These buttons are very much like a larger collection of buttons from 1960-1970 that I saw today at the Menil Collection’s exhibit Lessons From Below: Otabenga Jones & Associates. The exhibit presents “African-Americans creating their own sense of identity, drawing on historical civil-rights and black-power images of the 1960s, socially conscious hip-hop of the 1980s, and contemporary black culture.
“For this project, the group searched through the Menil’s ‘treasure rooms’ and other storage and archival areas to create a hybrid exhibition-classroom-performance piece. The material on view include[s] masks, headdresses, and figures from the Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Kenya and other African nations; sketches from Ellsworth Kelly’s massive ‘Tablet’; slave-trade documents; a bronze bust of Paul Robeson; a Joseph Cornell box; a Surrealist landscape by Yves Tanguy; Andy Warhol’s silkscreened portrait of Chairman Mao; lapel buttons commemorating political and sports figures; photographs, including selections from Emil Cadoo’s ‘Harlem’ series and Henri Cartier-Bresson’s portrait of Malcom X; memorial memorabilia honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Walter de Maria’s stainless steel ‘High Energy Bar’; and maps of Africa” among other items.
I’ve mentioned before that the Menil Collection and the Rothko Chapel are two of my favorite places in Houston.
I was at the Rothko Chapel today while they were preparing for this event. It was quite stirring to hear their voices practice their chanting while I was visiting my beloved paintings. No photography is allowed inside either the chapel or the museum, but I’ve included photos of the area behind a cut.
The Broken Obelisk, a Barnett Newman sculpture in a reflecting pool,
is a tribute to the late Martin Luther King, Jr.
Between the chapel and the Menil Collection are grassy areas where people (and dogs) are welcome to play or relax.
That’s the Tree of Trees from my Photo Friday post in the distance.
People also enjoy the lawn of the Menil Collection. In The Deal, the Love Sucks friends had a picnic on this spot.
On the blocks that surround the Menil Collection, there are many, many houses painted the same shade of gray as the museum’s building. These are owned by the Menil Foundation and are used as offices, the museum’s bookstore, archives, and residences. I have a couple of friends who once lived in a Menil house. I’ve heard they’re rented primarily to people connected to the arts.
That broken obelisk is cool. And it’s neat how, when all those charming bungalows and houses are the same color, their different details start to show up more. : )
Oh the trees. I just love them so much.
Those houses are so adorable, each different but similar.
One day I would love to see the reflecting pool for MLK.
Mr. Rothko is one of my absolute favorite artists. I’ve wanted to visit the chapel for a number of years (basically, ever since I heard of its existence). By all accounts, it’s a pretty indescribable experience!