HOUSTON, TX.- The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston today announced a roster of recent acquisitions, comprised of purchases and gifts across a number of significant collecting areas for the institution.
Commented Gary Tinterow, director and Margaret Alkek Williams chair of the MFAH, “I am pleased to announce this selection of our latest round of acquisitions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Notable among them are two works that constitute astounding rediscoveries in their respective fields: Ladies of the Court belongs to a series of 17th-century hangings that have been hailed as the most important Indian textile discovery of the century, while Fernand Khnopff’s evocative triptych has reappeared for the first time since 1912. These purchases and gifts have been made possible by the continuing generosity of Houston's philanthropists and through the perspicacity of our team of curators.”
The recent acquisitions include a host of purchases from a range of contemporary artists, including Hew Locke, Tatsuo Miyajima, Satoru Ozaki, Raqib Shaw and Anicka Yi, as well as a Joel Rosenthal-designed, JAR-produced menorah; a Viren Bhagat-designed architecture-inspired brooch that is inset with gold, platinum and diamonds; a Hokusai Mount Fuji woodblock print; and an Edvard Munch pastel. Significant gifts include those of a Mary Cassatt pastel and a Peter Bradley painting, and works from the collections of the late Hugo V. Neuhaus, Jr., including paintings by Hans Hoffmann, Helen Frankenthaler and Morris Louis, and from Houston collectors Frank and Michelle Heverdijs, including works by Jean-Léon Gérôme and Christian Adolf Schreyer.
Singular purchases ranging from the 17th through the early-20th century include:
Ladies of the Court, Indian, Tamil Nadu, c. 1635. At more than 22 feet in length, this Indian textile depicts a panoramic scene of Hindu courtly life in 17th-century South India. The panel presents finely rendered scenes of men and women engaged in moments of leisure, flirtation and social elegance within a royal setting, where monkeys, peacocks, parrots and mythical creatures appear within a palatial colonnade. It is thought that the textile, one of a monumental set of hangings, was brought in the late 18th century to France, where the set was recently rediscovered. The textile is on view in the Nidhika and Pershant Mehta Arts of India Gallery at the MFAH.
Fernand Khnopff, Bruges d’Autrefois (Bruges of Yesteryear), 1905. Belgian Symbolist Fernand Khnopff returned frequently to the eerie magic of Bruges, his childhood home. He was determined not to paint modern, industrialized Belgium, but instead to portray Bruges through the darkened lens of his memories. This triptych of chalk, charcoal and pastel scenes on paper depicts the city of Bruges as a haunted necropolis. The three grisaille drawings are set within three hinged frames, designed by the artist in the format of a Renaissance altarpiece. The triptych was on view at the Belgium Pavilion of the Venice Biennale in 1907 and exhibited in Liège in 1912; it then disappeared from public view until it reemerged on the art market last year. It will go on view this fall in the European galleries of the Audrey Jones Beck Building at the MFAH.
Ferdinand Hodler, Joyful Woman (Femme Joyeuse), c. 1911. Ferdinand Hodler was a leading figure in the evolution of Art Nouveau and Symbolist art, becoming Switzerland’s most celebrated portraitist and landscape painter of his generation. Joyful Woman is a signature late work, from Hodler’s iconic 1909-11 series of paintings celebrating the dancer Valentine Godé-Darel. Set against an abstract vernal landscape, Godé-Darel strikes a pose inspired by Eurythmic principles, which sought to unite dance with the rhythms of nature, her lithe and expressive figure embodying the promise of spring. Joyful Woman is on view in the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building of the MFAH.
