Trip to MFAH

If frequency of things was the hallmark of how much you care about something or someone, then I would venture a guess that most of the things that we love today would not be present; just a guess. So with trepidation looming large of the rest of my Sunday, I went out to Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH). Now granted that I have been there and seen most of the items on display there, there is always the chance that you will catch something that you might have missed in your earlier visits or maybe even catch a new exhibit.

What I found out there today was more than what I was expecting out of this trip. Not only did I get to see my favorite artists and their creations, but also some absolutely brilliant pieces by one of my favorite artists, Mark Rothko.
For some reason I have always been interested in movements that have been either on the cusp of greatness (but never were) or movements which are so unique that no one really has heard of them, and yet I have never been disappointed at the MFAH. They have something for everyone (this is not a shameless plug for the MFAH but rather a resounding iteration of the wonderful work that they have done here). I have found artists from Georges Braque to Georges Rouault, Cezanne to Pissarro, Manet, Monet and the likes. So it was no surprise to me to find some great new paintings and assemblages (Damian Hearst's morbid assemblage about death comes to mind) to the always entertaining tunnel from the Caroline Weiss Law building to the Audrey Jones building. In the meantime I found "Rhombus 1-6" by Gerhard Richter an absolutely absorbing welcome installation. The modern part (consistent of the second floor of the Caroline Weiss Law building) was something that I could only dream about, absolutely marvelous collections of paintings, and sculptures.
I saw my usual Jackson Pollocks, Mondrians, impressionists, Fauvists, Pointillists etc in the Jones building. I feel that I should interject a bit here. I would put up MFAH against the big cities any day, but I truly feel a lack of modern sculpture here. Maybe the Rothko chapel provides a living, breathing installation outside the Museum which covers up for it in small ways. I feel that other than the classical figures of the Greco-Roman era, we should have more sculpture like the "Soft Fan" or for that matter something my Modigliani, or if possible something from the dynamism movement (it would be a coup de grace if we could land an Umberto Boccioni as they say Hope springs eternal). Maybe I will post some images some other time, but right now I feel I am too busy enjoying Houston and getting reacquainted :-)