Selections from the Museum’s Collection: Post-War Painting and Sculpture May 4–September 5, 2016
Andy Warhol, Self-Portrait, 1986, acrylic screenprint on canvas, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the Charles Engelhard Foundation in honor of Linda L. Cathcart, Director of the Contemporary Arts Museum 1979–1987. © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Roy Lichtenstein, Still Life with Pitcher, 1975, oil and magna on canvas, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by Mrs. George R. Brown. © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein
Kenneth Noland, Tropical Zone, 1964, acrylic on canvas, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, gift of the artist in honor of Peter C. Marzio. © Estate of Kenneth Noland/VAGA, New York, NY
James Rosenquist, Evolutionary Balance, 1977, oil on canvas mounted on panel, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the Charles Engelhard Foundation. © James Rosenquist/VAGA, New York, NY
Jean Tinguely, La Bascule VII, 1967, iron rocker bars, wood fly-wheel, steel tube, rubber V-belt, and electric motor, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, gift of the artist. © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Frank Stella, Lunna Wola I, 1972, cloth, acrylic, canvas, cardboard, and felt on wood relief, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, gift of Sylvia and Joseph Slifka. © Frank Stella/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Louise Nevelson, Mirror Image I, 1969, painted wood, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by The Brown Foundation, Inc. © Estate of Louise Nevelson / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Jasper Johns, Untitled (Red, Yellow, Blue), 1984, encaustic on canvas, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by The Brown Foundation, Inc. © Jasper Johns/VAGA, New York, NY
Robert Rauschenberg, Sor Aqua (Venetian), 1973, wood, metal, rope, glass jug, and water-filled bathtub, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Foundation. © Estate of Robert Rauschenberg
Two complementary currents in art dominated the second half of the 20th century: Pop aesthetics and pure abstraction. Selections from the Museum’s Collection: Post-War Painting and Sculpture highlights the Museum’s exceptional holdings in these areas, concentrating both on New York artists active between the 1960s and 1990s and their counterparts in Paris.
Selections brings together collection favorites by artists such as Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol. Augmenting the presentation are rarely seen works by Sylvia Mangold, Jean Tinguely, and others.
The exhibition opens with signature examples by the leading figures of Pop Art, including Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, and James Rosenquist. The second gallery introduces Color Field and Hard-Edge painting with important canvases by Helen Frankenthaler, Kenneth Noland, and Frank Stella. The third segment features artists who pared down their compositions to an essential geometry, with works by Donald Judd, Agnes Martin, and Louise Nevelson. The installation concludes with artists who pioneered Nouveau Réalisme, a precursor to Pop Art. Using found materials, they instilled their work with an irreverent spirit that still delights.
This exhibition is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.