This exhibition commemorates the Menil’s 25th anniversary. It celebrates the founders of the Menil Collection, John and Dominique de Menil, through the words and images in the letters and drawings sent to them by their friends: artists, curators, museum directors, architects, family members, social activists, and intellectuals. Filled with gratitude, awe, and delight, the exchanges penned in the collected correspondence from the Menil Archives provide a unique and intimate look at the pioneering ideas that helped form the museum long before the building opened in1987.
The exhibited letters are displayed in a gallery turned into an archival reading room. Here museum visitors are able to comfortably spend time with the letters, which are augmented by a selection of photographs and ephemera also pulled from the Archives. Together, the materials reveal the complexity and pleasure of the swirling art world the de Menils inhabited, as well as their convictions and the profundity of their project, and the magnitude of their patronage of living artists. This is expressed in the simple eloquence of a letter from Robert Rauschenberg to Dominique de Menil from 1996 in the exhibition. It reads:
“Dear Dominique, I personally, and the world specifically, will and do celebrate your devotions, dedication and accomplishments. I am grateful that your acceptance of my artwork—marking your unique contributions—can be a contract to our future services to continue our unveering care. Let’s get on with our joyous work. We are needed as never before. Again, thank you from the depths of my mind, body and heart. Robert Rauschenberg.”
As a component of the exhibition, the Menil Collection is launching a recorded cell-phone tour of the Menil campus, compiled from rare audio recordings in the Menil Archives, including the voices of John and Dominique de Menil. It will also feature the perspective of those who have had such an impact—and continue to do so—on the formation of the museum and the neighborhood.
Dear John and Dominique: Letters and Drawings from the Menil Archives is curated by Michelle White, curator, with Geraldine Aramanda, Menil Collection archivist.
This exhibition is generously supported by Baker Botts L.L.P., William F. Stern, and the City of Houston.
Photos: Paul Hester
