Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Office of the Registrar.

"Landmarks in Print Collecting: Masterpieces from the British Museum" presented 115 masterworks from the British Museum's collection of over two million prints. This is the first exhibition from the British Museum ever to travel outside the United Kingdom. The exhibition examined in detail ten significant groups of acquisitions in the development of the British Museum's print collection over a period of nearly 250 years. Together, the works from these collections chronicled the history of Western printmaking as well as the history of collecting at the British Museum. The exhibition was organized by the British Museum in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Parnassus Foundation, and curated by Barry Walker, MFAH.

"Herter Brothers: Furniture and Interiors for a Gilded Age" was organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in cooperation with the Metropolitan Museum of Art and curated by Katherine S. Howe (MFAH) and Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen (MMA). This retrospective exhibition showcased the work of Gustave and Christian Herter in the first comprehensive study and presentation of these important designers and their furniture. While the work of the German-born Herter brothers was found in the homes of America's wealthiest Americans (William H. Vanderbilt, Mark Hopkins, Jay Gould and J. Pierpont Morgan) as well as the White House, Herter workers were centered in Kleindeutschland, an immigrant neighborhood on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The exhibition also included discussions of the firm's immigrant workers, the structure of their furniture workshops, and their woodworking techniques. It featured furniture in the round, and in one instance, disassembled. A catalogue accompanied the exhibition, which also went on tour to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as well as the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.

"Imperial Austria: Treasures of Art, Arms and Armor from the State of Styria" chronicled the history of Austrian culture through art, arms and armor, as it evolved in the Austrian state known as Styria during the period of Hapsburg rule. This exhibition featured more than 250 objects including armor, paintings and sculpture and firearms from the Landeszeughaus in Graz, Austria as well as other museums in Styria. The exhibition was organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston by curator Katherine S. Howe in collaboration with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, The Smithsonian Institution and the IBM Gallery of Science and Art.

Imperial Austria ran concurrently with The Cutting Edge: 200 Years of the Crystal Object. This exhibition explored the technological, aesthetic, and cultural history of cut crystal through a display of fifteen crystal objects, including decanters, bowls and goblets from the eighteenth century to the present.

In November 1991, New York collector Allan Chasanoff donated to the museum 950 twentieth century photographs by 500 different photographers from 18 countries. The strength of the collection is post- 1945 works by contemporary artists. The museum published a catalogue documenting the collection. In addition, 171 works were on display in the exhibition "Tradition and the Unpredictable: The Allan Chasanoff Photographic Collection" from January 16 through March 27, 1994. The exhibition was curated by Anne Tucker.

This subseries documents "Money Matters: A Critical Look at Bank Architecture," an exhibition of architectural photographs installed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston between February 4 and April 15, 1990. The exhibition was organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, co-sponsored by the Parnassus Foundation, and curated by Anne Wilkes Tucker, Curator of Photography at the MFAH and Susan Wagg, architectural historian and independent curator. Eleven photographers were commissioned to document 49 historic banks in the United States and Canada, producing an exhibition of 182 works, a 300 page catalogue, and a traveling exhibition. Photographers commissioned for the show included: Robert Bordeau, Marilyn Bridges, Edward Burtynsky, David Duchow, Serge Hambourg, James Iska, Len Jenshel, David Miller, John Pfahl, George Tice, and Catherine Wagner. The traveling exhibition went to seven locations: The National Building Museum, Washington D.C.(May 20-Sept 30, 1990); Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal (Dec 15, 1990-Feb 23, 1991); Chicago Historical Society (Mar 23-July 28, 1991); Vancouver Museum (Sept 3-Nov 3,1991);National Gallery, Ottawa (Feb 14-May 18, 1992); Royal Ontario Museum (June 17-Sept 27, 1992); and Wallach Gallery at Columbia University (Nov 11, 1992-Feb 6, 1993).

Brassaï moved to Paris from his native Transylvania (now part of Romania) in 1924. Through his photography he captured the world after dark in Paris in the 1930s. This first major U.S. retrospective of his work in thirty years honored the centennial of his birth. MFAH curator Anne Tucker spent fifteen years reviewing Brassaï's work and interviewing his friends and peers. She spent time with him in his home in Paris in 1983, just prior to his death, and had ongoing contact with Mme. Brassaï. This exhibition brought together his photography of the people, landscapes and graffiti of Parisian nights as well as his drawings, sculptures and books.

"John Singleton Copley in England" was co-organized by MFAH curator Emily B. Neff and curators from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. The exhibition focused on Copley's career after he left America in 1774, and featured The Death of Major Peirson, one of the great paintings of the eighteenth century. This exhibition ran concurrently with 'John Singleton Copley in America,' organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "John Singleton Copley in England 'was also seen at the National Gallery, however the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston was the only venue to showcase the two major exhibitions concurrently. This formed the most comprehensive retrospective of the eighteenth-century master assembled in thirty years.

This exhibition displayed for the first time in the United States the collection of "Benin art from the Museum Für Völkerkunde, Vienna." The kingdom of Benin (in present Nigeria) began to flourish in the late fourteenth century, when many works of art were created to reflect the splendor of the royal court and ensure the power of the king. Made of precious materials including metals and ivory by skilled artisans and craftsmen, the art includes figures, relief plaques, commemorative heads and elephant tusks and uses complex imagery and religious symbols to provide insight into Benin politics and culture. This exhibition was curated by MFAH curators Janet Landay and Anne-Louise Schaffer, in conjunction with curators from the Museum Für Völkerkunde, Vienna. This traveling exhibition was also displayed at the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Seattle Art Museum.

In the fall of 1994 the White House initiated a series of exhibitions for the First Ladies' Garden titled "Twentieth Century American Sculpture at The White House.' Conceived by Hillary Rodham Clinton, developed by J. Carter Brown, and organized under the auspices of the Association of Art Museum Directors, this series highlighted sculpture drawn from public collections across the United States. Alison de Lima Greene, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston curated the third exhibition, showcasing works from museums in the Southwest and West. Ten artists were featured: Scott Burton, Deborah Butterfield, Joseph Havel, Jesuus Bautista Moroles, Georgia O'Keeffe, Martin Puryear, Joel Shapiro, Robert Therrien, William Tucker and Adolph Weinman.

"Arman 1955-1991: A Retrospective" contained 70 paintings and sculptures. Arman's work uses a variety of media and techniques, principally assemblage. The French-American artist, born Armand Fernandez, both admires and questions the aesthetics of modernism. The Houston show was accompanied by a 134 page catalogue, and traveled to the Brooklyn Museum (February 29-April 26, 1992) and the Detroit Institute of Arts (May 30-August 2, 1992).

"The Art of John Biggers: View from the Upper Room" was curated by Alvia Wardlaw and Alison de Lima Greene in collaboration with Hampton University Museum in Hampton, Virginia. Greene was curator of twentieth-century art at the MFAH, while Wardlaw was a doctoral candidate at the University of Texas at Austin and on the faculty at Texas Southern University. Wardlaw, who had been a curator with the MFAH in the 1970s and would return in 1994, was also primary author of the exhibition catalogue. The exhibition went on tour to the following: North Carolina Museum of Art, Wadsworth Atheneum, Cincinnati Art Museum, Hampton University Art Museum and The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The exhibition was the first comprehensive retrospective of work by Biggers. The 125 works were created over five decades. Biggers came to Houston in 1949 as co-founder of the art department at Texas Southern University and over the following decade was established as one of America's foremost muralists. His art reflects his experience as an African-American artist based in the southern United States, with strong aesthetic ties to Africa.

"John Biggers: The Artist's Eye" ran concurrently with "John Biggers: View from the Upper Room." This exhibition featured more than 50 objects, most from the MFAH collection, chosen by John Biggers and reflecting his interest in and influence by other artists. Curators were Alison de Lima Greene and Anne-Louise Schaffer, both from the MFAH.

Wagner's American Classroom series, which began in 1982, investigated the diversity of and cultural symbols imbedded in images of American elementary, high school, university and vocational schools. The exhibition was curated by Anne Wilkes Tucker in close association with the artist, and was accompanied by an eighty-three-page catalogue. It then traveled to The Friends of Photography in San Francisco (November 14, 1989 - January 14, 1990). Previous to the show, the MFAH purchased 35 works from the American Classroom series for its permanent collection.

In 1892, Galerie Durand-Ruel exhibited a collection of Degas landscapes. In the subsequent 100 years, Dégas became known for his dancers and jockeys. In 1994, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Metropolitan Museum of Art teamed up to put on display 75 works that reflect an interest in nature throughout the artist's life. The exhibition included pastels and monotypes as well as paintings and other works on paper. It was co-curated by George T.M. Shackelford, curator of European painting and sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Colta Ives, head of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Department of Prints and Illustrated books.

"Crimes and Splendors: The Desert Cantos of Richard Misrach" was a mid-career retrospective of the photographer focused on his Desert Cantos. Since 1973, Misrach had photographed the American West, particularly the desert regions. The Cantos are divided into sections which reflect aspects of desert life ranging from natural beauty to man-made disaster. The exhibition was curated by Anne Tucker and went on tour to the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, Sept 22-Dec 1, 1996; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Apr 24-Jun 29, 1997; Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Dec 3, 1997-Feb 1, 1998; San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California, Oct 3, 1998-Jan 3, 1999.