Posts

Happy birthday to Robert Frank! He turns 92 on November 9 and is still one of the coolest guys I know. Our Museum has had the privilege of working with this venerable photographer and filmmaker for years. He is well represented in our permanent collection, and we’ve distributed his films since the 1980s. His birthday has inspired us to screen two films you won’t see anywhere else in town: a new …

The Halloween spirit lurks in the MFAH galleries at every turn. Keep an eye out for dancing witches, scary skeletons, and creepy symbols—if you dare. Helen Levitt, New York, 1939 Location: Beck Building, 1st floor
• Photographer Helen Levitt roamed the streets of New York, capturing unguarded moments of children at play—including this Halloween-ready masked trio, on loan for the special …

March 5, 2016, marked the 50th anniversary of Bayou Bend’s opening to the public. We’re celebrating throughout the year with blog posts offering behind-the-scenes perspectives on this cultural and historical Houston treasure. David B. Warren’s connection to Bayou Bend began in 1965, when Ima Hogg(1882–1975) hired him as curator just months before the new house museum was to open to the public. …

The days are shorter and the shadows are longer, but fall doesn’t just mean a change in season. Discover the multitude of meanings that autumn holds across time and cultures with these curatorial staff picks of works from the MFAH collections. Read the curators’ notes, then find the autumn-inspired art on view in our permanent collection galleries!

I was thrilled when MFAH film curator Marian Luntz e-mailed me about working with the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston to share Matthew Barney’s River of Fundament with Houston audiences. This is a film that must be watched in a theater where one’s attention is controlled, because the two things one hears first about it are that it is very long and very demanding.

Ima Hogg and Bayou Bend had an important, early role in encouraging the popularity of Houston’s most iconic flower.

Ralph Kaethner has served as a projectionist at the MFAH for more than three decades. The Dying of the Light, a documentary we’re screening August 14 and 18, focuses on the displacement of 35mm by digital cinema. I spoke with Ralph about these changes.

We paper conservators at the MFAH have been experimenting with using rare-earth magnets to help us display works of art. Using strong, rare-earth magnets opens up new possibilities for exhibiting works on paper.

The MFA Café is making a boldstatement with high-quality coffee offerings prepared in the high-tech Victoria Arduino. Who, you may be wondering, is that? It’s not a who—it’s a legendary brand of espresso machines created in Italy, and one of these shiny, shimmering devices lives behind the counter at the MFA Café. The café menu presents 17 types of drinks at the full-service coffee bar, and …

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama (born 1929) moved to New York in 1957, quickly emerging as one of the foremost artists of her generation. She developed an artistic practice that uniquely spanned painting, drawing, sculpture, performance, installation, poetry, and fashion. An important member of the male-dominated New York avant-garde of the 1960s, Kusama influenced many of her well-known Pop Art and …