December 2007
Out of Sight
Houston
Al Held, Taxi Cab I, 1959, Acrylic on paper, mounted on canvas, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Gift of Caroline Wiess Law, 2002.3, copyright Al Held/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Houston When an institution as large as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston decides to pull some of its rarely seen works out of storage, the resulting exhibit is often just as rewarding as those touring block-buster shows. “Modern and Contemporary Masterworks From the MFAH,” opening this month, will showcase some of the museum’s star holdings, including several acquisitions on view for the first time. Although the MFAH considers mid-twentieth-century art to be one of its strengths, none of its galleries are specifically devoted to those pieces, which means there’s a trove of masterpieces hidden away. So you can imagine, then, how difficult it’s been for the organizing curator, Barry Walker, to whittle the approximately 2,500-piece collection down to just 77 for this occasion. “It took trial and error and tears,” he says, but the payoff is an assemblage that is as strong as it is varied. To rattle off the list of seminal artists included here—Jasper Johns, Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, Anselm Kiefer, Philip Guston, Robert Motherwell, and on and on—sounds as if you’re reading from an art history syllabus.
But instead of seeing just one great Kline, say, or a solitary Guston, you’ll see potent clusters. There are, for instance, three Johns paintings that have never been shown together: Ventriloquist, which depicts the artist’s bathroom, complete with his own iconic flag tacked to the wall; Cicada, a canvas filled with brightly colored crisscrossing lines; and Untitled (Red, Yellow, Blue), comprised of three panels with stenciled letters, which the MFAH bought directly from Johns in 2000. One of the longer galleries will feature Abstract Expressionists, with three or four paintings by Richard Pousette-Dart, one of the group’s youngest members, and several by Pollock, including his first overall composition, titled, not surprisingly, Untitled (Overall Composition), which dates to the mid to late thirties and was a precursor to his iconic dripped canvases. As for Kline and Guston, there are multiple offerings from each thanks to two of the MFAH’s most important bequests to date: Longtime patron Caroline Wiess Law (who has a building at the museum named after her) left several dozen twentieth-century stunners, including Kline’s spectacularly dramatic (and newly restored) Orange and Black Wall, in 2004, and Edward R. Broida, a Los Angeles real estate developer, willed some fifty pieces—two late Gustons, among them—to the MFAH last September.
Also on view for the first time will be another Broida bequest, Wolfgang Laib’s Milkstone (just what it sounds like: a concave white marble slab filled with milk). Visitors will discover (or rediscover) Al Held, a second-generation Abstract Expressionist, whose geometric style wasn’t fully appreciated until the eighties (see his Taxi Cab I, above). Another audience favorite will surely be Alexander Calder’s all-white 1949 International Mobile, which measures sixteen feet by sixteen feet. “It’s one of the great pieces that we rarely get to show,” says Walker, “and it is considered to be in the most untouched condition of any of the major Calder mobiles.” Like an iceberg, the bulk of the MFAH’s recently acquired treasures are hidden from view, so when they surface, it’s an opportunity that shouldn’t be missed. Read Jordan Breal’s interview with Barry Walker. Dec 8—Mar 2. 5601 Main, 713-639-7300, mfah.org
Double Take
Dallas Two disparate but equally enriching exhibits open this month at Southern Methodist University’s Meadows Museum. If you plan on poking around—and you should—here’s what to expect. Title: “Coming of Age: American Art, 1850’s to 1950’s.” What you’ll see: Marine paintings by Winslow Homer, a portrait by Thomas Eakins, a landscape by Frederic Church, an Ashcan painting by Robert Henri, a modernist masterpiece by Georgia O’Keeffe, and an abstract work by Jackson Pollock will be arranged chronologically to highlight the major developments that unfurled over a hundred years. The verdict: If you’re looking to bolster your fine-art knowledge, spend an afternoon or two here; think of this exhibit as CliffsNotes but with much better visual aids. Title: “Jerry Bywaters: Interpreter of the Southwest.” What you’ll see: More than forty color works, including landscapes, murals, and portraits, by the ardent regionalist—and Paris, Texas, native—will be on display in this comprehensive retrospective of his work; also check out the corollary “Lone Star Printmaker,” which features all 39 of his prints shown together for the first time. The verdict: It’s been a decade since so many of Bywaters’s iconic scenes have been on view, but his endearing—if stark—depictions of his beloved state remain cultural touchstones. Coming of Age: Nov 30—Feb 24. Jerry Bywaters: Nov 30—Mar 2. 5900 Bishop Blvd, 214-768-2516, meadowsmuseumdallas.org
Hit Parade
Dallas We’ve been humming along to “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” since October, but the holiday season doesn’t officially start—in Dallas, at least—until the Neiman Marcus Adolphus Children’s Parade wends its way through the streets of downtown. The early-morning procession, always held in the beginning of December, has become such a local tradition that it’s hard to believe it is only twenty years old (by comparison, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, in New York City, just turned a stately 81). From it’s inception in 1988 as a gift from the Adolphus hotel to thank Dallasites for their patronage, the parade has morphed into one of the city’s most significant fundraisers—more than $1 million has been given to the Children’s Medical Center to date—and one of its most well-attended events, with some 350,000 revelers braving chilly temps. (Millions more watch it live on national TV.) To mark the occasion, this year’s march will celebrate the history of transportation, with everything from hot-air balloons and riverboats to trains and planes (all with a holiday twist, of course) zigging and zagging along the sixteen-block route. And then there will be the usual suspects: the giant cartoon inflatables (look, Ma! It’s Jay Jay the Jet Plane!), the themed floats (the Yo Ho Ho Ho!, for instance), the VIPs (Miss America and Miss Texas), the local talents (the Dallas Tap Dazzlers, the Pegasus Flyers Bubble Patrol), and the red-suited man every little one will stand on his or her tiptoes to see. Nothing ushers in the season more vividly than the sights and sounds—kids hoisted up on their fathers’ shoulders, the brassy din of marching bands, the clip-clop of the high-stepping equestrian units—of this so-called Miracle on Commerce Street. Dec 1. Parade begins at Austin & Commerce and ends at Akard & Marilla, 214-456-8383, childrensparade.com
