Beyond Craft: Decorative Arts from the Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle Collection February 23–May 26, 2014
Richard Marquis, Broken Grey #1, 1979, glass, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle Collection, gift of Leatrice and Melvin Eagle. © Richard Marquis
Ken Price, Sag, 2007, painted clay, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle Collection, Museum purchase with funds provided by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund. © Estate of Ken Price
Viola Frey, Manikin Man in a Wicker Chair, 1977/1998, ceramic, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle Collection, Museum purchase with funds provided by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund. © Artists' Legacy Founation / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Viola Frey, Women Underneath Studio, 1982, oil on paper, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle Collection, Museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund. © Artists’ Legacy Foundation / Licensed by VAGA, New York
David Gilhooly, The Miracle of Production, 1973, earthenware, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle Collection, Museum purchase with funds provided by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund. © David Gilhooly
Wendell Castle, Lectern, 1975, cherry, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle Collection, gift of Leatrice and Melvin Eagle. © Wendell Castle, Inc.
Albert Paley, Pin, 1969, silver, gold, ivory, and pearl, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle Collection, gift of Leatrice and Melvin Eagle. © Albert Paley
Peter Voulkos, The Eagle Has Landed, 1999, stoneware, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle Collection, gift of Leatrice and Melvin Eagle. © Voulkos Family Trust
Sam Maloof, Desk, 1975, walnut, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle Collection, Museum purchase with funds provided by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund. © Sam Maloof Woodworker, Inc.
The Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle Collection is one of the most remarkable collections of its type. Based in Potomac, Maryland, Lee and Mel Eagle have been collecting decorative arts since the 1960s, and the MFAH acquired their collection in 2010.
Beyond Craft, the first major exhibition from the collection, surveys the significant artists and aesthetic movements of studio craft from the mid-1960s to the early 1990s and beyond. The heart of the Eagle Collection is ceramics, and the selection of objects on view also includes fiber art, furniture, glass, jewelry, and works on paper.
Exhibition Catalogue
An illustrated catalogue, published by the MFAH and distributed by Yale University Press, accompanies the exhibition and is available through The MFAH Shop (713.639.7360) and the Museum's Hirsch Library (713.639.7325).
This exhibition is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Generous funding is provided by:
The Margaret Cooke Skidmore Exhibition Endowment
Friends of Leatrice S. and Melvin B. Eagle