Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Curatorial department.
Variant namesHistory notes:
Alison de Lima Green served as Assistant Curator, Twentieth-Century Art, from 1985-1987. She was Associate Curator, Twentieth-Century Art, from 1987-1992. From 1992 through the present she has served as Curator, Twentieth-Century Art, with a title change in 2001 to Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art.
From the description of Alison de Lima Greene's subject files, 1984-1994. (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Hirsch Library). WorldCat record id: 212626020
The photography department was created in 1976 with Anne Wilkes Tucker as the consultant in charge. In 1978 she was named curator and in 1984 she was named the Gus and Lyndall Wortham Curator.
From the description of Anne Tucker correspondence files, 1974-1999. (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Hirsch Library). WorldCat record id: 232962437
Alison de Lima Greene served as Assistant Curator, Twentieth-Century Art, from 1985-1987. She was Associate Curator, Twentieth-Century Art, from 1987-1992. From 1992 through the present she has served as Curator, Twentieth-Century Art, with a title change in 2001 to Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art.
From the description of Alison de Lima Greene artist correspondence files, 1985-2000. (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Hirsch Library). WorldCat record id: 212626037
The photography department was created in 1976 with Anne Wilkes Tucker as the consultant in charge. In 1978 she was named curator and in 1984 she was named the Gus and Lyndall Wortham Curator.
From the description of Anne Tucker subject files, 1976-1999. (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Hirsch Library). WorldCat record id: 232962454
George Shackelford joined the museum as Assistant Curator, European Art in 1984. In 1985 he was named Assistant Curator, European Painting and Sculpture, and then as Associate Curator in 1986. In 1987, he was named Curator, European Painting and Sculpture and served as such until his departure in 1996.
From the description of George T.M. Shackelford subject files, 1984-1994 (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Hirsch Library). WorldCat record id: 213351853
In March 1980, Celeste Adams was named the first Curator of Oriental Art, where she remained until her departure in 1993. In 1989, her title was changed to Curator, Far Eastern Art.
From the description of Celeste Adams correspondence files, 1980-1993. (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Hirsch Library). WorldCat record id: 213351909
Although the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston's Photography department was not established until 1976, photography was exhibited early in the museum's history. Early one-man shows included those for Edward Weston (1930) and Frantisek Drtikol (1932). In May, 1926, the museum held its first photography exhibition, a juried exhibition of Texas photographers. From then until 1953, annual juried exhibitions of regional photographers were held. Annual exhibitions of the Houston Camera Club were held at the MFAH from 1941 to 1954. Thereafter until the founding of the Photography department, there were infrequent but important exhibitions such as "A Photographic Corpus of African Art -- Walker Evans" (1964); Geoff Winningham: Photographs (1974); and solo exhibitions for Diane Arbus, Edward Weston and Roy de Carava in 1975. In 1965, the first large collection of photographs was acquired, commissioned from Henri Cartier-Bresson and Ezra Stoller for the project, "The Galveston That Was", and exhibited that year.
Target Stores, Inc. made its first donation in February 1976 to begin the Target Collection of American Photography and the MFAH Photography department was established that December when Anne Wilkes Tucker was hired as a consultant to act as curator of photography. In 1978 she was named curator and in 1984 she was named the Gus and Lyndall Wortham Curator. In 2001 TIME magazine honored Tucker as "America's Best Curator". In 2006, Tucker received the Life Time Achievement award, a Focus Award from the Griffin Museum of Photography, recognizing individuals who have made critical contributions to the promotion of photography. She has also received an Alumnae Achievement award from Randolph Macon Women's college; fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Getty Center, the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin and the Dora Maar House in Macnerbes, France; and has consistently been voted as one of the top 50 most influential people in America by the American Photo magazine.
As of the end of 2008, the MFAH has mounted over 250 exhibitions relating to photography. Significant exhibitions organized by the Photography department include: Sidney Grossman: Photographs 1936-1955 (1981); Unknown Territory: Photographs by Ray K. Metzker, 1957-1983 (1984); Robert Frank: New York to Nova Scotia (1986); Czech Modernism: 1900-1945 (1989); Money Matters: A Critical Look at Bank Architecture (1990); Contemporary Mexican Photography (1992); Tradition and the Unpredictable: The Allan Chasanoff Photographic Collection (1994); Crimes and Splendors: The Desert Cantos of Richard Misrach (1996); and Brassaai: The Eye of Paris (1998); Louis Faurer Retrospective (2002); The History of Japanese Photography (2003); and The Great Wall of China: Photographs by Chen Changfen (2007).
The MFAH Photography collection now consists of over 24,000 works by approximately 4,000 artists. Among the major artists represented in the collection are: Ansel Adams, Diane Arbus, Eugene Atget, John Baldessari, Gay Block, Henri Cartier-Bresson, William Eggleston, Walker Evans, Louis Faurer, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Sidney Grossman, Ishimoto Yasuhiro, Andre Kertesz, George Krause, Man Ray, Richard Misrach, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Irving Penn, Edward Steichen; Alfred Stieglitz, Josef Sudek, Edward Weston, and Geoff Winningham. The department has developed important bodies of work from Japan, Argentina and the former Czechoslovakia. In addition to the Target Collection of American Photography, the department has also acquired many substantial collections since its founding. Among these are the Anthony G. Cronin Memorial Collection (1978-1997); the Willour Collection (1978-); the Mundy Companies Collection and gifts of Joe, Marion E. and David Mundy (1979-); the Sonia and Kaye Marvins Portrait Collection (1984-); the Morgenstern Collection (1986-); Allan Chasanoff Photographic Collection (1991-1993); Songs of My People (1995); Robert Frank's Collection of photographs by other artists (2002) and "here is new york" (2005).
Additionally, in the early 1980's the department acquired 284 Robert Frank photographs created in conjunction with "The Americans" as well as all of Robert Frank's films and videos, the original maquettes for "The Americans" and "The Lines of My Hand", and an additional 50 photos by Frank. In early 2002, the MFAH acquired nearly 4,000 photographs from the renowned collector Manfred Heiting. Assembled over the last thirty years, the collection includes a comprehensive selection of major photographers' works as well as examples of photographic processes dating to photography's invention in 1839. It is considered one of the finest photography collections in the world.
From the description of Anne Tucker photography subgroup, 1976-1998 (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Hirsch Library). WorldCat record id: 317962694
The Prints and Drawings Department was begun in 1991, after the Prints and Drawings Curator Fund goal was raised by Dr. Ira Jackson and Dr. Marjorie Horning. In January 1991, Barry Walker was named the first curator of prints and drawings at the MFAH, and has remained in that position since that time.
From the description of Barry Walker subject files, 1991-1998. (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Hirsch Library). WorldCat record id: 212738489
Alison de Lima Greene served as Assistant Curator, Twentieth-Century Art, from 1985-1987. She was Associate Curator, Twentieth-Century Art, from 1987-1992. From 1992 through the present she has served as Curator, Twentieth-Century Art, with a title change in 2001 to Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art.
From the description of Alison de Lima Greene correspondence files, 1984-1998. (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Hirsch Library). WorldCat record id: 212626005
In March 1980, Celeste Adams was named the first Curator of Oriental Art, where she remained until her departure in 1993. In 1989, her title was changed to Curator, Far Eastern Art.
From the description of Celeste Adams subject files 1980-1993. (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Hirsch Library). WorldCat record id: 213351920
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Subjects:
- Art, Asian
- Art, Chinese
- Art, Indonesian
- Islamic art
- Art, Japanese
- Art, Korean
- Art, Southeast Asian
- Photography, Artistic
