A friend asked me if I live at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. No, but sometime I wish it were so.
I attended this exhibit, Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris, with a Meetup Group. This gathering of people who appreciate art in all forms came together on Thursday evening to view a collection of photos by Marville, who worked as the official photographer for the city of Paris in the mid 1800's.
The photographs capture cityscape as still life and inspired in me feelings of sadness for inevitable sweep of change to come. Pay attention to the small details, for certainly Marville did. He caught the industrial bits and pieces that were new but also transient.
The technical descriptions of the photography were inspiring for this neophyte, as well.
Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris
Through 9/14/2014
Beck Building, Lower Level
Museum of Fine Arts Houston
Admission to this exhibit included with your general admission ticket
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Monday, June 23, 2014
Sunday Afternoon At Redbud Gallery
Moe Profane Nihilism and Nanner Puddin
June 7-June 29, 2014
Redbud Gallery
303 E. 11th Street Houston, TX 77008
Gallery Hours Wed-Sun 12-5pm
I wish I'd found this exhibit sooner. Thanks to KM for pointing me in the right direction. As it is, I'm letting you know about it just a week before it closes, but you may still have time to swing by.
This is a small, well-curated display of pop-meets-vintage-meets-humor that doesn't feel overworked. I have a particular hangup about these genres. They often come across as kitsch to me. These pieces don't. Neither did they feel haphazard.
After viewing the Moe Profane exhibit, we took in the collection in the room directly behind the front gallery. There was quite a collection of painting, lithographs, and sculptures to browse. Several strong pieces: a Miro lithograph, a Jasper Johns, some African tribal work. I found it masculine, expensive, and interesting.
We also stepped right next door to:
G Gallery
301 E. 11th Street Houston, TX 77008
There is an eclectic collection at G Gallery to be sure. Spend some time. Parking is a breeze. The great thing about the Heights is that time seems to pass so pleasantly and there is always a coffee shop around the corner. I'm looking forward to events at both of these galleries, now that I've found them.
©Michelle Scofield, June 23, 2014, All Rights Reserved
June 7-June 29, 2014
Redbud Gallery
303 E. 11th Street Houston, TX 77008
Gallery Hours Wed-Sun 12-5pm
I wish I'd found this exhibit sooner. Thanks to KM for pointing me in the right direction. As it is, I'm letting you know about it just a week before it closes, but you may still have time to swing by.
This is a small, well-curated display of pop-meets-vintage-meets-humor that doesn't feel overworked. I have a particular hangup about these genres. They often come across as kitsch to me. These pieces don't. Neither did they feel haphazard.
After viewing the Moe Profane exhibit, we took in the collection in the room directly behind the front gallery. There was quite a collection of painting, lithographs, and sculptures to browse. Several strong pieces: a Miro lithograph, a Jasper Johns, some African tribal work. I found it masculine, expensive, and interesting.
We also stepped right next door to:
G Gallery
301 E. 11th Street Houston, TX 77008
There is an eclectic collection at G Gallery to be sure. Spend some time. Parking is a breeze. The great thing about the Heights is that time seems to pass so pleasantly and there is always a coffee shop around the corner. I'm looking forward to events at both of these galleries, now that I've found them.
©Michelle Scofield, June 23, 2014, All Rights Reserved
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Upstairs
Last night, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston opened a (to me) fascinating exhibition of the collection called "Houghton Hall: Portrait of an English Country House". This is the first stop for the collection before it heads off to San Francisco and Nashville.
Somewhere in the pre-opening hype, I made note of a couple references to Downton Abbey. Of course, I was in! Would I see splendid furnishings similar to the television show I devoured recently? What of the tea sets?
I should have done a little more research.
It wasn't Downton. Well, I take that back. It was the foundation on which Downton could have been set if I wasn't in such a hurry to put an electric toaster in the kitchen. (Faithful viewers will get that.) The Houghton Hall exhibit displays an amazing example of what wealth must have been like and might still be. For some.
Now, back to the collection:
Houghton Hall is the family estate of the Marquesses of Cholomondeley. It was built in the early 18th century by Sir Robert Walpole. The traveling exhibit does a fair job of placing you into and guiding you through rooms of the estate. (After seeing massive marble arches in England, I was slightly underwhelmed by the use of the wall panels to represent the marble and the library.)
Speaking of books, I swooned at a John Locke. There are tiny treasures to explore. Take your time. The preview was PACKED and I felt a little claustrophobic. Within the glass cases are stunning examples of porcelain but not so many that you'll be bored by them. Particularly interesting to me were the handwritten inventories of household items.
Not to be missed: The massive "The Knights and The Briar Rose" by Edward Burne-Jones. I felt a tug by the Burne-Jones. It was immediately familiar. What was it? My friend and I went back for a second view. It struck me that it has much in common with "Joan of Arc" by Jules Bastien-Lepage. I've learned that Burne-Jones and Bastien-Lepage attended the Royal Academies of Art in England and France, respectively, at almost the same time. I attempted to dive deeper into these two artists but did you know that when you start down a road with signs marked, "Avant-garde", you always end up at a Warhol soup can?
I suggest that you view the exhibit from front to back, saving the portrait gallery for last. The John Singer Sargents merit time to appreciate their fall-into-me beauty.
Houghton Hall: Portrait of an English Country House runs from June 22-September 21, 2014 at the Museum of Fine Arts, 1001 Bissonet, Houston, TX, 77005. Tickets are $15.00 Your ticket also provides entry to the museum's collections.
©Michelle Scofield, June 21, 2014, All Rights Reserved
Somewhere in the pre-opening hype, I made note of a couple references to Downton Abbey. Of course, I was in! Would I see splendid furnishings similar to the television show I devoured recently? What of the tea sets?
I should have done a little more research.
It wasn't Downton. Well, I take that back. It was the foundation on which Downton could have been set if I wasn't in such a hurry to put an electric toaster in the kitchen. (Faithful viewers will get that.) The Houghton Hall exhibit displays an amazing example of what wealth must have been like and might still be. For some.
Now, back to the collection:
Houghton Hall is the family estate of the Marquesses of Cholomondeley. It was built in the early 18th century by Sir Robert Walpole. The traveling exhibit does a fair job of placing you into and guiding you through rooms of the estate. (After seeing massive marble arches in England, I was slightly underwhelmed by the use of the wall panels to represent the marble and the library.)
Speaking of books, I swooned at a John Locke. There are tiny treasures to explore. Take your time. The preview was PACKED and I felt a little claustrophobic. Within the glass cases are stunning examples of porcelain but not so many that you'll be bored by them. Particularly interesting to me were the handwritten inventories of household items.
Not to be missed: The massive "The Knights and The Briar Rose" by Edward Burne-Jones. I felt a tug by the Burne-Jones. It was immediately familiar. What was it? My friend and I went back for a second view. It struck me that it has much in common with "Joan of Arc" by Jules Bastien-Lepage. I've learned that Burne-Jones and Bastien-Lepage attended the Royal Academies of Art in England and France, respectively, at almost the same time. I attempted to dive deeper into these two artists but did you know that when you start down a road with signs marked, "Avant-garde", you always end up at a Warhol soup can?
I suggest that you view the exhibit from front to back, saving the portrait gallery for last. The John Singer Sargents merit time to appreciate their fall-into-me beauty.
Houghton Hall: Portrait of an English Country House runs from June 22-September 21, 2014 at the Museum of Fine Arts, 1001 Bissonet, Houston, TX, 77005. Tickets are $15.00 Your ticket also provides entry to the museum's collections.
©Michelle Scofield, June 21, 2014, All Rights Reserved
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