Last summer I went to Houston to get my French passport renewed, and I had meant to write a blog post about the city, but life got in the way (very long story). So here is my belated attempt in writing something about Houston. The city itself holds a special place in my heart as a French citizen since the French consulate is there. Some time ago I bought "Double Vision: The Unerring Eye of Art World Avatars Dominique and John de Menil", with Dominique being an heiress of the Schlumberger family (back in engineering school at Mines ParisTech our main auditorium was named the Schlumberger hall in recognition of the family's philanthropy) and frankly I hadn't gone past the first quarter of the book because Dominique Schlumberger was clearly born with a silver spoon in her mouth and it is hard to relate to someone in her situation. But when I drove into Houston to get my new passport, I stopped by the Menil Collection and was taken aback by the smart choices the Menils made in collecting. Of course they must have had really good advisors, but at least they were smart enough in choosing the *right* advisors. I also loved the Houston Museum of Art, which I visited when I made my request for a new passport. (Yes that's a lot of in-person trips to Houston but you don't want someone to be going around misusing your name and your passport!) I also saw the Rothko Chapel on the trip where I picked up my passport. I hadn't expected Houston to have such vibrant energy in the arts but the city was phenomenal. (Shoutout to the restaurant of Hotel Zaza near Rice University for the fantastic lunch!)
What I found interesting about the de Menils was that, although they were born into a life of privilege, they did dedicate themselves (after a while) to changing the world around them through their collecting. For instance, the book "Art and Activism: Projects of John and Dominique de Menil" provides details about their involvement in civil rights causes. Also, I love this excerpt p.119: "John and Dominique de Menil built their collection on the simple but profound premise that art is not the preserve of the elite but rather a basic human necessity... Collecting, for the de Menils, was "a way to know oneself, like a mirror, a way of seeing oneself.""
I have a couple more books about Houston, in addition to "The Menil Collection": "Improbable Metropolis" and "Making Houston modern." They are all excellent and demonstrate convincingly great art is not only to be found in New York City or San Francisco. "Making Houston Modern" is about Howard Barnstone, best known for his work with Mark Rothko, "Improbable Metropolis" describes the trajectory of a city bound to achieve prominence on the cultural stage. I can't wait for Houston Opera to give me a reason to come back!
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