Carroll Sterling Masterson and Harris Masterson III, Rienzi’s founders, assembled a remarkable collection of European decorative arts. They enriched the collection with works on paper, providing the opportunity to view two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects together. "Fine Lines" highlights, for the first time, watercolors, drawings, prints, and books brought together by these dynamic collectors.
A work on paper offers a degree of immediacy and insight into the artist’s mind that creates an intimate encounter between the artist, work of art, and viewer. The Masterson Collection comprises works on paper from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries by English, French, and Italian artists, including drawings by Pompeo Batoni, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Thomas Gainsborough, and George Romney.
Some of the drawings in the exhibition are preparatory sketches for works in other media, offering an understanding of the creative process, and others were made as independent works of art. Subjects range from studies of nature, places, and the human figure to literary scenes and portraiture.
---
Image info: Edward Lear, Forest Landscape, c. 1838–48, ink and wash on laid paper, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Rienzi Collection, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harris Masterson III.
Carroll Sterling Masterson and Harris Masterson III, Rienzi’s founders, assembled a remarkable collection of European decorative arts. They enriched the collection with works on paper, providing the opportunity to view two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects together. "Fine Lines" highlights, for the first time, watercolors, drawings, prints, and books brought together by these dynamic collectors.
A work on paper offers a degree of immediacy and insight into the artist’s mind that creates an intimate encounter between the artist, work of art, and viewer. The Masterson Collection comprises works on paper from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries by English, French, and Italian artists, including drawings by Pompeo Batoni, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Thomas Gainsborough, and George Romney.
Some of the drawings in the exhibition are preparatory sketches for works in other media, offering an understanding of the creative process, and others were made as independent works of art. Subjects range from studies of nature, places, and the human figure to literary scenes and portraiture.
---
Image info: Edward Lear, Forest Landscape, c. 1838–48, ink and wash on laid paper, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Rienzi Collection, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harris Masterson III.
WHEN
WHERE
TICKET INFO
Free-$19