TEXAS: HOUSTON MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, PART I, CALDER-PICASSO SPECIAL EXHIBIT

 November 24, 2022

After several days in the wilds of the Gulf Coast (It's a whole different country down there, but then, Texas has about eight different countries within its borders), it was time for the wilds of Houston.

We spent a brief amount of time in Houston in 2012, and for some reason I didn't have a very favorable impression. I did a 180 on this visit.  I loved Houston. I suppose that's why it is a good idea to visit a place more than once.

It helps that our first destination was the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, one of the largest art museums in the United States, and with 300,000 square feet, it is the 12th largest in the world by gallery space. The permanent collection includes roughly 70,000 works from six continents. 

We were very fortunate to catch the "Calder-Picasso Special Exhibit" while we were there. A touring exhibit created by the artists' grandsons, it highlights Calder's and Picasso's artistic affinities as well as their actual physical encounters with each other. 

Portrait of sculptor Alexander Calder January 3, 1957 by Arnold Newman
Portrait of artist Pablo Picasso on June 2, 1954 by Arnold Newman