Gift of John R. Eckel, Jr.
Welcome to the set of Mad Men: Spirit of Modernism lives on in MFAH exhibit
Designed by Edward Wormley, manufactured by Dunbar and upholstery designed byJack Lenor Larsen, Listen to Me Chaise, Model No. 487
Lucia DeRespinis for George Nelson and Company Inc. and manufactured by HowardMiller Clock Company, Zeeland, Mich., Custom Clock, c. 1957
Ralston Crawford, Red Barge No. 1, 1942
Margaret Bourke-White, U.S.S. Akron, 1931
Paul Evans, Argente Two-Door Cabinet, c. 1968
Vladimir Kagan, Contour Lounge Chair , c. 1953
Grouping of Harry Bertoia sculptures from the John R. Eckel Jr. collection
Harry Bertoia, Gilt Bronze Cactus Sculpture, c. 1965
The ghost of the past never looked so new.
Last month witnessed the unveiling of The Spirit of Modernism at the Museum of Fine Arts, a show built around a major gift of 73 mid-century modern works from the John R. Eckel, Jr. Foundation. The array of photography, painting, decorative arts, and sculpture not only dazzles but demands you not merely appreciate individual objects but enter a world of elegant minimalism you may never want to leave.
As assistant curator of decorative arts Christine Gervais put it as we entered an area of the exhibition dominated by furniture by Edward Wormley, Vladimir Kagan, and Paul Evans, "Welcome to the set of Mad Men."
The array of photography, painting, decorative arts, and sculpture in The Spirit of Modernism not only dazzles but demands you not merely appreciate individual objects but enter a world of elegant minimalism you may never want to leave.
Eckel, a native Houstonian and energy entrepreneur was no stranger to art collecting, though his philanthropy on behalf of the MFAH began more recently, in 2005. Though brief-lived, his efforts on behalf of the organization were matched only by his generosity after his death. The Whitney Museum in New York and the MFAH were the only museums to benefit from this largesse. The gift adds works by artists yet to enter the collection and provides insight into the intersections of art, architecture, and design.
A team of Houston curators had the enviable task, over a series of months, of sorting through storage areas in New York and Houston so as to select works most suited to the MFAH. "Everything was very carefully chosen for impact," curator Emily Neff indicated.
Neff joined Gervais, Cindi Strauss, modern & contemporary decorative arts & design curator; Alison de Lima Greene, contemporary art & special projects curator; and Anne Wilkes Tucker, The Gus and Lyndall Wortham curator of photography, in crossing curatorial disciplines to assemble works that impressively strengthen the collection.
In one sense, walking into the Spirit of Modernism is like walking into the universe of Eckel himself. As de Lima explained, "Most curators work in vertical silos of knowledge but collectors work on a different paradigm," which produces a wonderfully holistic vision of a moment in time.
Two of the most important visual works in the gift — Ralston Crawford's 1942 "Red Barge #1" and Margaret Bourke-White's USS Akron (1931) — at one point hung in Eckel's office. Crawford was born in Canada but died in Houston, and his precise but joyful colors invite you to step onto the barge.
Bourke-White was a photographer of Life Magazine fame for whom industrial shapes served as muse. Her USS Akron is an image of a silvery dirigible, a Goodyear zeppelin, in its hangar. Neff described "an optimism, that positive energy directed at new American technology" at this particular moment. The zeppelin's fate was not a happy one — it tragically crashed two years later, killing all its passengers. But an American enthusiasm pervades the image. It is as if the Akron might rise up at any moment.
Don't miss the frame, either, which is made of duralumin, the same material as the USS Akron, and mimics its girder construction. Oddly enough, these frames were once given to Goodyear tire salesmen as rewards for exceptional sales. Neff explained, "This is a moment in American culture in which the some of the greatest artists most amazing artists were allied with industry to create some of the most amazing, glamorized pictures of American industry."
Perhaps the greatest single focus of Eckel's gift came in a series of sculptures by Harry Bertoia, famous for designing an iconic and still popular webbed chair. Bertoia trained in metal craft at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. His skill with metals allowed him to unify industrial materials and organic shape.
"This kind of work by Bertoia has been on my wish list for years," Greene admitted. Viewers will be treated to bushes, dandelions, cactus, willow, and sprays of vegetation all in a wonderful array of colors. Metal has rarely looked so delicate and so vibrant. One larger work made of gilded copper and brass, Untitled, has the feel of the exposes innards of a beehive, the color dripping down like honey.
If the furniture Wormley, Evans, and Kagan wow you, wait until you get to beautifully furnished Alice Pratt Brown Gallery, where the temptation to sit on the furniture and enjoy the view might prove irresistible. The great surprise for me was Japanese designer Shrio Kuramata, whose How High the Moon Chair provides an instantly recognizable twist as the solidity of metal feels downright airy. His wit continues in the gravity-defying Umbrella Stand and clever K-Series Floor Lights, which mimic the silhouettes of ghosts.
The Sprit of Modernism indicates that the modern is brash and sleek, like Mad Men. But my favorite object in the Alice Pratt Brown gallery, Kuramta's delicate Floating Feather, a feather delicately suspended in acrylic, tells another story. It proves modern can also be subtle and graceful.
