the new masters

Provocative, awe-inspiring Kehinde Wiley MFAH showcase remains this season's must-see exhibit

Houston art lovers who haven’t yet attended the “Kehinde Wiley: An Archaeology of Silence” exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston are missing out on a showcase of jaw-dropping art.

The recently opened exhibit is an awe-inspiring collection of paintings and sculptures from the Los Angeles-born, Brooklyn-based artist of color, best known for creating a majestically leafy portrait of former President Barack Obama. Locals will remember that the MFAH was one of the rare museums to showcase the works — starting with a free opening weekend that became a city celebration.

While “An Archaeology of Solace” premiered earlier this year at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the MFAH is actually the first stop on its tour. Located in the Audrey Jones Beck Building, the exhibit is an overwhelming experience of Black power.

And it’s a power shift. While Wiley’s large-scale paintings and sculptures call to mind the heroes, martyrs, and saints of Western European historical art, they are unmistakably Black and brown subjects who suffer under “the specter of police violence and state control over the bodies of young Black and Brown people all over the world,” Wiley notes in an artist statement.

Thus, the rooms are all Black, as the gigantic oil-on-canvas paintings (a couple are practically the size of billboards) of laid-out Black bodies – usually rocking streetwear gear – are brightly spotlighted. Many of these works were inspired by historical pieces, mainly German artist Hans Holbein’s The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb.

The bronze sculptures are equally grand and striking. The most impressive one is the titular statue, a reworking of his 2019 sculpture Rumors of War. While the Rumors sculpture depicts an upright Black rider on a general’s horse, this sculpture features a fallen figure atop a horse.

Both sculptures are based on a monument to Confederate army General James Ewell Brown Stuart, which was removed and placed into storage in the wake of the 2020 George Floyd murder.

This entire exhibit was inspired by the worldwide outrage that transpired after Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police. Wiley himself explains the inspiration for the exhibit via the audio guide given to visitors:

The birth of the show starts as the world shuts down. As we see George Floyd slain in the streets of America, I get to work. I start thinking not only about this explosive moment that triggers the whole world into thinking about Black bodies in a different way, But I start thinking about imaging of bodies slain historically.

Fans of the artist can look forward to Kehinde Wiley merch upstairs in the gift shop. An obligatory exhibition catalog is for sale, as well as hoodies, umbrellas, bookbags, playing cards, coloring books, and more. Proceeds will go to the Black Rock Coalition, a New York-based artists’ collective.

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“Kehinde Wiley: An Archaeology of Solace” will be on display at the Audrey Jones Beck Building of the MFAH (5601 Main St.). For exhibition schedule, tickets, and more, visit the MFAH online.

Kehinde Wiley, The Death of Hyacinth (Ndey Buri Mboup), 2022, oil on canvas

Wiley's The Death of Hyacinth (Ndey Buri Mboup), 2022.

A Roman Holiday (Season)

All roads lead to Houston museum's blockbuster exhibit of Imperial Rome

Photo courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The Museum of Fine Arts Houston presents "Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times" ("Statue of Trajan" Minturno, Italy, 2nd century, marble, National Archaeological Museum, Naples)

Houston's holiday season will have a distinctly Roman feeling this year, as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is bringing the glory of the Gladiator era to Texas. On November 2, 2025 through January 25, 2026 the MFAH presents the monumental new exhibition “Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times.”

Featuring 160 objects of antiquity, including marble sculptures, frescoes, mosaics, delicate glass vessels, and exquisite bronze artifacts, the exhibition will transport visitors back in time to the Roman Empire during a flowering of art and architecture. The MFAH partnered with the Saint Louis Art Museum to organize the exhibition, which will showcase many pieces that have never been on view in the U.S.

While Emperor Trajan might not be the most famous — or in some cases, most infamous — of the Roman emperors, he ruled between 98 and 117 C.E. during the empire’s height and was the second of the so-called “Five Good Emperors” of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty. He was also the first emperor born outside of present-day Italy, in what is now Andalusia, Spain. During his reign, he granted citizenship and rights to some peoples from conquered lands. The exhibition will explore how this time period expanded what it meant to be a Roman and how art reflected Rome’s power and promoted the empire’s values and ideals.

$\u200bThe Museum of Fine Arts Houston presents "Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times"$

Photo courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The Museum of Fine Arts Houston presents "Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times" ("Statue of Trajan" Minturno, Italy, 2nd century, marble, National Archaeological Museum, Naples)

From statues of prominent men and women of the era, including Trajan, to vivid frescoes and furnishing from the villas of Pompeii, the objects in the exhibition will tell fascinating cultural and political stories of life in imperial Rome. To add context to the artworks and objects of antiquity, the MFAH will recreate a section of Trajan’s Column, which was a towering pillar with a spiraling narrative frieze, one of the few monumental sculptures to have survived the fall of Rome.

“Art and Life in Imperial Rome: Trajan and His Times” brings such a wealth of objects to Houston thanks to unprecedented loans from the renowned antiquities collections of Italian museums including Museo Nazionale Romano, the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, the Parco Archeologico di Ostia, and the Musei Vaticani. It would would likely take months of travel across Italy to see this much art.

“This is truly a rare opportunity for U.S. audiences to experience spectacular objects from this glorious era of the Roman Empire,” said Gary Tinterow, director and Margaret Alkek Williams chair of the MFAH, in a statement. “We are enormously grateful to our colleagues in Rome, Naples, and Vatican City for lending these treasures to us and broadening the appreciation of Italy’s cultural heritage.”