “For the last 30 years we have basically been Dallas residents, while living in Denton.

“Now we can become more involved with Denton culture and the local university and public school art programs. And best of all, a two-mile drive to work beats a 35-mile drive!”

PDNB Gallery is located 101 S Locust St, Basement Suite B07 in Denton. Summer exhibition details, gallery hours, and info about PDNB’s 30th Show this September can be found here.