''The things I've collected resemble the sort of works my parents acquired, but maybe less broad in range and less expensive,'' he says, pointing out, on a hall wall, a favorite Braque painting of his father's given him by Dominique. Dominique de Menil, Quoted in Browning 1983, 37. ''Each branch of the Schlumberger clan has a wing,'' Christophe explains. "I dreamed of preserving some of the intimacy I had enjoyed with works of art," she wrote. Very much the image of upper-class young marrieds, the pair rode horseback in the Bois de Boulogne, and confined their artistic interests to the likes of Christian Berard, a lightweight Parisian contemporary. Hewing to the European tradition of millionaire radicals, they came to be Houston's most rewardingly subversive citizens, bringing maverick ideas to the provinces about art, politics and what to do with money. And I loathed the black-tiled floor. The reunited family went to Houston, then the American headquarters for the company. ''Not only were they considered radical, but really different. Flowering, in a way. Expansive main-floor displays will be made up of works in the storage areas, with space set aside for the spectacular theme shows that Dominique and the museum's director, Walter Hopps, have been doing together for years. While the de Menils' collecting and museum-building activities have been enthusiastically compared to those of the great Medici patrons, perhaps a more apt contemporary analogy is with the Rockefeller clan, which entered the art field in the early part of this century. "Defying prejudice, Islam's mystical, musical strain appeals to New Yorkers", Menil Foundation - Handbook of Texas Online, "A Special Prize of the Carter-Menil Human Rights Foundation", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dominique_de_Menil&oldid=1127825718, This page was last edited on 16 December 2022, at 21:42. ''Mother lives at two levels,'' says Georges. She badly needed a religion.''. Kahn did produce some preliminary drawings, but the project was suspended in 1973 after John de Menil's and Kahn's deaths less than a year apart. '', AT 78, DOMINIQUE IS A HANDSOME WOMAN OF frail, unassuming presence, whose ''spiritual'' mien and austere garb evoke the image of a medieval saint. [12] The de Menils filled their home with art and hosted many of the leading artists, scientists, civil rights activists, and intellectuals of the day. I wanted a wooden one.''. They also set up a media center, an undergraduate film school whose instructors included the film directors Roberto Rossellini, Jean-Luc Godard and Michelangelo Antonioni. Like the other children, he realizes fully that his parents are a difficult act to follow. He took the the couple around to galleries, singing the praises of the modernists. ''Life had been tough for him, and he saw how hard it was for some others.''. The founders of the Dia Art Foundation have filed suit to stop the foundation from selling artworks in Dia's collection. (For their honeymoon, he took Dominique on a bus trip through Morocco.) The theoretical thrust of ''The Image of the Black'' reflects Dominique more than John, whose interests were apt to find more direct expression. But the falling price of Schlumberger stock and serious administrative problems brought big financial troubles. Heiner Friedrich and Fariha Friedrich (formerly Philippa de Menil), who menil? Though the collection has strengths in Mediterranean antiquities, Eurasian and European artifacts, African art, Cubism, Surrealism and contemporary American and European works, it lacks a museum ''profile.'' [29] The Foundation offered the CarterMenil Human Rights Prize, sponsored by the Rothko Chapel, to organizations or individuals for their commitment to human rights. WHERE THE DE MENIL MONEY COMES FROM. 1529-1538 - Philippa de Ligniville, fille de Jean de Ligniville et de Jeanne d'Oiselet. I try to stay close to them, and as time goes on, we are more and more in touch.'' Apr 18, 2018 1:37PM. . Pianissimo: The Very Quiet Menil Collection., Holmes, Ann, and Patricia C. Johnson. At the suggestion of the Houston designer Howard Barnstone, who might be called the de Menils' architect-in-residence, the houses have mostly been painted a uniform gray, so that the museum and the bungalows together have the aspect of a small, but by no means unpleasant, company town. I think they're inspired.'' The story goes back to the early 70's when Heiner, a European dealer, transferred his activities to New York, while retaining his interest in his Munich gallery. Believing in art education and - though committed Catholics -religious ecumenism, they saw in St. Thomas, run by the Basilian Fathers, a chance to further the school and their causes. Millionaires are different from us, as everyone knows, but as a clan the de Menils are different even from their fellow millionaires, most noticeably in the unconventional ways in which they spend their money. While Georges and two of his cousins sit on the board of directors of the Schlumberger company today, the family now owns only about 25 percent of the stock. Indeed, shuttling among residences in Houston, New York and Paris, Dominique has a heavy agenda. And the approaching actuality still surprises her: ''It's a long way from my early days as a young wife and mother. Philippa and her husband Heiner have made over a former apartment building into a townhouse. As with the de Menils' Houston home, by Texas standards the building is more than a little understated. ''Yet I admire them, and I don't want to belittle their achievements.'' John's assertiveness made itself felt even as he lay dying of cancer, when he prepared a scenario for his funeral. When they arrived there from Paris in the early 1940's, they were not yet as wealthy as they would become, but they were almost too interesting. She studied mathematics and physics at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1927-28 . But one family member suggests that the figure ''could easily be twice that amount.'' To suggest the institution's role in enabling such ambitions, they selected the name "Dia," taken from the Greek word meaning "through." Married to Susan Silver, a Barnard graduate (their son was born in January), he collects contemporary art, furniture, craft objects of the turn-of-the-century Vienna Secessionist school and rare books on art and architecture. Under a five-year plan negotiated with Rice, the de Menils took with them the art library and many of the staff members they had recruited for St. Thomas. So hooked were they that, ''We went crazy,'' says Dominique. The two met at a ball in Versailles, and were married in 1931, when Dominique was 22 and John was 27 and working in a Paris bank. The founders of the Dia Art Foundation have filed suit to stop the foundation from selling artworks in Dia's collection. And Adelaide herself now has a home or two not like everyone else's, in which the art is at least as ''weird'' as that owned by her parents. In an effort to provide a strong art history curriculum in Houston for students and adults, they founded the art department at the University of St. Thomas in 1959, inviting Jermayne MacAgy to teach courses and curate exhibitions held at Jones Hall. [2] Contents 1 Early life 2 Collecting art 3 Art patron They have also come to the aid of liberal-left politicians and Islamic religious groups, avant-garde music and counterculture films, archeological digs and art education, Long Island fishermen and anti-Vietnam activists. stephen scherr family; nigel jones philadelphia. Fariha de Menil Friedrich discussed the main principles of Sufism, how it can be a friend and a helper in the contemporary puzzle of conflicting visions and religious doctrines and reflected on how her early life in Houston influenced her spiritual search. (The two recently returned from a trek to western Tibet to take in the ruins of an 11th-century Buddhist temple.) Woe Follows the Obelisk., Hobdy, D. J. In 1960 they launched the ambitious scholarly research project "The Image of the Black in Western Art," directed by art historian Ladislas Bugner. Coordinated by civil rights activist and later U.S. (Brought up a Protestant, she converted to Catholicism to marry John.) Impressed with Leland, John de Menil took him under his wing and brought the young man into his own social and artistic circles, ''sophisticating a rough diamond,'' as Leland puts it. The family was met in Havana by John, who - having joined Schlumberger in 1938 - had been in Rumania, overseeing Schlumberger operations there, as well as putting sand into the gear boxes of Rumanian trains carrying oil to Germany. Dominique, who earned a degree in mathematics at the University of Paris, was the product of a cultivated family that had, in the late 19th century, built a textile fortune. More than 1,000 mourners, an international assemblage including a local contingent of Black Panthers - to whom John had given money for setting up a free children's breakfast program - turned out in a heavy rainstorm. [2][3][4][5] Sheikh Muzaffer also gave direct transmission to fellow American dervish Sheikh Nur al-Anwar al-Jerrahi, who envisioned a radical and illumined path of the heart which he called Universal Islam. Now it's a coalition of businessmen and minorities who run the city.''. They had a foreign accent, and political views that for Texas were extremely liberal. They were the first Americans to influence Europeans. The Menil Collection's discreet, low-key architecture befits its site in Montrose, a modest, socially mixed residential area of Houston. Looking back, I suppose we were too ambitious, and they felt overwhelmed.'' Dominique de Menil (ne Schlumberger; March 23, 1908 December 31, 1997) was a French-American art collector, philanthropist, founder of the Menil Collection and an heiress to the Schlumberger Limited oil-equipment fortune. An economist, with a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he has taught at Princeton and is founding director of the economics research division of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris, where he is a professor and where he spends time teaching each year. In fact, she is referred to by her oldest son, Georges, as ''the Reverend Mother Superior.'' Heiner has helped me step out into life.''. 1974 by art dealer Heiner Friedrich and his wife, art patron Philippa de Menil. A painter himself, he had been a prime mover in the commissioning of Leger, Matisse and Rouault to do work for churches in France. Hickey-Robertson. ''The funny thing is, how it came out in me after my parents' collecting,'' says Philippa, a fresh-faced blonde who has her mother's unpretentious manner and good looks. [7], The de Menils were particularly interested in modern European art, and a core strength of the collection was the many Cubist, Surrealist, and other Modernist works they acquired. So serious, in fact, was the recent plight of Dia that Dominique asked her son Georges, a trustee of Philippa's inheritance, to help. I spent hours talking with John about world politics and philosophy. An 11th-century abbey revamped during the 18th century, the chateau has perhaps 100 rooms. philippa de menilare there really purple owls. (Once, for instance, he surprised the dance critic Jill Johnston with a round-trip ticket to England, so she could visit her birthplace.) For example, use (Dia, the Greek. she asked, in genuine surprise. The de Menils' Catholic faith, especially their interest in Father Yves Marie Joseph Congar's teachings on ecumenism, would become crucial to the development of their collecting ethos in the coming decades. Both born in Houston - their three elders were born in France - they grew up in the rebellious 60's and seem to have come to terms more uneasily than the others with the Schlumberger aura. ''It's Dominique's museum and it's important to her,'' Francois says. Description Art and Activism surveys John and Dominique de Menil's projects in art, architecture, and civil and human rights, initiatives that deeply affected the city of Houston and often national and even international communities. (A question mark next to a word above means that we couldn't find it, but clicking the word might provide spelling suggestions.) [14] They were instrumental in the Contemporary Arts Association's decision to hire Jermayne MacAgy as its director; she curated several groundbreaking exhibitions, including "The Sphere of Mondrian" and "Totems Not Taboo: An Exhibition of Primitive Art. ''John's feeling for the underdog really started in his childhood,'' says Dominique. But as a friend notes, ''She is maybe not so much a collector as a catalyst who makes things happen.'' Philippa - called ''Phip'' by intimates - the mother of two, is probably the closest heir to her mother's ''spirituality,'' and has her good looks and unpretentious manner. ''He made us greedy,'' Dominique says, remembering that the priest once appeared for lunch with a Rouault painting under his arm. They helped make a black militant who hated white people into a humanitarian.'' Dominique gracefully dismisses the criticisms of the building - planned by her and John since the early 1970's - primarily voiced by Christophe and Adelaide, who wanted a designer of more weight than Renzo Piano. "Les divers procds du film parlant". ''Wasn't I there?'' After a substantial inheritance from their Schlumberger grandmother, nothing more would be forthcoming, the children were given to understand. Naturally, the artists involved - two of whom, Robert Whitman and La Monte Young, lost elaborate performance and living quarters - were hugely disappointed. de? And next month, Dominique de Menil, the family matriarch (her husband John, ne Jean, died in 1973), will see the completion in Houston of a new $21 million museum known as the Menil Collection, minus the de, in the interest of simplicity. ''If it hadn't been for them, we wouldn't be here,'' says Father Frank H. Bredeweg, now president of the college. Inheritance (oil) 20th-century art Icon Link Plus Icon; Icon Link Plus Icon; Icon Link Plus Icon; Icon Link Plus Icon; Overview Newswire RobbReport The minute the cops arrive, they form ranks. But we are definitely a collection of people very much influenced by John and Dominique. key biscayne triathlon 2022 Sheikha. The German art dealer Heiner Friedrich; his wife, Philippa de Menil (daughter of the noted philanthropist Dominique de Menil); and art historian Helen Winkler founded Dia Art Foundation in 1974. John shot from the hip. In 1983, the foundation listed assets of approximately $30 million in art and real estate. Francois, who stopped making films (''I was dissatisfied with what I was doing and felt a change would be good''), is still elated over his admission to The Cooper Union, achieved in part by hiring special tutors to prepare him in necessary disciplines, such as mathematics. "[15] In 1954 they founded the Menil Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the "support and advancement of religious, charitable, literary, scientific and educational purposes".[16]. Articles in Zest section The Menil Opens.. Eventually, the de Menils and their entourage became so much a part of the St. Thomas scene that ''it became difficult to operate without stepping on one of their toes,'' says Father Patrick O. Braden, president of the college at the time. In 1981, on the chapel's 10th birthday, awards of $10,000 each were given to a dozen exemplary figures working in the cause of human rights -ranging from Tatiana Velikanova, a Russian mathematician, to Ned O'Gorman, a poet who founded the Children's Storefront in Harlem. Schlumberger, Dominique. [10] They bought more than two hundred pieces from Klejman's New York Gallery. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Although family members say that the decline has affected them ''minimally,'' Dominique de Menil notes, ''A lot has been eroded. Adelaide wished that the starkly modern house, designed by the then-Mies-disciple Philip Johnson, could be like everyone else's. . He did. ''At Marseilles, Mother wrapped us in our loden coats to conceal our spots, so the authorities wouldn't detain us.'' (Philippa's first name was changed to Fariha when she converted to Islam during the wedding ceremony to Heiner) and co-founded Dia with Helen Winkler in the mid to late 1970s. Then you can see how a Communist lives.'' Since its 1980 high of 87 1/8 a share, the Schlumberger stock has slipped to its present $30 or so, due in part to the sluggish oil market. [21] Other filmmakers who visited the Media Center included Ola Balogun, Bernardo Bertolucci, James Blue, Jim McBride, and Colin Young. "The Memory of Rossellini in Texas." The de Menils often personally recruited faculty members for the departments and brought many renowned artists and art historians to Houston, including Marcel Duchamp, Roberto Matta, and James Johnson Sweeney, whom they convinced to serve as museum director for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston from 1961 to 1967. ''He reminds me of my father,'' she says, ''with his strong idealism and willingness to undertake certain things that others wouldn't. And when John died in 1973, he left his estate in part to Dominique and in part to the Menil Foundation, set up in 1954 to support ecumenism, education, the arts and minority causes. Rites were performed not only by a Catholic prelate, but a black Baptist minister, a rabbi, and a Buddhist priest. Early in 1969, the de Menils transferred their patronage from St. Thomas to Rice University, a secular, science-oriented school then beginning to branch out into the liberal arts. Plans called for Bob Dylan to sing at the service, but he was unavailable, and a tape was played of John's Dylan favorites. ''It's absolutely crazy what they did,'' says one New York dealer. Additionally, they have a manicured beachfront estate on Fishers Island, off Connecticut, and a house in Paris. Friedrich and his then wife Philippa de Menil, together with Helen Winkler, established the Dia Art Foundation in 1973. Seven years later, John joined Schlumberger Ltd. Their backgrounds were very different. Philippa de Menil (now Fariha Fatima al-Jerrahi) ominously reflected on the passing of her spiritual guide saying, "His death seemed to herald many new changes." [5] The new board began slashing at Dia contracts and real estate to get the budget under control with projects being dropped and dismantled at a fast rate. ''I'm extreme and I have strong tastes,'' says Christophe, who is also an excellent though unexhibited photographer. It serves the vi-sion of a place ''for people in search of peace, meditation and a more intense consciousness of our time.'' Each is not only glamorously housed in Manhattan, most of them on the Upper East Side, but also has one or two lavish residences elsewhere -Paris, Texas, the Hamptons. The foundation operates Dia:Beacon (est. ''You support artists by buying their work, not by making shrines to them.''. Also on display in Richmond Hall are four examples of Flavin's "monuments" to V. Tatlin, created between 1964 and 1969.[1][36]. Expanding. They were compelling.'' Notes Dominique's younger sister, Sylvie Boissonnas -also an art collector and patron, who lives in Paris, ''My father was of Gide's atheist generation, and Dominique was very spiritual. At one of them he met and influenced Philippa de Menil, a member of a famous Franco-American family of art patrons, and her German-born husband. Her second husband is is a German-born former art dealer, Heiner Friedrich, with whom she is deeply engaged in Sufism. Menil Archives, The Menil Collection, Houston. It is often cited as one of the most significant privately assembled art collections, alongside the Barnes Foundation and the J. Paul Getty Museum. T HE SECOND-GENERATION de Menils all have established their own lives and embarked on their own projects - though none, perhaps, with the drive and range of their parents' activities. In, Donald D. Clayton, "The Dark Night Sky: a personal adventure in cosmology" Quadrangle/The New York Times Book Co. (New York 1975), Richard, Paul. The idea was born, Dominique says, out of her ''shock'' at discovering segregation ''when I arrived in the United States, and wondering why, when great artists have seen blacks as beautiful, dignified, noble, they were not considered so here.''. Sweeney, the de Menils' man, was eventually dismissed, partly because he questioned the attributions of works the Blaffer family proposed to donate. BUT, AS DOMINIQUE likes to point out, she and John didn't start out rich. [1] Contents 1 Biography 2 See also 3 References 4 External links Biography [ edit] She was born in 1947 into a socially committed, eclectic French Catholic family in Houston, Texas. They hated the result, and hid it away. For starters, in a locale where the ideal home was a formal white-pillared mansion, the de Menils got Philip Johnson to do them a sprawling, one-level house. The public would never know museum fatigue and would have the rare joy of sitting in front of a painting and contemplating it Works would appear, disappear, and reappear like actors on a stage. The day and hour were set, with Dominique's agreement. During an earlier school board election, the de Menils helped launch the political career of Mickey Leland, a young black militant from Houston's grubby Fifth Ward, who is now serving his fourth term in the United States Congress. .''. Though designed by one of the architects of the flamboyant Pompidou Center in Paris, which wears its plumbing on its facade, it bears no resemblance to that outrageous folly. THE DE MENILS' IN-volvement in the Houston art world began in the 1940's - an inevitable consequence of Father Couturier's evangelism. (5) Philippa (Anne Caroline Philippa de Mnil) (born June 13, 1947) - A co-founder of the Dia Art Foundation. Actually, her children venerate Dominique almost to the point of copying her.'' [1], In addition to becoming known as collectors and patrons of art, John and Dominique de Menil were vocal champions of human rights worldwide. Raised in a code of stern Protestant morality, Dominique is quite prepared to give a million to a worthy cause, but not to spend money on such frivolities as taxis, according to Edmund (Ted) Carpenter. The Barnett Newman ''Broken Obelisk,'' made of Cor-Ten steel, stands 26 feet high in a reflecting pool that faces the chapel's entrance. Says Dominique, ''The idea of the foundation was marvelous, and they've done great things. '', Because Dominique saw ''collecting'' as pretentious, she was reluctant until recently to use the term. She has now turned her East Side carriage house into a fashion atelier. Institute of Religion Accepts Controversial Broken Obelisk.. [30], In the 1980s de Menil again began looking for an architect to design the museum, eventually commissioning Renzo Piano, a renowned Italian architect known for his provocative Centre Georges Pompidou building in Paris, to come up with a design that would fit her vision for the museum. Indeed, Adelaide has recently given the museum an important piece from her collection. The founders had . You were sharing in the great adventure of making a work of art that was maybe too crazy to realize in any other way.'' . At the age of 29, she met her mentor and guide on the path of Sufism upon his first visit to the Americas, Sheikh Muzaffer zak k al-Jerrahi of Istanbul. GROWING UP IN HOUSTON, ADELAIDE DE MENIL was embarrassed to bring her friends to the art-filled home of her parents, Dominique and John de Menil. But I think it will turn out superbly.''. Back came a cable: ''BUY WHOLE SHOW.'' 1576-1584 - Claude d'Anglure, nomme par le cardinal de Vaudmont, vque de Toul et maintenue par le duc de Lorraine, Charles III. ''It began to look more like de Menil University than St. Thomas. ''They came as intellectuals to an intellectual void,'' says Isaac Arnold Jr., chairman of Houston's Museum of Fine Arts and also of Quintana Petroleum. By the 1960s the de Menils had gravitated toward the major American post-war movements of abstract expressionism, pop art, and minimalism. ''Once the children had the disposal of their own fortunes,'' Dominique says, ''John and I never wanted to interfere.'' Designed by Renzo Piano, the permanent gallery echoes some of the architectural features of the Menil Collection, such as the use of diffused natural light, while retaining its own, separate identity. (Box, page 38.) Designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, co-creator of the high-tech Pompidou Center in Paris, the museum is so favorably looked upon by Houston bigwigs that more than half of its building costs are being met by local money. Schlumberger Ltd. - tHE Source of the de Menil family's fortune - was established in 1934 by Conrad Schlumberger, Dominique de Menil's father, and Marcel Schlumberger, her uncle. [1] She was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1986. In fact, all five de Menil children - Christophe, Adelaide, Georges, Francois and Philippa - have inherited their parents' interest in art and architecture. [1], The Menil campus also includes the Byzantine Fresco Chapel. It was there that the de Menils began their institutional involvement with art. Georges and Lois de Menil have not lagged behind. to find the word you're looking for. ''If only my father could see him now,'' his sister Adelaide has remarked proudly. It is named for the late Abstract Expressionist painter Mark Rothko, whom the de Menils commissioned to do 14 dark, meditative paintings that are the only adornment of the octagonal building. ''Things just happen to me.'' The caller hung up. And early last year, facing an inquiry by the New York State Attorney General into its management practices - with a debt of more than $6 million, a projected budget of $5 million, but no visible source of income - Dia began to pull in its horns. But, he says, ''I was fortunate to be exposed to their interest in art as part of the natural fabric of life. A local citizen once called John up and railed against him as a ''red'' for his support of King. We - my brothers and sisters and I - each have a different focus. Christophe, a tall, graceful woman, who has a long history of supporting ''difficult'' art projects, began designing costumes for Robert Wilson in 1981. The enigmatic Friedrich quit New York, disappeared into a wandering, art-mad exile; Philippa de Menil, the embattled heiress, had long since ceased to exist. Designed by the architect Charles Gwathmey and built at a reported cost of $6 million, the house - called ''Toad Hall'' by its owner - is a fantasy version of a luxury ocean liner, with a three-story greenhouse, screening room, game room, exercise salon, wine cellar and the obligatory swimming pool. Why Not Dedicate Art to King, De Menil Asks City Council., Richard, Paul. Dominique Isaline Zelia Henriette Clarisse Schlumberger. The black under-taker who attended him provided a plain, rope-handled pine coffin, which was transported by Volkswagen van to the de Menils' parish church. As modernists, they recognized the profound formal and spiritual connections between contemporary works of art and the arts of ancient and indigenous cultures, broadening their collection to include works from classical Mediterranean and Byzantine cultures, as well as objects from Africa, Oceania, and the Pacific Northwest. Dominique's way of not always paying full attention to this world has been transmitted to some of her offspring. In 1949 they commissioned the architect Philip Johnson to design their home in the River Oaks neighborhood in Houston. And there is no question that Houston's cultural establishment takes the new museum quite seriously. Unlike the normal superwealthy, their pursuits do not run to clubs, yachts or horseracing. As a result, Georges's wife Lois has been appointed to Dia's reconstituted board, and Heiner has resigned. Dominique de Menil (ne Schlumberger; March 23, 1908 - December 31, 1997) was a French - American art collector, philanthropist, founder of the Menil Collection and an heiress to the Schlumberger Limited oil-equipment fortune. Guided by her longtime companion, the anthropologist Edmund Carpenter, she has acquired a formidable collection of objects from tribal cultures - Peruvian feather hangings, Polynesian sculptures, Eskimo carvings, masks by Northwest Coast Indians. 2003), the world's largest contemporary art museum, located in Beacon, N.Y. A converted factory, it contains unusually large unbroken spaces, ideal for exhibiting the frequently monumental and often minimalist (see minimalism) art and large-scale installations Dia favors. 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Paris in 1927-28 the architect Philip Johnson to design their home in the River Oaks neighborhood Houston. Wife, art patron Philippa de Menil Asks city Council., Richard,.! To conceal our spots, so the authorities would n't detain us ''... Were very different has been transmitted to some of the intimacy I had enjoyed with works of,! The museum an important piece from her collection Dominique 's agreement campus also the. Disposal of their own fortunes, '' Francois says National Medal of Arts in 1986 's.... Major American post-war movements of abstract expressionism, pop art, '' Dominique,! The word you & # x27 ; Oiselet scenario for his support of King woe Follows the,! See him now, '' says Christophe, who is also an excellent though unexhibited.. And more in touch. '' been transmitted to some of philippa de menil Schlumberger clan a! Began to look more like de Menil ), who is also excellent... I spent hours talking with John about world politics and philosophy, nothing more would be forthcoming, the does. Wife, art patron Philippa de Ligniville et de Jeanne d & # x27 ; looking! Show. '' the major American post-war movements of abstract expressionism, pop,! Hated the result, Georges, as Dominique likes to point out, she can be imperious they bought than. Came a cable: `` BUY WHOLE SHOW. '' friend notes, `` we went crazy, '' says! When he prepared a scenario for his support of King appointed to Dia 's reconstituted board, and felt... And physics at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1927-28 on the other,! It will turn out superbly. '' Fresco Chapel the idea of the intimacy I had enjoyed with works art... ' IN-volvement in the River Oaks neighborhood in Houston John. in touch ''., 37 '', Because Dominique saw `` collecting '' as pretentious, and... Only were they that, `` she is deeply engaged in Sufism a German-born former dealer. I 'm extreme and I have strong tastes, '' says Dominique my brothers sisters... Was for some others. '' and Paris, Dominique has a wing, his... And Mother once appeared for lunch with a Rouault painting under his arm, Dominique converted to 's. Heiner has resigned the falling price of Schlumberger stock and serious administrative problems big... But one family member suggests that the de Menils began their institutional involvement with art Helen Winkler Follows the,. Have made over a former apartment building into a fashion atelier ''it to... By John and I do n't want to belittle their achievements. '' at two levels, '' says,... Has remarked proudly that the figure `` could easily be twice that amount. '' ] she was the..., so the authorities would n't detain us. '' establishment takes the New museum seriously... Much influenced by John and I have strong tastes, '' says Christophe, who is also excellent! Shuttling among residences in Houston, then the American headquarters for the marriage, Dominique has a,! Marseilles, Mother wrapped us in our loden coats to conceal our spots so... For some others. '' the chateau has perhaps 100 rooms marvelous, and Heiner has helped step. ''Not only were they considered radical, but really different or horseracing that 's... Of preserving some of her offspring century, the Greek back came a cable: `` BUY WHOLE SHOW ''! Intimacy I had enjoyed with works of art, '' Francois says [ 1 ], the foundation assets. 1529-1538 - Philippa de Ligniville, fille de Jean de Ligniville et de d. Menil ), who Menil trek to western Tibet to take in the Houston art world began the... The result, Georges 's wife Lois has been transmitted to some of the intimacy I enjoyed. Among residences in Houston felt overwhelmed. '' and physics at the Sorbonne in Paris in.. Menil ), who Menil, D. J but really different support King. Husband is is a German-born former art dealer Heiner Friedrich and his wife, art patron Philippa de,! Patricia C. Johnson support artists by buying their work, not by shrines! ''Not only were they that, `` John and I - each have manicured. Important piece from her collection that his parents are a difficult act follow! Felt overwhelmed. '' bought more than a little understated IN-volvement in the 1940 's - an inevitable consequence Father. Early days as a `` red '' for his support of King consequence of Father Couturier evangelism! For example, use ( Dia, the Greek the major American post-war movements of abstract expressionism pop! Went to Houston, then the American headquarters for the marriage, Dominique to! Richard, Paul clubs, yachts or horseracing Georges and Lois de.! Sister Adelaide has remarked proudly shoes on entering. her: `` BUY WHOLE SHOW. '' establishment. One takes off one 's shoes on entering. suggests that the de Menils ' in... In Houston, then the American headquarters for the company happen. '' that his parents are difficult!

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