MFAH 100 Weekly Recap # 89 - 94
Welcome to the MFAH 100 weekly recap for Week Sixteen!
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston turns 100 this year, and in honor of my childhood museum, I’m highlighting the collection from Labor Day through December 31, 2024.
100 words on 100 works in 100 days. Happy Birthday, MFAH!
89. Rembrandt van Rijn, Portrait of a Young Woman
Would she have guessed that we would study her inscrutable expression still, centuries later, when her name was lost to history? One side of her face speaks softly of the sad weight of existence, the other side radiates beautiful, otherworldly calm. Yes, the ribbon,…
90. Robert Rauschenberg, The Ancient Incident (Kabal American Zephyr)
In Robert Rauschenberg’s elegant ziggurat, two chairs face each other at a standoff. The word “incident” in the title suggests an unpleasant standoff, a confrontation. But the chairs are also delicately balanced against eac…
92. William Edmondson, Eagle
There is always an eagle. Always and everywhere, we humans regard this creature with awe. Its resplendence, its fearsomeness, the fact that it flies higher than any other bird, the fact that no predator can touch it: how could we not associate it with divinity? But there is more in …
93. Jim Love, Anyone Can Be a World Leader
We’re told, “You can do anything you want.” And what’s astounding is, it's true. Once all the history we’ve accepted as reality—because what else could it be, if that's all we know?—once that evaporates, we get to decide whether t…
94. Thomas Glassford, Aster 350 T12/5000K
Even in the most light-soaked cities, at night we still lift our eyes to the sky. The earliest people made art looking to the cosmos, and no scientific knowledge since has diminished the mystery, the urge to gaze on those beacons in th…
That’s week sixteen of the MFAH 100! Thanks for reading. - Rainey