We are fortunate to offer another spectacular event at the Museum of Fine Arts with an introduction and tour by our board member Dr. Helga Aurisch. On Thursday, February 20, 2014, she will lead us into the world of French Impressionist paintings, a great continuation of her previous programs on German Impressionists. Her talks are always the highlight of our museum visits; she enables us to understand the artist’s intent, the circumstances surrounding the creation of the work, and to form a relationship with the painting. If you have not experienced a presentation by Dr. Aurisch, you are in for a treat. The MFAH has instituted new rules for viewing of its special exhibits, even on Thursdays that are normally free of charge to the public. Please see details for this policy, as well as for our meeting below.
The MFAH is one of only two museums in the United States to present the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute’s renowned holdings of French Impressionist painting. The exhibition features 73 paintings and works on paper, by artists such as Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Berthe Morisot as well as Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Jean-François Millet, Jean-Léon Gérôme, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Pierre Bonnard, among others.
“The Clark has been delighted to have this unprecedented opportunity to share some of its best-known and most beloved works with a broader global audience,” said director Michael Conforti. “It is our hope that this exhibition of the best of the Clark’s famous 19th-century painting collection will encourage the cross-cultural exchange of new ideas and the discovery of common ground, paving the way to greater mutual understanding and cooperation through the arts.”
“It’s a spectacular exhibition and we are thrilled to have the chance to present the show in Houston,” said Gary Tinterow, MFAH director. “The Clarks were some of the finest collectors of their time, and their distinctive sensibility and taste is evident in this remarkable selection of some of the most renowned paintings in the history of 19th-century French painting.”
Most of the works in the collection were acquired by Francine and Robert Sterling Clark between 1910 and 1950. Sterling Clark, an heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune, began collecting art in Paris after a distinguished career in the United States Army. The couple assembled their collection based on their personal tastes, amassing paintings, silver, sculpture, porcelain, drawings and prints for their homes in Paris and New York. In 1950, the Clarks decided to give their collection a permanent, public home on a 140-acre campus in Williamstown, drawn by the setting of the surrounding Berkshires. The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute opened in 1955.
The 73 paintings by 25 artists to be exhibited span 70 years and not only tell the story of the Clarks’ devotion and passion for collecting but of painting in 19th-century France, from the Orientalist works of Gérôme to the Barbizon paintings of Corot and Rousseau to the Impressionist masterpieces of Manet, Degas, Monet, Renoir, Sisley and Pissarro, and concludes with the early modern output of Lautrec and Bonnard. Portraits, landscapes, marines, still lifes and scenes of everyday life are all represented.
The MFAH has instituted a policy of charging every non-member an entry fee of $20 for the viewing of its special exhibits, such as this one. If you are a member of the MFAH, please be sure to bring your membership card with you. If you’d like to join the museum, check out this website . For students with picture ID, Houston-Leipzig will pay the museum entrance fee; they only need to pay the $5 meeting fee. If you are a student, please bring a friend, we always welcome young people.
Please come to the Jamail Meeting Room, Mezzanine Level, Audrey Jones Beck Building, 5601 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005. Registration begins at 6:15 p.m.,the food and beverage reception at 6:30 p.m., and the meeting, lecture, and tour at 7:00 p.m. The Houston-Leipzig meeting fee is $10 for members, $15 for nonmembers, and $5 for students, regardless of whether you participate in the reception.
Parking is available in the museum’s garage on Binz between Fannin and San Jacinto – there is a big yellow arrow to direct you. We must give a count to the caterers earlier than usual, so please RSVP as soon as possible, latest Monday evening, to angelika@houstonleipzig.org .