Cite Pall 1990 17

the building that he thought were reason- • « i • able or necessary. "I suppose they take that to say that everything that is put there is totally with my approval, which is of course not so at all," he rejoins.

For many architects, Johansen's Mummers has been a compelling and influential source, occupying a special niche in the history of 1960s design. Is it inconceivable 8858 pi that in 50 years' time there will be a move- ment to restore the Mummers' original «H» Hi appearance? The case of the Mummers and the recent furor over the now-canceled \ \ 7»"nnin Kimbell Art Museum addition underscores the need for landmark recognition of significant buildings that are fewer than I1IIII3III 50 years old by the National Register. The llllllli ^•t arts council would do well to consider M IIIP1I. ii l l l l l i r during its renovation that this intervention is bin i he beginning of a new act in the continuing history of this much-loved and much-maligned building.

The vulnerability of monuments of modern architecture is an issue that has recently been addressed in Kurope at the inaugural conference of Docomomo, held in September in The ; this ? European pressure group was formed to grapple with the problems of - tion and conservation of important modern buildings. The need for a similar Claes Oldenburg, exhibits public art in all its organization in the is all too Geometric Mouse X, 1971. Central Library Building, varieties, functions, and range of meanings. apparent. If and when it is formed, perhaps , 600 Surveying public art here is remarkably its first conference could be held in McKinney. easy, much easier than one might expect in 1 Oklahoma . " • Why a view ol Houston's reputation for urban sprawl and traffic congestion. These Many thanks to the people who provided conclusions will not surprise Cite readers visual materials or other special assistance and longtime Houston residents. The with this article: Drexel Turner, John Mouse? overall value of public art in Houston Johansen, Karen Merrick, Liz Hickman, and cannot be obscured even by the easily Margaret Culbertson. solicited - and thought-provoking - PUBLIC ART accounts of the controversies that attach Notes themselves to virtually every piece.

1 Mary Jo Nelson, "His Life Plethora of Crises. 13 Mary Jo Nelson, "Culture Zone Plan Will Assemble IN HOUSTON I Idc.ii-. I Ihallcngcs. Iriiimpfis." Sunday Oklahoma'!. Many Arts Agencies Downtown," Sunday Oklaho- 1 he city may sprawl and the freeways may 18 April 1982. news section. Mummers Stage man, 13 January 1985. business section. be dogged, but public art is concentrated designer David Hays founded the National Theater 14 Mary Jo Nelson, "Old Buildings, History Disappear inside the Loop, south of I-10, within the for the Heal in 1967 in Watcrlord, ( lonnccticul, and as (;ity t Sets New Laiok," Sunday Oklahoman, 7 July overlapping zones of the museum district, 19K.(, teal estate section. William Howze V ism joined him as a member of its staff. Seism died the Medical Center, the universities, in I486 oi cancer. 1 5 |ohu Pastier, "Something Klse Altogether in and downtown, If rime is limited, it is 2 Mary Jo Nelson, "lor He's a Jolly Good Fellow." Oklahoma City," AIA Journal 71) (August 1981). Sunday Oklahoman, 24 March l*)ttS, real cstare pp. 40-46. possible to sec a wide range of work, section. The Oklahoma chapter til the AIA did at 16 "TheTwentieth Annual P/A Design Awards," without too much driving, in less than two least declare it as one of Oklahoma's ten best Progressive Architecture 54 (January 1973), pp. 70-73. hours - especially with the help of the buildings in 1983, Mary jo Nelson, "Architects Select 17 Mary Jo Nelson, "Urban Renewal Project) to Top SI Cultural Arts Council of Houston's State's 'Best' Buildings," Sunday Oklahoman, 16 Billion." Sunday Oklalmman, 30 November 1986. brochure A Cultural Guide to Houston, the I iS 1 c• 11• • johansen, 75, is currently teaching a seminar ai October 1983, business section. American Institute ol Architects Houston the and is a critic in its graduate 3 I he prototype lor the program was the Ford Architectural Guide by Stephen fox, and Foundation's Program for Theater Design, a group ol program, Tie lectures in the I .5. and abroad. He has models for innovative theater proposals, including retired irom active practice, but he prefers to say thai the 's pamphlet Art one by David Hays and Peter Blake, that was he has "graduated" into the investigation of purely on ('ampus. The list that accompanies this prepared and circulated as a traveling exhibition conceptual design work. Tie describes this body of article attempts to bring the works men- under the title The Ideal Theater; Tight (oncepts by work .is "experimental - using advanced technologies tioned in those guides together in one place projected 40 or 5(1 years into the future." See John [lie American federation ot Arts, which also issued a with w o r k s tin o t h e r lists p r o v i d e d by Paul catalogue under that title (. 1962). M. Johansen, "The New Modernity," Architecture and Urhanism, no. 228 (September 1989). pp. 47-58. Winkler of the , William •' Robert 1 lughes, "Inward a New Slang," Time, 31 ('amfield ol 's Department May (971, p. 68. 19 Elliott & Associates" work has been published in 5 Sec "John M. Johansen Declares Himself," Archita several interiors magazines, and Architecture briefly of Art and Art History, and Marti Mayo, haul Forum 124 (January-February 1966), pp. 64-67, cited the firm's work ill May 1988 and August 1990, director of the BlafFer Gallery at the in which he compare his designs to contemporary and reviewed ,i bank design in the October 1991) University of Houston. developments in the arts. See also Abby Suckle, ed,, issue. See also Architects of the United State* oj liy Their Own Design (New York: Whitney Library ol America, i'5W"-/!W(Melbourne. Australia: Images Design, 1980), pp. 66-77, lor ins discussion of Publishing Croup, 1989), pp. 52-53. It is easier to point to examples of public electronic circuitry and ad hocism. Another possible 20 h is not surprising thai johansen moved quickly. He art than to define it: the water wall adjacent influence was Johansen's trip to the Gulfed Mexico in has witnessed the demolition ol two of his houses, to Transco lower; Claes Oldenberg's the 1960s to study the prefabricated Grand Isle island one in New' Canaan and one in Westport, ( onnccti- Geometric Mouse A'in Iront of Houston mine; interconnecting towers and bridges were cut. See Susan R. Winget. "Donahue's Demolition." Public Library's Central Building; Rufino subsequently proposed for New York in his 1966 1'rogressive Architecture, September 1988, p, 24; see Tamayo's mural America in the second- "Leapfrog City" concept. See johansen, "New Ibwn," also 1'rogressii'r Architecture, May 1962, pp. 181 -86. floor banking hall of Bank One, 'Texas. Architectural Torum 127 (September 1967), pp, 44- The Mechanic Theater in R.ihimntc underwent a 53. Johansen's explorations in the 19604 certainly major modification ol lis ihrust stage without Public art is found in places where one paralleled those ol the Metabolists. and he admired Johansen's collaboration, and he later found himself might come upon it in the course of the work ol'Archigram (Hughes, "Toward a New to be the butt of a critique of the altered building. routine activities, even driving around Slang," p. 6H. See Allen Freeman and Andrea O. Dean, "Evaluation: town. It is a manifestation of the belief that *> "Statement on the Oklahoma Theater Center," John A Troubled Theater Anchors Baltimore's Downtown," art is good for us, that works of art enrich Architecture67 (February 1978), pp. 32-37. M. johansen to author, 28 September 1990. our lives by heightening our sensitivity to 21 Mary Jo Nelson, "Arts Council Bows to Architect's 7 See Peter Blake, "I he Mummers Theater," Architec- our surroundings and making LIS aware of tural Forum 134 (March 1971), pp. 30-37. The Withes," Sunday Oklahoma,!, 17 April 1988, their expressive qualities. We are sur- Mummed was cited in Nikolaus Pevsner's A History business section, of Building Type [Princeton, N.J.: Princeton 22 Andrea Oppenheimer Dean, "Renewing Our Modern rounded by concrete anil steel. What is I njversin Press, I l)~r>l and in Arthui Drcxlcr's Legacy," Architecture 79 (November 1990), p. 69. their expressive potential? Look at the Transformations in Modern Architecture(New York: 23 The combined compositional analogies ol electronic works of - not in a Museum ol Modem Art, 1979). From 1970 to 1972 circuitry and arteries derives from Johansen's museum but in a park, in the context of the Mummers was published in Architectural Record, interpretation of Marshall Md.uhan's book the city, in the midst of daily life. This Understanding Media, which states thai with Architecture dAujourd'htti, I'Architetturit, Architectural aspect of public art, its location in places Detign, the AIA journal, and CutaMla, Johansen was electronic communication "we have extended the recognized as one of 45 international "Cre.ii Builders central nervous system iisell in a global embrace people do not frequent deliberately to see of the 1960s" in 1970. See Japan Architect, no. 165 abolishing time and space." Sec Johansen, "John M. art, is at the heart of all the controversies (July 1970), p. 67. For Johansen's comments on the Johansen Dei lares I liinself." Architectural Torum 124 surrounding it. Location is therefore an Mummers, sec his "The Mummers Theater: A (January-February 1966), p. 66. essential consideration for an appraisal of Fragment Not a Building," ArchitecturalTorum 129 24 Nelson, "Arts Council Bows to Architect's Wishes." public art. (May 1968), pp. 64-69; "An Architecture for an 25 Architects of the United States of America. 1989-1990, FJcctronic Age." American Scholar, 1966. p. 53. 8 Hughes, "Toward a New Slang," p, 68. 26 "AIA Component Awards," Architecture77 (May Location offers a useful way to categorize 9 Blake, "The Mummers Theater," p. 35. 1988). p. 82. public arr and to think about its functions. 0 "AW Honor Awards." AIA Journal 57 (May 1972). 27 Hughes, "Toward a New Slang," p. 68, Where is it found? In Houston, four types See Mummers'['heater, p. 34, and Alley Theater, 28 Docomomo's first conference was attended by 170 or locations account for virtually all the participants. Irom 20 countries. See John Allen. p, 32. The Alley Theater received the Harden Award. public art in the city: the grounds of 1 "Theatre Center Completes Plans to Take (Ywt "Instruments for Icons?" Architectural Review, museums, college campuses, the plazas and Mummers," Oklahoma Journal, 28 May 1972. no. 1125 (November 1990), pp. 5, 9. - Blake, "The Mummers Theater," p. 33 lobbies of major commercial and public 18 Cite Fall 1990

INDEX OF PUBLIC Daniel MacMorris Lillie and Hugh Roy ART IN HOUSTON Allegorical murals Cullen Garden. 1939. City Hall, 901 Bagby, Museum of Fine Arts, DOWNTOWN interior, Houston, 1986, Isamu 2* Noguchi with Fuller & 'jawti&raKUMt i Unknown artist Vincent Maragliatti Sadao, architects. rvSrvf $nfc, ' t i l [Battle of Modern Houston and Anthony Caro, Argentine, San Jacinto] other murals 1967, foreground; Stained glass. Texas Fresco, 1929. Texas , Houston Commerce Bank Building, Commerce Bank Building, Triptych, 1986, back- 712 Main Street, interior. 712 Main Street, interior. ground. iiy**t John Alexander MarcelloMascherini 4 Lily Pads Ballet Dancer Oil on canvas, 1977. Music Bronze, 1950. Jones Hall, Hall, 810 Bagby, interior. 615 Louisiana. t^k i Louis Ameteis Enrique Miralda Spirit of the Confederacy Figures Bronze, 1908. Sam Steel core, iron, concrete, David Smith, Two Circle • Houston Park, 1100 Bagby. and cement, 1982. Sawyer Sentinel, 1961. Building, Lubbock at Dennis Ashtord Hemphill. mately the great blue Texas sky encloses all. Begin Odd-Even (This is arguably one of the ten great pieces Tomorrow Joan Mird Acrylic on canvas, 1979. Personage and Birds of Iotas sky, especially looking east toward First City National Bank Polychrome bronze, 1970. a clearing thunderstorm.) Building, 1001 Main Street, Texas Commerce Tower, interior. 601 Travis. The next impression the garden provides is Tim Bailey Henry Moore one of textures - granite, concrete, gravel, untitled Large Spindle Piece and grass - and their ordered arrangement. Forged steel, 1988. One Bronze, 1968,1974. Allen Noguchi's garden is about texture and , 500 . Parkway across from proportion as much as anything, the Jefferson Davis Hospital. hidden dimension made visible. The John Biggers The Quilting Bee Louise Nevelson enclosing sky, buildings, trees, and walls 1981 Music Hall, 810 Frozen Laces create a perceptible perimeter around what Bagby. interior. Black painted steel, 1979. at first seems to be an open space. But Enron Building, Four Allen freestanding walls and low earth berms Mike Biggers Center, 1400 Smith. subtly break up the space. One has a clear Cambria 1 Painted steel. Allen Center sense of a perimeter from which one is cut Plaza, Smith at Clay, Graded Exposures buildings, and city parks. In terms of the off, and this creates a spatial paradox: an through June 1991. Acrylic on canvas. 1967. relationship of the art work to its setting, open labyrinth. The labyrinth is occupied First City National Bank these locations range from the intimate and by challenging objects, if not a minotaur. Building, 1001 Main Mike Biggers carefully arranged museum grounds to the In such a setting one has CO ask, What do Various works Street, interior. Forged steel, glass, and vast and less ordered parks, with campuses these objects have in common? Certainly aluminum One Allen David Novros and building plazas falling in between. the large that command atten- Center, Sculpture Gallery, Untitled tion - the Matisse Backs, Ellsworth Kelly's 500 Dallas, through Fresco. Pennzoil PIBCB, The most controlled location that can still Houston Triptych, and Anthony Caros June 1991. 700 Milam, interior. be considered public is the Lillie and Hugh Argentine- create a sense of metamorpho- Jerry Bywaters Claes Oldenburg Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden of the sis, of forms arrested in the midst of Buffalo Bayou Geometric Mouse X Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 00 the change. This feeling is reinforced as one 1941. Federal Office Painted steel, 1971. northeast corner of Montrose and moves around the garden: everything seems Building, 515 Rusk, interior. Central Library Building, to undergo a metamorphosis. Spatial Houston Public Library, Bissonnet. This is a place surrounded by art relationships and the objects change in one William Conlon 600McKinney. institutions: it is in front of the Citassell Red Shift School of Art, across Bissonnet from the aspect or another; Pietro Consagra's Acrylic on canvas, 1975. Claes Oldenburg Museum of Fine Arts, and across Montrose Conversation With the Wind actually moves. First City National Bank Inverted "Q" Prototype from the Contemporary Arts Museum, One is forced to confront the fact that the Building, 1001 Main Street, Black epoxy-coated rigid isamu Noguchi's enclosure of grassy berms more one tries to gauge the relationship of interior. foam , 1001 Fannin, interior. and concrete walls is the work of art the objects to each other and to the space, Jean Dubuffet encountered by most of the public as they the more complex that relationship Monument au Fantome Albert Paley drive through the intersection, but the becomes. Among other rewards, the Polychrome polyester Untitled (heroic banners) opening in the wall on Montrose and the sculpture garden provides .i place to resin and fiberglass, 1977. Painted steel, 1987. curving entrance on Bissonnet make it sharpen one's perception before encounter- 1100 Louisiana Building, Wortham Center, 1100 Louisiana. 550 Prairie, interior. clear that this is no secret garden. It is an ing works in less conrrollcd environments, inviting one, although the invitation is such .is one can find jusi .i block away on Helen Frankenthaler Charles Pebworth clearly formal. the south lawn of the Museum of Fine Blue North Garden of the Mind Arts. That spit of land divides a stream of Acrylic on canvas, 1968. Polished aluminum traffic that distracts ones attention from sculptural relief, 1971-72. What is inside? As much as anything else, First City National Bank such fine works as 's Hercules Building, 1001 Main Street, Hyatt Regency Hotel, the garden creates a subtle, almost concen- Upholding the Heavens and F.duardo interior. 1200 Louisiana, interior. tric sense of being enclosed, especially Chillida's Abesti Gogora V. when one enters from Bissonnet. Berms Erniliu Greco Pio Pulido and Grande Baigneuse No. 2 Sylvia Orozco and walls enclose the viewer; the crowns of Bronze, 1957. Sank One/ A United Community trees enclose the walls; buildings - the dark The Mcnil Collection has managed to Texas drive-in branch, Tile and brick. Sixth Ward curve of the museum's Brown Pavilion and project its aesthetic of passion and intellect Preston at Louisiana. Community Park, Kane the silver flank of the CAM close by, church Street at Trinity Street. Mark di Suvero, Bygones, 1976. Menil from inside its galleries to an area of several spires and apartment and office towers Barbara Hepworth Collection, park between Menil blocks that includes the Rothko Chapel The Family of Man Peter Reginato Collection and Rothko Chapel. farther away- enclose the trees; and ulti- and the campus of the University of St. Bronze, 1970. First City High Plains Drifter Tower, 1001 Fannin. Cor-ten steel. 1973. Allen Center II, 1200 Smith. Alexandre Hogue Buffalo Bayou Tony Rosenthal 1941. Federal Office Bronco Building, 515 Rusk, interior. Stainless steel, 1980. 1010 Lamar Building, Ellsworth Kelly 1010 Lamar, interior. Green Angle Acrylic on canvas, 1971. Naomi Savage First City National Bank One Step for Mankind Building, 1001 Main Street, Photographic etching in interior. stainless steel, 1979. Tranquillity Park, Bagby Robert Kushner between Walker and Architectural Arabesque Rusk, east wall. Bronze. 1986. Hyatt Regency Hotel, Carroll Simms 1201 Louisiana. The Guitar Solo Bronze. 1981. Music Hall, Richard Lippold 810 Bagby, interior. Gemini II Slam less steel, 1965/66. Ned Smyth Jones Hall, 615 Louisiana, Palm Columns y / • &? interior Mosaic tile and masonry, * 1986. Entex Building, Morris Louis 1201 Milam, interior. Delta Epsilon Acrylic on canvas, I960 First City National Bank York Factory B Building, 1001 Mam Street, Acrylic on canvas, 1970. _ m interior First City Tower, 1001 — Fannin, interior. ^^i^- ^B ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ "^ Jim Love Area Code Rulino TBmayo Metal, 1962. Alley Theatre. America 615 Texas Avenue, interior, Acrylic on canvas, 1955. ^W Bank One/Texas. 910 Travis, interior. Cite Fall 1990 19

Left: , Ruth Pershing Uhler Mark di Suvero Marriage, 1962, fore- The First Subscription Magari ground, and Spitball, Committee Welded steel, 1977. 1966, background. Menil 1935. Julia Ideson South lawn. Collection grounds. Building, Houston Public Library, 500 McKinney Raymond Duchamp-ViHon Avenue, interior. Murals The Large Horse -.Ms by other Public Works Art Bronze, 1914. Main Street Project artists are entrance lobby. -. elsewhere in the building. Lucio Fontana Space Concept Nature I .> Jar MENIL and II COLLECTION/ Bronze, 1965. Lillie and UNIVERSITY OF Hugh Roy Cullen ^iS %** L ST. THOMAS Sculpture Garden. ; Mark di Suvero I ^ : VL ! Bygones Large Standing Woman I &?• ^~ Cor-ten steel beams and Bronze, 1960. Lillie and milled steel plate, 1976. Hugh Roy Cullen Menil Collection, park Sculpture Garden. between Menil Collection and Rothko Chapel. Robert Graham J#^*"* Fountain Figures Below: Carroll Simms, Michael Heizer Bronze, 1983. Lillie and The Tradition of Music, Isolated Mass/ ^ _ —• Hugh Roy Cullen -Jt 1986. Texas Southern Circumflex (#2) Sculpture Garden. University, central plaza. Mayari-R steel, 1968-72 -. . •;; Menil Collection, front Barbara HepwDrth _ lawn. Bryher II Bronze. 1961. Lillie and Thomas with remarkable skill and subtlety. William Kohl Hugh Roy Cullen Of course, chronologically it might be The Young Obelisk Sculpture Garden, Cor-ten steel. 1971. more accurate to say that the aesthetic first University of St. Thomas, Bryan Hunt manifested at St. Thomas and the chapel 3921 Yoakum, garden. Arch Falls has been concentrated in the Menil. Bronze on limestone base, Clark Murray 1981. Lillie and Hugh Roy Surrounded by small houses painted a Untitled Cullen Sculpture Garden. Primed and painted uniform gray, like so many well-behaved welded steel pipe, 1973. Ellsworth Kelly parochial school children in matching University of St. Thomas, Houston Triptych jumpers and slacks, the grounds of the Jerabeck Activity and Bronze, 1986. Lillie and Menil arc hardly less controlled than the Athletic Center. Hugh Roy Cullen MFA's sculpture garden. It is amazing that Sculpture Garden. this obvious aesthetic gambit works, but Broken Obelisk Alexander Ueberman the effect is actually pleasing, perhaps Cor-ten steel, 1963-67. Around because little houses arc part of the fabric Rothko Chapel, Painted steel, acquired of the whole district, only here the weft has 1409 Sul Ross. 1970. Off exhibition. been dyed grey. The sensibility that judged Tony Smith Auguste Maillol that effect so nicely was clearly at work in Marriage Flore Nue the placement nearby of Mark di Suvero's Perhaps that is why they seem so much at Jonah and the Whale near the tennis courts Painted milled steel, 1962. Bronze, 1910. Lillie and Bygones. Though made of two massive steel home near Philip Johnson's University of at the University of Houston, for example, Menil Collection, Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden. 1-bcams, Bygones is mostly hidden from St. Thomas campus. However, the little or the artist's Guitar Solo in the lobby of Mulberry at Sul Ross. view by trees until one is practically upon house asserts its own vernacular aesthetic the Music Flail downtown. But in the Tony Smith Paul Manship it. The trees, which create a roughly square from the back corner of the lot. If one were center of the campus, where the association Spitball Hercules Upholding the perimeter around the sculpture, obviously to combine the aesthetic of the little house with the mission of Texas Southern Painted milled steel, 1966. Heavens mark the site where another small house with that of Smith's works, would the result University is clear, they are inspirational. Menil Collection, Bronze, 1918, acquired once stood. What happened to the house? look like something by Robert Venturi? Mulberry at Sul Ross. 1939. South lawn. Who lived here? Did these intersecting The University of Houston displays the Tony Smith Marino Marini beams form a cross, erected to memorialize The next step in location is the campus of benefits of a policy that dedicates a New Piece The Pilgrim the place, that has fallen in its turn? Or are Texas Southern University. In the central percentage of building funds to public art. Painted milled steel, 1966. Bronze, 1939. Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen the beams part of the former structure itself In the courtyard of the Fine Arts Building University ol St. Thomas, plaza stand three works by Carroll Harris Academic Mall. Sculpture Garden. that has been partially excavated? Were Simms, African Queen Mother, Jonah and on the main campus there is a bronze there buildings here of heroic proportions the Whale, and 7 he Tradition oj Music. figure of Orpheus by Gerhard Marcks that Tony Smith before these little houses were built? In this Prominently placed on this traditionally represents the best qualities of public art. In The Elevens Are Up Backs, l-IV aspect. Bygones recalls 19th-century African-American campus, these sculptures a simple and direct way, it clarifies one's Painted milled steel, 1963. Bronze, 1909-30. Lillie and photographs of the great Sphinx at Giza, are as unambiguous as the bronze portrait expectations of public art by raising the University of St. Thomas, Hugh Roy Cullen Academic Mall. Sculpture Garden. before the body was excavated, when the of The Founder by in the question, What would this space be like if head alone rested mysteriously on the sand. academic court at Rice - but how much this sculpture were not here? For one thing, Tony Smith William McVey more challenging and rewarding Simms's the space would be virtually indistinguish- The Snake Is Out . Music. pieces are. Angel's portrait of William able from many similar courtyards in Painted milled steel, 1962. Sculpture, and Flower The trick of hiding a work of heroic scale Arrangement garden office buildings and hotels. So on a University of St. Thomas, in a residential neighborhood is repeated Marsh Rice can be associated with seated Academic Mall. Indiana limestone, 1935. on the adjacent lot, where Barnett portraits of founders on any number of very fundamental level, this figure, which South lawn. Newman's awesome Broken Obelisk soars American college campuses, with seated holds a violin, functions as a sign: this Hannah Stewart out of a small pool beside the Rothko figures of statesmen (notably Washington space, it signals, has something to do with Passage Mimmo Paladmu and Lincoln), and ultimately, of course, music and with art. And it has something Steel and cast concrete, The Sound o( Night Chapel. Here is another work one might Bronze, 1986. Lillie and to do with performance, not that the figure 1972. University of Si- associate with Egypt and the ancient world with ancient Egyptian stone sculptures of Thomas, West Main at Hugh Roy Cullen and, as the break implies, with its ruin and seated pharaohs. On the other hand, is in the act of playing his instrument. He Mount Vernon. Sculpture Garden. our present fallen state. But how can an object that at first glance appears so august MUSEUM OF FINE Walking Man also be relatively unintimidating? This ARTS, HOUSTON Bronze, 1905. Lillie and response exposes an ambivalent view of the Hugh Roy Cullen past and its monuments: one can be awed Emilo-Anlome Bourdelle Sculpture Garden. by them and at the same time feel superior, Adam simply because those who made them have Bronze, 1889. LiIIis and Joel Shapiro Hugh Roy Cullen Untitled vanished. The irony here, of course, is that Sculpture Garden. Bronze, 1990. Lillie and this is not an ancient monument but a Hugh Roy Cullen work of our own time. Broken Obelisk Louise Bourgeois Sculpture Garden. repays extended contemplation; the setting Quarantania I is perfectly complementary. Bronze with painted steel David Smith base, 1947-53. Lillie and Two Circle Sentinel Hugh Roy Cullen Welded stainless steel, More amusing but no less calculated is the Sculpture Garden. 1961. Lillie and Hugh Roy Me nil's placement of two pieces by Tony Cullen Sculpture Garden. Smith where Mulberry Street runs into a? The Crab Frank Stella Branard: Marriage And Spitball. Here again Painted steel, 1962. Decanter is a residential lot, vacant except for a small South lawn. Stainless steel, bronze, and carbon steel, 1987. building, probably a remodeled garage Simms's figures evoke the forms and Michael Heizer, 45", 90', 1B0 Anthony Caro Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen apartment, on the back corner. The 1986. Rice University, Court textures of African cultures and the Argentine Sculpture Garden. of Engineering. sculptures are roughly the same size as the integration of those cultures into the Painted steel. 1967. Lillie little building; their juxtaposition encour- American experience. The Tradition of and Hugh Roy Cullen Charles Umlauf ages one to make comparisons. From the Music presents an abstract figure that could Sculpture Garden. Pieta northeast corner, across the street. Marriage be either an opera singer or a gospel singer, Bronze. 1947. South lawn. perfectly frames the door of the house. Is Eduardo Chillida overlaid with shapes that suggest Victorian Abesti Gogora V there some sort of equivalency between the puffed sleeves as well as the textures of Granite. 1968. South lawn. RICE UNIVERSITY sculptures and the building? Is this a African textiles, sculpture, and even ritual demonstration of the differences between scarification. Simms celebrates this rich Pietro Consagra John Angel real structures and ideal structures? For- mixture of traditions, and anyone looking Conversation With Founder's Memorial: mally, the Smith pieces are similar to (he Wind William Marsh Rice upon his sculptures can share in that Painted steel, 1962. Lillie Bronze, 1930. Academic I'enn/.oil Place; they could be maquettes for celebration. His works can hold their own and Hugh Roy Cullen Court alternative versions of the twin towers. in any setting - see another example of Sculpture Garden. 20 Cite Fall l'J'K)

Michael Heizer TEXAS SOUTHERN Scott Burton, Benches, 45.90.180 UNIVERSITY 1985, at the entrance Granite and concrete, 1986. to the Architecture Court of Engineering. John Biggers Building at the Univer- Web of Life sity of Houston. In the Jacques Lipschitz Mural, 1978. Texas background, Brian Wall Portrait of Gertrude Stein Southern University, Ali, 1978. Bronze. Fondren Library, Samuel M. Nabrit Alice Pratt Brown Art Science Center, interior. Library. Carroll Simms Jim Love African Queen Mother Paul Bunyan Bouquet II Bronze, 1968. Texas Lovetl College courtyard. Southern University, Martin Luther King :.- * William McVey Humanities Center. Man Drawing PowBr From the Sun and Transforming Carroll Simms It Into Energy Jonah and the Whale Abercrombie Laboratory. Bronze. Texas Southern University, School of Carl Milles Education and Behavioral The Sisters Sciences. Bronze, circa 1950. Ellen Hale Lovetl Memorial Carroll Simms Garden at Jones College. Man and the Universe 1958. Texas Southern University, Samuel M. TEXAS MEDICAL Nabrit Science Center. CENTER Carroll Simms Mark di Suvero The Tradition of Music Pranath Vama Bronze, 1986. TBxas Cor-ten steel. 197B. Baylor Southern University, College of Medicine, central plaza. resembles one of Saul Steinberg's cartoons Michael DeBakey Center, in which ampersands, question marks, and 1200 Moursund, interior. equations dominate a landscape populated UNIVERSITY OF Nancy Graves HOUSTON by tiny human stick figures. Such works as Ten lithographs based on Clement Meadmorc's Level an be geological maps of lunar Unknown artist seen as an analog for statistical tables, orhiler and Apollo sites Nigerian head, court philosophical statements, and the formal Lithograph, 1972. University of Benin qualities of literary texts. These aesthetic of Houston College of Bronze, 19th century. Pharmacy Building, 1441 Student Liie Building. and physical manifestations of intellectual Moursund, interior. International Student challenges dominate the campus. Most of Lounge. the university's sculptures are large enough Walter Hancock - bigger than a car - to be seen at a Arion Various artists considerable distance, and they are interest- Bronze, 1980-87 Methodist America: The Third Hospital. E. Lillo Crain Century ing enough to command closer inspection, Garden, 6565 Fannin. Collotype, lithograph, and so one is drawn from one part of the silkscreen, 1976. campus to another in search of them, an Bruce Hayes Computing Center lobby enjoyable way to spend a Saturday morn- The Extending Arms and hallways. ing. Though much larger in scale than the of Christ Gerhard Marcks, stands as if waiting for a cue, resting his 1959. Methodist Hospital, Scott Burton Orpheus. 1959. instrument against his shoulder. He holds areas dedicated to outdoor sculpture at the 6565 Fannin, facade ol Benches University of Houston, the bow vertically in front of him, lightly Menil or the Museum of Fine Arts, the west wing Granite, 1985. Architec- Fine Arts Center touching his forehead with its tip, a posture campus still functions much as the sculp- ture Building entrance. courtyard. ture garden does. of reflection and preparation that creates a The Future Belongs to Maik Clapham certain amount of tension. The placement Those Who Prepare lor tt Cougar of the figure within the courtyard enhances Like the recent graduate, one is faced Tempera, 1952 Houston Bronze. 1970. Ho f lie in; the sense of performance: it stands to one beyond the campus with the real world, Mam Building (Prudential Pavilion lobby. side, in front or a blank brick wall that where the relationship between art and its Building), IIOOHolcombe. interior. Malou Flato could serve as a stage curtain. Because the setting cannot always be so carefully Untitled center of the courtyard is essentially empty, controlled. This is the realm where art David Novras Ceramic tile, 1985. a viewer standing there is in effect in the becomes really public. Nevertheless, the Untitled Cougar Place lawn. wings of the auditorium where Orpheus is lessons learned from the figure of Orpheus Fresco, 1981. Baylor about to perform. In this arresting way the still apply. What would the downtown College of Medicine, Michael DeBakey Center, Tower of the Cheyenne figure commands the entire space - no less library plaza be like without Geometric 1200 Moursund, interior. Cor-ten steel, 1972. Anne magical than the mythological Orpheus' Mouse X; what would the plaza of First City Garrett Butler Plaza. ability to charm bcasrs and rocks and trees Tower be like without the Family of Mart; Wheeler Williams with his music. what would Hobby Airport be like The Family Bob Fowler without Call Ernie? Indiana limestone, 1952. Untitled Houston Main Building Cor-ten steel, 1966. Walking out of the Fine Arts courtyard into (Prudential Building), 1100 University Center Arbor. the central campus reveals an antidote to Why a mouse? In front of a library, a Holcombe. the perhaps overly sentimental Orpheus: replica of Jtminy Cricket singing "E-N-C-Y- Ben Woitena Troika large-scale sculptures made from steel C-L-O-P-E-D-I-A*' to entice children into the Mirage II Cor-ten steel, 1979. West beams, plates, and cylinders. Here is a world of books might seem more appropri- Welded and painted steel, lawn, Science and different world. What are these objects ate. But libraries arc complex institutions, 1986. Baylor College of Research Building 2. about? They are a puzzle; and it seems not exclusively for children - especially a Medicine, Michael Mark di Suvero, Pranath Yama, 1978. Baylor College of Medicine, Michael perfectly appropriate for a college campus downtown library - and Geometric Mouse X DeBakey Center, Joseph Grau-Garriga DeBakey Center. 1200 Moursund. 1200 Moursund. Evocacio Oriental to be littered with puzzles. The campus is a complex work of art. Of course the Woven fiber, 1967. Isabel C. Cameron Building, HERMANN PARK interior.

Enrico F. Cerracchio Willi Gutmann Sam Houston Big Orange Bronze. 1925. Northwest Painted steel, 1971. corner of park. General Services Building lawn. Bob Fowler Elephant Linda Howard Houston Zoological Round About Gardens entrance, Brushed aluminum, 1978. 1513 Outer Beit. College of Optometry Building lawn. Jim Love The Portable Trojan Bear Manashe Kadishman Wood, 1974 On zoo On 1969 train route. Cor-ten steel. Entrance 14 esplanade. Hannah Stewart Atrapos Key Lee Kelly Bronze, 1972. Atop hill in Waterfall, Stele, front of Miller Outdoor and River Theater. Stainless steel, 1972. Cullen Family Plaza. Frank Teich Dick Dowliiiij William King Granite, 1905. North Collegium MacGregor Drive at Aluminum, 1984. Hermann Loop. Walkway between Communications and Fine Arts buildings,

Ron Kieeman The Four Horsemen and the Soho Saint Serigraph, 1976. Isabel C. Cameron Building. Cite Fall 1990 21

Barbara Hepworth, Gerhardt Knodel Bronze and marble, ca. The Family of Man, Gulf Stream 1920-30. Peggy's Point 1970. First City Tower, Woo! and mylar, 1976. M.D. Fountain, corner of 1001 Fannin. Anderson Library lobby. Richmond and Main Street.

Jim Love Marcel Bouraine Landscape With Solitude Blue Trees Stone, 1926. Glenwood Steel pipe and plate with Cemetery, 2525 Washington bronze, 1982-83. Courtyard Avenue between Cullen College of Engineering Building and Mel Chin North Wing. Manila Palm Steel, fiberglass, burlap, Gerhard Marcks and rope. 1978. Contempo- Albertus Magnus rary Arts Museum, Bronze, 1955. Law Center 5216 Montrose. mvx* Plaza. Charles Ginnever Gerhard Marcks Pueblo Bonito Orpheus Cor-ten steel, 1977. Knox Jim Love. Call Ernie. 19B5 Bronze, 1959. Fine Arts Triangle, Waugh Drive Hobby Airport, between Center courtyard. at Feagan terminal and parking garage. Clement Meadmore Luis Jimenez Split Level Vaquero Cor-ten steel, 1971. Molded fiberglass, 1980. Esplanade at Conrad Moody Park, 3725 Fulton. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management. Jim Love Call Ernie Richard Miller Steel. 1985. Hobby Airport, Sandy in Defined Space between terminal and Bronze, 1967. Science and parking garage. association with Mickey Mouse is irresist- Research Center, east ible, but what prompts it? The disks that entrance plaza. Frank McGuire represent ears? And what else? The color? Axis The size? The material? A cartoon mouse is Jesiis Bautista Moroles Painted Cor-ten steel, 1978. already an abstraction, but what do the Lotus West End Multi-Service Granite, 1982. School of Center, 170 Heights Blvd. chains have to do with Mickey Mouse? Social Work courtyard. And the Haps or doors to which the chains Doug Michets, Hudson are attached, where the eyes would be — Reuben Nakian Marquez, Chip Lord how can they be related to Mickey? Ledaand the Swan Save the Planet Everyone has different associations with Bronze, 1977. LeRoy and 1963 Ford Thunderbird, LucileMelcherHali, 1987. Hard Rock Cafe, these elements. The chains could suggest an courtyard. 2801 Kirby Drive. anchor; the flaps look like inspection ports of some sort, or theater projection windows Peter Reginato Robert Murray - a tenuous connection with Mickey Luncheon on the Grass Tikchik Mouse cartoons. This is not a piece to be Welded steel. 1979. Painted steel, 1972. University Center 4200 Montrose. labeled simply and dismissed. Even in its Underground plaza. current distressed condition - faded, rusted John Orth in patches, and evidently battered by its Tom Sayre Christ of the Workingman own chains and steel disks - Geometric Contemplation Oil on masomte panel, 1952. Mouse X manages to retain its delightful Cor-ten steel, 1979. Near Episcopal Church of the University Center Satellite Redeemer, 4411 Dallas qualities and demand repeated, thoughtful east lawn. Avenue, interior examination. It complements the library, which has many similar qualities as an Salvatore Scarpitta Beverly Pepper institution as well as a building. Manhole Uprising Sled Poly genesis Mixed media on canvas, Cast ductile iron, 1982. 1978. An and Architecture Four-Leaf Towers, 5100 San The same mental process that transforms Library, interior. Felipe at Post Oak. orange-painted steel plates into a mouse Carroll Simms easily turns Barbara Hepworth's abstract prominent boulevard: here is a victorious Joan Miro, Personage and Birds. 1970. Texas Tom Sayer Commerce Tower, 601 Travis. Jonah and the Whale fled Shift bronze totems on the plaza of first City ieader of unrivaled civic prominence. The Bronze, 1973-Tennis Steel. 1979-80. Brookhollow lower into The Family of Man, The simple sculpture and its location work together to courts. Complex, Loop 610 at interpretation is that the family of man create meaning as effectively as any of the Highway 290. (allowing for Hepworth's prefeminist other pieces discussed in this essay. Particu- James Surls Flower Woman Carroll Simms phrase) consists of a wide variety of types, larly notable is the fact that it manages to Pine, oak, and gum wood, Jonah and the Whale represented here by abstract shapes. Bur address iisill cqtialh well to passing t.ar.\ 1977. Wortham Theater Bronze, 1975-79. Fifth Ward what shapes these arc. One could make and to people on foot in the park. Complex lobby. Multi-Service Center, endless lists ol forms evoked by Hepworth's 4014 Market. MasaruTakiguchi "family": Maya glyphs, Cycladic figurines, Sam Houston demonstrates that public art Orbit I LeoTanguma totems of the Northwest Coast and has as much of a history in Houston as Camphor wood, 1968. The Rebirth ol Our Oceania, the forms of Klec and M i r o many other cultural institutions. Clearly, Science and Research Nationality rendered in bronze, even the monolith in much has changed in the neighborhood of Building lobby. 1972-73. Continental Can the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. No doubt Hermann Park since Cerracchio's monu- Company Building, MasaruTakiguchi many of these associations are reinforced by ment was erected, and the changes have not 5801 Canal. Orbit II the collections at the Mcnil, but Hepworth always been for the better, hut the mounted Camphor wood. 1968 Law RollWestphal has not just created an inventory of shapes, figure of the city's patron hero has probably Center, Franke! Room. East ol the Pecos and they do not merely stand for or defended the park and its environs as Painted steel, 1973 represent the diversity of humankind. They effectively as anyone could. The well-placed Solu Teshighan 3410 Montrose. Iraki stand for Hepworth's belief that forms pieces ol great public art elsewhere in the Wood and aluminum alloy, RollWestphal themselves are part of the family of man. In city have equally beneficial effects. • 1965. Agnes Arnold West of the Pecos this way The Family of Man, perhaps more Auditorium lobby. 1974.1976. Houston than any other piece ol public art, rcin- Intercontinental Airport. lorces the fundamental premise of the Luis Jimenez, Vaquero, Brian Wall Will Clayton Parkway, public . 1980. Moody Park, AM 3725 Fulton. Painted steel, 1978. Mac Whitney College of Technology Houston It is hard to imagine a better urban location plaza. Painted steel, 1983. Stude for Hepworth's Family of Man than the Park, 1031 Stude Drive. Francisco Ziiniga hirst Ciry Tower's triangular marble plaza at Mujercnn las Manas James Wines f-annin and Lamar. At a pedestrian level, in Cruzadas Indeterminate Facade every sense ol (he phrase, these pieces Bronze, 1972. Charles F. Brick. 1975. Best Products function as a sign of accessibility and McElhinney Hall. Company showroom, democracy. Their eternal or timeless quality 10765 Kingspoint Road. seems particularly desirable for a financial MISCELLANEOUS Ben Woitena institution at the moment. Hepworth's 3/4 Time sculptures lend the bank many of the same John Biggers Painted Cor-ten steel, 1975. values associated with Greek temples before The Negro Woman in Memorial Park, Woodway American Life and the modern era in architecture. at Memorial. Education Mural, 1953. Blue Triangle Ben Woitena II a discussion of public art in Houston and Branch YWCA Building, Archway the importance of location leads anywhere, 3005 McGowan, interior. Welded and painted steel, 1983. it is to Enrico Cerracchio's bronze eques- Ilya Bolotowsky between Buildings 9 and 11 trian portrait of Sam Houston and its WPA mural (3700 block of Richmond magnificent location at the entrance to 1939; liquitex on canvas, Avenue). Hermann Park. The interpretation is 1980 reconstruction. straightforward. Even for those unfamiliar Houston Intercontinental Ben Woitena Airport, Terminal C lobby. Cibolo with Texas history, the elements are easy to Welded and painted steel, read: a man, a horse, a gesture, a triumphal Gutzon Borglum 1977. Three Riverway otl arch, an elevated site that tctminates a Untitled Woodway. •