The Menil Collection Houston, Texas
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The Menil Collection Houston, Texas Kristina Van Dyke Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/afar/article-pdf/40/3/36/1816098/afar.2007.40.3.36.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 hen asked in 1982 about the collection she and her late husband, John, had formed, Dominique de Menil stated, “What characterizes my collection? Maybe a passionate curiosity for the past and also a vulnerability to poetry … poetry of images revealing the beauty and mystery of the world … W[I] am very moved by … art that … expresses the tragedy of man’s ephemeral condition” (de Menil 1983:50). At the time, Dominique de Menil was working with Renzo Piano on plans for The Menil Collection, the museum that would house the couple’s collection and manifest its poetry (Fig. 1). Thoughtful and meticulous, Dom- inique de Menil labored over every detail of the design and, when construction was complete in 1987, the installation of the collec- tion as well (Fig. 2). Her goals were clear: “I would like my collec- tion to be displayed in such a way that it opens new vistas, that it reveals ‘Terra Incognita’—islands beyond” (ibid.). The Menil Collection, with its 16,000 objects, is but one out- come of this French couple’s vision and philosophy. Intertwining art, social activism, and a profound spirituality, the de Menils left an indelible mark on their adopted city of Houston, both in the campus that houses their museum and related galleries and cha- pels, and in the effect their philanthropic projects had on various institutions in the city. Through their political action and sup- port of museums and scholarly projects, they also affected a world beyond Houston and it is within this dynamic framework that the 1 Exterior view of The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas. significance of their African art collection can be understood. Designed by Renzo Piano, the museum opened in 1987. The The African holdings at The Menil Collection number close to building’s scale is based on the bungalows in the surrounding 1,000 objects, ranging from a miniature Kongo ivory finial (Fig. 3) neighborhood. Its modest size is intended to leave visitors feeling energized rather than fatigued by their encounter with the works to a near life-size Mboi figure from northeastern Nigeria (Fig. 4). on view. Galleries are filled with natural light, which is diffused There are concentrations of objects from Mali, including Dogon through a system of elegant concrete baffles. PHOTO BY HESter + HArdAWAY sculpture (Fig. 5), Bamana masks and headdresses (Fig. 6), Inland 36 | african arts AUTUMN 2007 CMYK Page 36 09652_20705064 2 Dominique de Menil install- ing the African garden gallery, The Menil Collection, 1987. Dominique de Menil played a hands-on role in the installation of the galleries, which embody the aesthetic she developed with her husband and collabora- tors beginning in the 1950s at the gallery of the University of St. Thomas. PHOTO © A. de MENIL Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/afar/article-pdf/40/3/36/1816098/afar.2007.40.3.36.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 Niger Delta terracottas (Fig. 7), Benin bronzes (Fig. 8), and Lega places spoke to the human struggle for meaning, in both the past ivories and “maskettes” (Fig. 9). These groupings of objects are and present. For them, putting diverse works of art into dialogue punctuated by unique works, such as a Jukun figure (Fig. 10) and allowed conversations across time and space to unfold—conver- a Bongo figure (Fig. 11). Assembled largely between the 1950s and sations that could inform our own search for meaning. 1970s, the African collection was selfconsciously idiosyncratic, like The de Menils were married in Paris in 1931 and Dominique the de Menil’s collections from other areas. The couple did not de Menil’s conversion from Protestantism to Catholicism, her have a predetermined agenda and did not aim to be encyclopedic husband’s religion, followed shortly thereafter. John de Menil, in this or any part of their collection. The acquisition of an African who was born into an aristocratic family in France, had obtained object, like any other type, was the result of a strong response to his law degree and was employed in the banking industry until the work itself. Dominique de Menil said, “I think I buy because I 1938, when he began working for Schlumberger, the oil services fall in love” (ibid., p. 49). company founded by his wife’s father and uncle, Conrad Sch- The couple put African art into conversation with the other lumberger and Marcel Schlumberger, respectively. parts of their collection, which grew over time to include ancient, When the Nazis invaded France, John de Menil was in Roma- Byzantine, medieval, modern, Oceanic, Native American art, nia on Schlumberger business and participating in the French and more. Openly embracing chance, the de Menils delighted resistance by disrupting oil shipments from Romania to the Nazis. in the ever-changing shapes the collection took over time. As Dominique de Menil and their two small children fled to south- Dominique de Menil stated in The Menil Collection catalogue, ern France, where she gave birth to their third child, before mak- However well parenthood is planned, children are what they are, not ing their way to New York; there they were reunited with John de what parents decide. Like children, treasures of a collection are what Menil. The family moved to Houston in 1940–41, where Schlum- they are. Complex sets of circumstances brought these treasures into berger Surenco, an overseas office of the company, was located, the family: a chance encounter, a visit to an artist or dealer, a glance at though during the war John and Dominique de Menil spent time an auction catalogue, a successful bidding, and, of course, a favorable in Venezuela as well. They eventually established residences in moment for spending. This somehow unsystematic approach was New York and Houston and maintained an apartment in Paris and our way of collecting. Nothing was excluded, yet deep inclinations a residence in Ponpoint as well. Houston became their primary existed. Constraints too: price and availability (de Menil 1987:7). home after the war. The de Menils set out to embrace and trans- form their new city. Dominque de Menil stated, The de Menils’ humanist and spiritual inclinations provided I would never have started collecting so much if I had not moved a foundation for their wide-ranging collection. Whether dis- to Houston … Houston was a provincial, dormant place, much like playing their art works in their homes in Houston, New York, Strasbourg, Basel, Alsace. There were no galleries to speak of, no or Paris, or installing them in exhibitions at various institutions dealers worth the name and the museum—that is why I started buy- they came to be affiliated with in Houston and elsewhere, the ing; that is why I developed the physical need to acquire (Browning de Menils were interested in how art from different times and 1983:192). AUTUMN 2007 african arts | 37 CMYK Page 37 09652_20705064 3 Figure Kongo people, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo Ivory, 6.7cm x 1.9cm x 2.2cm (2⅝" x ¾" x ⅞") CA 7607, Gift of Francesco Pellizzi PHOTO BY HickeY-ROBertSON This small figure of indeterminate gender was perhaps a staff finial or part of a related personal object. The figure holds what some have argued is a calabash, a symbol of sustenance and continuity. However, the object’s shape bears a striking resemblance to ceremonial knives, which were important markers of the authority and prestige of chiefs in the region. 4 Male figure Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/afar/article-pdf/40/3/36/1816098/afar.2007.40.3.36.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 Mboi people, Nigeria, c. 1470 Wood and traces of iron oxide, 175.5 cm x 35.6cm x 35.6cm (69½" x 14" x 14") Y 301 PHOTO BY HickeY-ROBertSON This figure is one of the oldest and best preserved of the rare Mboi corpus. An effigy of a deceased chief from the Gongola River valley, the sculpture was likely displayed in annual agricultural festivals where communities beseeched their ances- tors for bountiful harvests. At this time, the figure would have been rubbed with oil, giving it a reddish appearance. During the war period in New York, the de Menils encountered The de Menils’ collecting interests quickly mushroomed, their fellow expatriate Father Marie-Alain Couturier, a French expanding to Oceanic and African art in the late 1950s: for Dom- Dominican priest they had known in Paris. He believed strongly inique de Menil, that the Catholic Church in France should call on artists to create John Klejman … made buying African art very tempting. He lived works of art that communicated in a relevant and contemporary just a couple of blocks from us in New York, and he had fabulous spiritual language. In the 1950s, he facilitated the commissions African and Pacific Island pieces. We started slowly, but every year of numerous contemporary artists for the chapel at Assy (1950), added a few more primitive [sic] works (ibid., p. 37). Matisse for the Chapel of the Rosary at Vence (1951), Fernand Leger’s windows at Audincourt (1951), and LeCorbusier’s design of The couple also acquired African and other works from Julius the Notre Dame du Haut chapel at Ronchamp (1955). As commit- Carlebach. Dominique de Menil recalled going to his gallery: ted Catholics, the de Menils responded to his point of view. It was the time when Carlebach was selling Northwest Coast art Couturier brought the couple to New York galleries such as acquired from the Heye Foundation.