University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 74, No. 32, Ed. 1 Wednesday, February 11, 1998 Page: 2 of 6
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University Press • Wednesday, February 11,1998 • Page 2
“Intersection (Night Shade),” 1991, above.
“Regilar Diary Glut,” 1986, below.
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R s'Q IL A
Robert Rauschenberg returns to Southeast
Texas more than 50 years after he left his home-
town of Port Arthur to seek his international repu-
tation in the world of art.
He will be in Houston Thursday to open a
major retrospective of his work with a public exhi-
bition preview and reception for the artist.
A collaborative effort of the Menil Collection,
the Contemporary Arts Museum and the Museum
of Fine Arts, Houston, the exhibition, “Robert
Rauscheberg: A Retrospective” officially opens
Friday and runs through May 17.
“Robert Rauschenberg: A Retrospective” is a
city-wide celebration of Texas’s most revered
artist, Bill Thompson, a Menil Collection
spokesperson, said.
“In keeping with Rauschenberg’s deep interest
in collaboration and Houston’s strong cooperative
spirit, particularly that of its cultural institutions,
the exhibition will be presented in segments at the
city’s three leading art museums,” Thompson said.
“As a result of this unique partnership,
Rauschenberg’s work will be seen by the widest
possible audience in exhibition spaces best suited
for its display. Instead of seeing an exhaustive pre-
sentation at one museum, visitors will have the
freedom to explore smaller, more focused installa-
tions, highlighting different aspects of
Rauschenberg’s career at each exhibition site.”
Thompson said the retrospective is the artist’s
most comprehensive exhibition to date and fea-
tures many of his greatest accomplishments in
painting, sculpture, drawing, print-
making, photography and per-
formance, including new-
ly created works. He
also said that when
the Menil Collec-
tion was presented
with the opportuni-
ty to host “Robert
Rauschenberg: A
Retrospective” in
Houston, the mu-
seum immediate-
ly invited the
Contemporary
Arts Museum
and the Mu-
seum of Fine
Arts, Houston,
to join them in
this historic
event.
“Although Houston’s art museums have
very distinct purposes, periodically a pro-
ject comes along which encompasses the interests
of all three institutions,” Paul Winkler, Menil
Collection director, said.
“The remarkable breadth of Robert
Robert Rauschenberg:
A Retrospective
Friday through May 17
The Menil Collection is located at 1515 Sul Ross and is
open free-of-charge Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m.
to 7 p.m.
The Contemporary Arts Museum is located at 5216
Montrose and is open free-of-charge Tuesday, Wednesday,
Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m.
to 9 p.m.; and Sunday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is located at 1001
Bissonnet:Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to
5 p.m.; Thursday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from
12:15 p.m. to 6 p.m.. Regular admission is $3 for adults,
$1.50 for children ages 6 through 18, students, and senior
citizens.
Admission to the permanent collection is free on
Thursdays.
Rauschenberg’s invention and creativity is such a
moment, and the unprecedented cooperation
among our museums is a fine testament to the
comraderie between Houston’s cultural institu-
tions,” Winkler said.
“Painting relates to both art and life. Neither
can be made. I try to act in that gap between the
two,” Rauschenberg said.
The exhibit will begin at the Menil Collection,
which will feature a survey of Rauschenberg’s
work from the 1940s to the mid-1980s in the muse-
um’s west galleries and its nearby exhibition annex
Richmond Hall.
The Contemporary Arts Museum, located one-
and-a-half miles southeast of the Menil Collection,
highlights Rauschenberg’s performances and col-
laborative experiments in art and technology from
throughout his career. These works will be shown
in the museum’s Brown Foundation Gallery, along
with props, set designs and rarely seen footage of
the artist’s dance and performance work with
renowned choreographers Trisha Brown, Merce
Cunningham and Paul Taylor.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, located
directly across the street from the Contemporary
Arts Museum, will present an installation of
Rauschenberg’s most recent work, from the 1980s
to the present. Monumental paintings will be
shown in the expansive space of Cullinan Hall.
Houston audiences will also have the opportunity
to see frescos from the artist’s newest series,
Arcadian Retreat, shown to the public for the first
time as part of the retrospective.
Thompson said Rauschenberg showed early
artistic promise through his love of drawing and
painting.
“As a child, he collected and displayed a vari-
ety of objects in his room, similar to his manipu-
lation of found objects and assemblage as an
adult,” Thompson said. y
Rauschenberg graduated from Thomas
Jefferson High School, and in the fall of 1943
entered the University of Texas at Austin. He
left the school shortly thereafter and in the spring
of 1944 was drafted into the U.S. Navy.
Following his service, he attended the Kansas
City Art Institute; the Academic Julian, Paris;
Black Mountain College, North Carolina, where
he studied with Josef Albers; and the Art
Students League, New York.
“In the 1950s, he quickly rose to prominence
as an inventive and influential figure in the New
York art world,” Thompson said. “Inspired by
the energy and painterly style of Abstract
Expressionism, Rauschenberg began to create
art using everyday objects, blurring the tradition-
al distinctions between painting and sculpture, as
well as art and life.
“Through his groundbreaking use of ordinary
materials, Rauschenberg revived interest in the
media of collage and assemblage, and his appro-
priation of found objects and use of popular
imagery anticipated the Pop Art movement of
the 1960s.”
Rauschenberg expanded his creative activities
in the 1950s and 1960s to include set, costume
and lighting design, choreography, and perfor-
mance. In 1964, he received the Grand Prize for
painting at the Venice Biennale.
In the 1970s, after a period of intensive work
in performance, Rauschenberg resumed painting
and sculpting using new techniques and materi-
als. From 1985 to 1991, as part of his self-funded
international project, Rauschenberg Overseas
Culture Interchange, the artist traveled the world
to create synergistic works of art blending vari-
ous cultural traditions with his own.
Thompson said today, at age 71, Rauschen-
berg continues to work with an open mind and
inventive spirit, constantly experimenting with
new media.
He has been the subject of numerous solo
exhibitions and two major retrospectives, and his
art is found in the collections of major museums
throughout the world.
The exhibition is Rauschenberg’s first retro-
spective since 1976, one of the largest exhibi-
tions ever held of work by a living artist and
contains nearly 400 works of art spanning
Rauschenberg’s 50-year career.
“By fusing and intermingling painting, sculp-
ture, photography, printmaking and perfor-
mance, Rauschenberg has become the preemi-
nent practitioner of breaking down the barriers
among art-making genres and methods,’
Walter Hopps, the Menil Collection curator
said.
Rauschenberg
Port Arthur native returns to Southeast Texas for retrospective
Lamar Opera Theatre and the
Beaumont Civic Opera will pre-
sent an afternoon of operatic
excerpts at 2 p.m. Sunday in the
Art Museum of Southeast Texas.
The program is part of the
“Sunday at the Museum” concert
series, an artistic collaboration of
the Lamar University department
of music, theatre and dance and
the art museum.
Under the direction of Will
Mouat, director of opera at
Lamar, the program will showcase
highlights from the upcoming per-
formance of “Fiddler on the
Roof,” to be presented March 6,7
and 8 by the Beaumont Civic
Opera, Lamar Opera Theatre and
Julie Rogers Theatre. Mouat also
is stage director for “Fiddler.”
George Beverley, KVLU station
manager, will assist in the program
and serve as piano accompanist.
Chris Hardin of Lumberton,
who plays the lead role of Tevye,
the dairyman, will perform “If I
Were a Rich Man,” one of the
musical’s signature songs. In this
selection, he laments his life of
poverty in a tum-of-the-century
Russian village.
“Sabbath Prayer,” performed
by Hardin and Dionne Fontenot
of Beaumont, as his wife Golde,
celebrates the rich traditions of the
Sabbath.
In “Matchmaker, Match-
maker,” Tevye’s three daughters
share their hopes and fears con-
cerning marriage. Performing in
those roles are Julie Daugherty of
Beaumont, a Lamar University
staff member; Carrie Deorsam of
Port Neches, a December Lamar
music graduate; and Laura Brown
of Nederland, a Lamar senior, per-
forming, respectively, as Tzeitel,
Hodel and Chava.
“Sunday at the Museum” also
will feature works by Mozart,
Engelbert Humperdinck and
Henry Mollicone.
Lamar senior Angela Pickering
of Nederland and junior Mary
Cronin of Orange will perform
“Sull’ aria” from “The Marriage of
Figaro” by Mozart.
Senior Kimberly Hevrin of
Beaumont and junior Gretchen
Whitman of Vidor will join
Pickering for “Una donna quindici
anni” from Mozart’s ‘Cosi fan
tutte.’
“Brother, Dance a Step or
Two” from Humperdinck’s
‘Hansel and Gretel’ will feature
Whitman and Hevrin, respective-
ly, singing the title roles.
Hevrin, with Lamar senior
Raymond Myers of Beaumont
and junior Chad Smith of Orange,
will perform “He Paints the
Portrait of His Love” from
Mollicone’s ‘The Face in the
Barroom Floor.’
“Sunday at the Museum” is
designed to provide a venue for
Lamar students and faculty mem-
bers to join the community to
bring music to Southeast Texas
audiences, Betsy Hines, adjunct
music instructor and series coordi-
nator, said.
The conference hall of the
museum provides an intimate,
accessible setting, she said.
The performance is open to the
public without charge. For more
information, call 880-8144.
University Press
200 Setter Student Center • 880-8102
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Andris, Tonya. University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 74, No. 32, Ed. 1 Wednesday, February 11, 1998, newspaper, February 11, 1998; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth500840/m1/2/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lamar University.