Houston, Tex.: Menil Foundation New Haven, Conn. A Modern Patronage: de Menil Gifts to American and European Museums. Photo by Argos’Dadīrennan, Marcia, Alfred Pacquement, and Ann Temkin. Image of the Menil Collection from Wikipedia. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research to present new editions of the original books, as well as an additional five volumes. In the coming years, Harvard University Press and the W.E.B. The project resulted in a four-volume series of generously illustrated books, The Image of the Black in Western Art. Spanning nearly 5,000 years and documenting virtually all forms of media, the unprecedented research project was devoted to the systematic investigation of how people of African descent have been perceived and represented in art. In 1960 they launched the ambitious scholarly research project The Image of the Black in Western Art, directed by art historian Ladislas Bugner. John and Dominique de Menil were also vocal champions of human rights worldwide, focusing their actions on civil rights in particular. The Menil Collection, located in central Houston, is free and open to the public. Just as important, the museum remains true to the Menils' vision of art as a spiritual pursuit.įor More about Dominique and John de Menil Housed in buildings designed by famed architect Renzo Piano, the museum is celebrated for its modern and contemporary masterpieces and holds one of the world's foremost collections of Surrealist art. Dominique guided the museum-watching her lovingly curated collection become a world-renowned institution-until her death in 1997. Photo from Menil Archives, The Menil Collection, Houston.īut the couple’s greatest contribution to Houston is their own museum, the Menil Collection, which opened in 1987, fourteen years after John’s passing. The city also boasts the de Menils' Rothko Chapel, a non-denominational chapel with works by mid-century abstract painter Mark Rothko.ĭominique de Menil with gallery model, Houston, 1973. Houston institutions benefited immensely from their patronage. Recognizing spiritual and artistic links between contemporary art and the traditions that preceded it, the couple's enthusiasm soon extended to the arts of tribal cultures, and later to antiquities and medieval and Byzantine art. Inspired by their friendship with Father Marie-Alain Couturier, a Dominican priest who championed a new religious art, the de Menils became fascinated with modern art that served a transcendent purpose. That's due in part to the generosity of Dominique and John de Menil: a French couple who left their Nazi-occupied homeland in 1941, ultimately settling in Houston.Īs John rose to prominence in the oil industry, he and Dominique developed a passion for collecting art. Hickey-Robertson Menil Archives, The Menil Collection, Houston John and Dominique de Menil at the University of St.
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