« Back to article: Art world is stunned at news of Museum of Fine Arts Director Peter Marzio's death
Peter Marzio, director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Just one highlight of his tenure, the donation of Rienzi in 1991
Alberto Giacometti's "Large Standing Womain I," 1960, stands before a granite triangle, part of Isamu Noguchi's design for the Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden, a 1986 accomplishment for Marzio.

Another Marzio contribution: the renovation of Bayou Bend in 1993

Peter Marzio, director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
The Audrey Jones Beck Building opened to acclaim in March 2000.

Peter Marzio with Jeanie Kilroy, left, and Cornelia Long at the September opening of the Lora Jean Kilroy Visitor and Education Center at Bayou Bend
Photo by Gary Fountain

Lora Jean Kilroy Visitor and Education Center
Photo by Robb Williamson

A new book detailing Houston's most prestigious collection of American art, "American Art and Philanthropy: Twenty Years of Collecting at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," arrived on bookshelves in October.

"Head with Crown", 14th-early 15th century, copper alloy, from "Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria." The MFAH was proud to be the first U.S. venue for this touring exhibition.
Photo by Karin L. Willis; © National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria. Photo courtesy Museum for African Art/Fundación Marcelino Botín
Just this fall, the MFAH invited artist Cai Guo-Qiang to create a gunpowder drawing to cover the walls of the new Arts of China Gallery.
Photo by I-Hua Lee/Courtesy Cai Studio

"Still Life with Apples and Peaches" by Paul Cézanne, part of the upcoming blockbuster exhibition, "Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art." The MFAH is the first— and the only — venue for the exhibition.
Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston