MFA Houston announces major Frank Stella acquisition: “Palmito Ranch” (1961), a landmark in American painting

HOUSTON, TX.- The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, has acquired Frank Stella‘s Palmito Ranch (1961) from the artist‘s landmark ―Benjamin Moore‖ series, which ushered in a new current of Minimalism in American art. The acquisition is a combination museum purchase from the Caroline Wiess Law Accession Endowment and gift from the artist, who made the donation in memory of the late MFAH director, Peter C. Marzio (1943-2010). “Peter Marzio was everything you would want from the director of a great museum,” [...]

The MFA Houston Selects Three Architecture Firms to Submit Design Proposals for an Expanded MFAH

HOUSTON, TX.- Cornelia Long, chair of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, announced at yesterday’s annual meeting of the board that the MFAH has selected three architecture firms—Morphosis, Snøhetta and Steven Holl Architects—to submit conceptual design proposals for an expanded MFAH. The project entails the construction of a building intended primarily for post-1900 art, a parking garage and the integration of surrounding MFAH buildings and public spaces. The decision follows several years of focused internal [...]

Antiquity Revived: Neoclassical Art in the Eighteenth Century at the MFA in Houston

HOUSTON, TX.- At the end of the 18th century, fresh archeological finds in Herculaneum and Pompeii inspired artists, intellectuals, and the public all over Europe to be newly fascinated with antiquities. “Neoclassicism” is the term given to the various classicizing movements that developed in the late 18th to early 19th centuries and influenced fine arts, decorative arts, and architecture from Rome to Paris and from London to Saint Petersburg. Influenced by Enlightenment thinkers, the French Revolution, and Napoleon’s rise to [...]

The MFA Houston Announces Landmark Acquisition of a Dozen Works by James Turrell

HOUSTON, TX.- The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), builds on its longstanding commitment to the work of James Turrell with the recent acquisition of a dozen light-based works by the renowned American artist. Turrell titled the grouping Vertical Vintage; the retrospective selection reflects the full arc of Turrell’s engagement with artificial light, ranging from his first mid-1960s projections to his most recent Tall Glass series. “Vertical Vintage is part of an on-going partnership established by the MFAH and James [...]

First Large-Scale U.S. Exhibition of Helmut Newton’s Work to Premiere at the Museum of Fine Arts

HOUSTON, TX.- The first large-scale U.S. exhibition of Helmut Newton´s work premieres at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Helmut Newton: White Women • Sleepless Nights • Big Nudes encompasses the entire contents of his first three groundbreaking books. Newton (1920-2004) survived Nazi Germany as a self-supporting, nomadic teenager to emerge a world-renowned photographer. He first cemented his international reputation as the supreme recorder of female identity with his early books White Women (1976), Sleepless Nights (1978), and Big Nudes (1982). [...]

MFAH Announces Exhibition from the National Gallery of Art

HOUSTON, TX.- The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), announced today a stunning loan exhibition of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The exhibition will present a selection of 50 paintings from the National Gallery of Art´s premier holdings while the galleries that house its 19th-century French collection are closed for repair, renovation, and restoration. The National Gallery´s Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection ranks among the finest of any museum in the world [...]