The Menil Collection — Attraction in Houston

A must-see free art museum designed by the same person who was the architect for the current iteration of the Whitney Museum of American Art in Manhattan. I have never seen such a wonderfully curated art museum with carefully selected artworks and mini-galleries dedicated to some of the finest Surrealist painters. Also, I have never seen such meticulous care taken of archaeological pieces dating from the Paleolithic age (e.g., the small piece of bone with a reindeer sketch). Furthermore, the mini-greenhouses were real visual treats that surprised me with the wide yet subtle variety of carefully selected and arranged tropical plants. I write this bearing in mind that I have visited many a great art museum throughout the United States.

That could explain why there is NO PHOTOGRAPHY ALLOWED (as is the case with the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia, which is definitely not for the faint of heart). Although I did see a few visitors using their phones to take pictures, most were considerate enough to let the collection pieces speak for themselves. I would say this museum is more for the appreciator of art history and art criticism, not for the casual observer who claims to like museums but lacks a working knowledge of art history and art criticism. Of course, that is only one person's opinion.

The Menil Collection is a privately owned gallery not funded at all by government endowments, as is the case with most Fine Arts Museums. As a privately owned gallery, the Menil Collection serves to provide visitors with a space to contemplate the meaning of art and appraise artistic works for their philosophically aesthetic qualities. While that may come across as intimidating or downright pretentious to some, the opposite is true. Not everyone "gets" art and may claim that "my five-year-old can do that." Admittedly, that is true in some cases, but can your five-year-old do that on a 15' x 8' canvas? I digress, yet again.

Lest we forget the, dare I say, child-like wonder and curiosity of finding an artwork that strikes you and contemplating the intent behind its creation. Whether you understand a certain artwork as part of the Absract Expressionist movement or derived from but inspired by the Maori peoples of New Zealand, for instance, visitors should possess some working knowledge of art history and art criticism in mind before acting like a tourist upon entering.

With that said, I would give the Menil Collection more than five starts if that were possible. The nearby Rothko Chapel (which was commissioned by the de Menils and designed by Mark Rothko but is not necessarily part of the Menil Collection) is worth seeing. It just re-opened after recovering from damage caused by Hurricane Beryl. The silence inside is deafening and welcoming at once. While the Rothko Chapel is a de facto chapel, the building is a work of art that should motivate visitors to brush up on their historical knowledge of modern and contemporary art. Too bad Mark Rothko died before he saw the building open, which makes this particular work more profound than one might...

Museum was beautiful but my experience could have been better. My parents, mom retired professor in her 70s and dad retired educator as well in his 60s were visiting me. Each time they come to town I take them to a museum. This was all of our first time at Menil Collection. The front receptionist asked if it was our first time, we said yes. She explained no pictures in the rooms only in the halls. Okay great! So we view one room. It was nice! My dad goes to the restroom. My mom and I wait for him near the front entrance, in the hallway, not a piece of art work in sight. I take a picture for my mom for memories of the visit to Houston. Her shirt was out of place, I fix it and take another picture and before I know it security in all black comes up to me and says I can’t take multiple pictures, it is considered photography. I was so confused because we were told that pictures could be taken in the hall and an amount was never specified. We were in the hall and by the bathroom! He sees my confusions and tells me that someone told him in his ear piece to tell me that I had taken too many pictures. That rubbed me the wrong way but I said okay and when my dad came out we moved to the next room. While in there, my dad was met with an unpleasant attitude from an attendant. He was trying to read the artist name from the art work and she shouts out “no, no you cannot be over the line.” My dad didn’t even see the line. They are camouflaged to match the floor color. I understand having rules and needing to ensure visitors abide by them but there is a much better way to explain that to the people coming in that may not know or understand. When we first arrived we were not told to watch out for lines in the floor so we weren’t even looking for them.

After all of this we try to find the other buildings. I got turned around so I came back in to ask the front receptionist for directions. She seemed annoyed by my question and was very condescending in her guidance. I can’t understand how you are the first person someone’s sees, a greeter, or receptionist and you are not friendly especially to people who are friendly and kind to you…we go to the next building. The young man was very nice and he actually explained the pictures and told us about being an arms length away from the art. First time hearing that. We also go to the Drawing Institute building. The receptionist there was very friendly and definitely made up for the experience in the Main Building. All in all I can’t take away from the architecture of the buildings which was beautiful and most of the art work was amazing. But some of the staff were rude, unpleasant, and made what should have been a 10/10 experience not...

Was visiting family in the Houston area. A retrospective show of Jasper Johns Drawings, spanning from the early 50s to the present, was the inaugural exhibition in The Menil Collection's newly opened Drawing Institute Bldg. Incredible show! Had everything from extremely small drawings of featuring ideas to exploratory sketches of now 'Iconic' imagery. And the Monoprints & Etching, incredible too.

Spent some time in the CyTwombly Pavilion. Also fantastic. Some viewers are confounded by Twombly's work. Like to think of Twombly, comparatively, as the younger, louder, messier, & brattier sibling of Robert Ryman. Contemporaries, born couple of years apart, would call these two 2nd generation 'Abstract Expression' Artists, the Introspective 'Anti-Hero' Wave of said movement ie their paintings works aren't as "loud/brash" as the1st gen of Abstract Expressionist. Note: Think of Twombly & Ryman as an equal & valued parallel grouping to the burgeoning proto-Pop movement exemplified by Robert Raushchenberg & Johns.

The following text is a painted Poem/Script from one of Cy Twombly’s pieces that form the lg scale ‘Untitled (A Painting in Nine Parts)’ 1988

7 May 88 (PONDS) to Rilke

and in the Pond

broken off from the sky

my feeling Sinks

as if Standing

on

Fishes

Okay, so spent rest of afternoon walking the grounds, semi-meditating in the Rothko Chapel, looking at the Mark Rothko Paintings for an extended period.Takes a while for paintings to come into focus. Beautiful stuff. Also spent time with the Dan Flavor Installation, & the Religious works in the main bldg (The Byzantine Fresco Chapel was closed during my visit unfortunately). Admission price was voluntary. Donated $5.00. Left w/Jasper Johns Drawing Catalogue, reasonably priced, from the Gift Store across the street. Was both mentally & physically exhausted after 4-5 hrs of Art Viewing/Participation yet also very Uplifted. Would I visit again? Yes! Is Today too soon? :-)

Addendum: Today is Wednesday, 11 Dec. 2019. Still haven't opened the Jasper Johns' Drawing Catalogue from said show that my Mother gifted me, Xmas 2018. Will probably open later this week. Reason for delay? Really enjoy looking at the...