Christine Gervais Appointed Director of Rienzi, the MFAH Center for European Decorative Arts

MFAH and Rienzi Curator succeeds Katherine Howe, as director of the house museum

Houston—September 19, 2016—Christine Gervais has been appointed Director of Rienzi, succeeding former director Katherine Howe, who retired in June.

“Christine Gervais has distinguished herself at the Museum through her creative approach to objects, history, and programming,” commented MFAH Director Gary Tinterow.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and especially Katherine Howe, provided me when I arrived at Rienzi 14 years ago,” said Gervais. “Becoming director is the culmination of over a decade of curating exhibitions, creating programs, and seeking new ways to present educational opportunities about European decorative arts to Houstonians. Rienzi has a lot to give to this city. We will continue to make what seems like a distant past relevant and meaningful.”

Gervais has most recently served as associate curator of Rienzi beginning in 2011. She also serves as curator of decorative arts at the Museum, responsible for the acquisition, research, and exhibition of decorative arts objects dating from before 1900.

During her tenure at the Museum, Gervais has organized a number of critically acclaimed exhibitions, many from the Museum’s collections. They have included Look to the East: Decorative Arts and Orientalism, 1870–1920, and Grand Designs: Neoclassical Taste in the 18th Century, both currently on view, along with the major touring show Houghton Hall: Portrait of an English Country House (2014), Pattern Repeat: Wallpaper Then and Now (2013–2014), English Taste: the Art of Dining in the Eighteenth Century (2011–2012), and Circa 1900: Decorative Arts at the Turn of the Century (2011).

Rienzi—originally the home of philanthropists Carroll Sterling Masterson and Harris Masterson III, and since 1997 a division of the MFAH—was transformed from a private house to a public museum that opened in 1999. Rienzi is known for a world class collection of Worcester porcelain as well as decorative arts and paintings by other celebrated artists including John Vardy, Mayhew & Ince, Paul Storr, Angelica Kauffmann, and Johann Zoffany.

Gervais initially joined the Museum’s staff in 2002, as a Curatorial Assistant at Rienzi. She became Assistant Curator (in 2006) and then Assistant Curator (in 2008) of decorative arts at the MFAH. In 2011 Gervais was appointed Associate Curator of Rienzi. She received her B.A. in History from Trinity University, San Antonio, in 1994, her M.A. in American Studies from The George Washington University, in 1998, and her M.Phil. with distinction in the History of Art from the University of Glasgow in Scotland.

About Rienzi
Rienzi, the MFAH house museum for European decorative arts, is the former home of philanthropists Carroll Sterling Masterson and Harris Masterson III. Opened to the public in 1999, Rienzi houses a substantial collection of European decorative arts, paintings, furniture, metalwork and an extensive holding of porcelain. Rienzi’s house and garden welcomes visitors each year for tours, family programs, lectures, concerts and a variety of special events.

About the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Founded in 1900, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is among the ten largest art museums in the United States. Located in the heart of Houston’s Museum District, the MFAH comprises two gallery buildings, a sculpture garden, theater, two art schools, and two libraries, with two house museums, for American and European decorative arts, nearby. The encyclopedic collection of the MFAH numbers more than 65,000 works and spans the art of antiquity to the present.

Media Contact
Sarah Baker, associate publicist
sbaker@mfah.org / 713.800.5345